9 Most Controversial Video Game Moments Of 2017
1. Star Wars Battlefront 2: Attack Of The Microtransactions
"The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes."
Oh yes, who doesn't take pride in spending 40 hours of their free time to unlock a single, solitary hero for one video game?
Take no notice of those 673,000 downvotes, you get us EA, this is exactly the type of banal grind that consumers looking for entertainment want. Not unlockables achievable in a reasonable time frame or fluid, meaningful progression, but a boring, monotonous grind that exists solely to incentivize additional spending on microtransactions. That's game design 101.
Sarcasm aside, in the week's since Battlefront 2's launch, EA's gone into full damage control mode, temporarily - or permanently, it hasn't decided which yet - suspending the sale of its premium, loot box-buying currency, at the same time boosting the quantity of what little in-game rewards there were for actually engaging with content.
Those are no doubt the first in a long line of changes to come, but the damage has already been done. The last thing we should do is criticize EA for attempting to make amends for its mistakes, but it doesn't deserve praise, either.
The situation should never have reached such a critical point in the first place, but maybe now publishers will think twice, before treating their customers like mindless cattle.