Star Wars Battlefront II: Gamers shouldn’t accept EA’s “apology” for Battlefront II fiasco
Controversial video game publisher Electronic Arts tried to smooth things over with Star Wars fans at E3 this past weekend, playing a bit of damage control for Star Wars Battlefront II.
Dork Side readers, I must admit to you that I’m conflicted. When EA revealed the new Clone Wars-era DLC for Star Wars Battlefront II at E3 this weekend, I felt a twinge of excitement, the likes of which I haven’t felt towards a Star Wars game in a long time.
The first EA Battlefront game was mediocre at best, and round two was a well-documented dumpster-fire. Unlike Star Wars Battlefront II, however, the first game didn’t have lousy content per se, it just didn’t have enough of it.
Like many gamers, I felt cheated by the base price, and EA’s DLC wasn’t much cheaper. After we were hit by the “loot box” fiasco, I swore off EA and vowed to withhold my support until they got their act together.
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But that new DLC looks pretty cool…
Dennis Brannvall, one of EA’s representatives at the conference, gave the audience EA’s idea of an apology:
"“We launched our game in November of last year, and clearly we didn’t get it quite right. So instead of coming out of the gate sprinting like we really wanted to, we had to take a step back and make sure we were delivering the game that our players really wanted.”"
It was an unusually humble-sounding pitch from a company who often seems to believe it is above reproach, but don’t be fooled by their paltry words. EA has established a long-standing pattern of attempting creatively greedy business tactics and then when they get burned, launch a late fix or a crowd-pleasing DLC to retroactively make a game appealing to consumers.
Remember SimCity? Battlefield 4? Even timing of 2016’s Death Star DLC felt eerily similar to Saturday’s announcement.
We gamers can’t keep falling for the same subversion again and again. I genuinely hope that EA changes its ways, but I’m going to need to see a full game published without any controversial business models, incapacitating glitches, or poor customer service.
Next: Star Wars Battlefront II: Dork Side full review
Brannvall reminded the audience on Saturday: “Without you, there would be no Battlefront.” Maybe gamers should take that to heart when feeling powerless against EA‘s treachery.