EA on why lootboxes aren't cosmetics only; Because "it's not canon"

[FakeSympathy]

https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2017/11/28/16711474/star-wars-battlefront-2-cosmetics-loot-boxes-lucasfilm-canon

....But they were fine with Vader and Rey running around in Clone Wars era

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

Yeah, it's kinda weird. But, it may also be that Disney and Lucas films wouldn't take to kindly to non-canon cosmetic options like Samurai Vader or Suave Luke. It would be fun, but it may, may, also be seen as disrespectful. Sure, the characters are all time/location displaced, but they all look like they do in the movies. I'm sure they could find alternate outfits to use, but not enough to justify their shitty lootbox system.

 

[Erttheking]

Please tell me what was so canon about Boba Fett being invincible while he was using his jetpack and Han Solo being able to kill Darth Vader.

Fuck off. You lost all claim to Star Wars realism the second you made this fucking game.

 

[FakeSympathy]

https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/28/16711474/star-wars-battlefront-2-cosmetics-loot-boxes-lucasfilm-canon

A direct link

 

[kilenem]

How does EA keep making these Rookie Mistakes in P.R.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Ok, straight out, if Jorgensen isn't looking for new employment after the dust settles on Battlefront 2, that will signal the true decline for EA.

Don Mattrick was outed after the Xbox One mishandling, and people were still going to buy that. EA lost 3 Billion In Stock Value over this [http://www.pcgamer.com/electronic-arts-stock-sheds-3-billion-in-value-after-battlefront-2/]. And more importantly, this might lose them the Star Wars rights, one of the most valuable IPs in gaming... hell, in History of media.

And he keeps fucking up. He keeps trying to PR speak us like we are stupid. He already went on record explaining how EA just loves microtransactions [http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2017/11/14/ea-cfo-blake-jorgensen-explains-why-they-love-microtransactions/]. He also told us that we "'...need to be patient, but also really understand' that EA listens to the community very closely, and they will always be changing the game to make it better and make the community more excited about playing it. [https://www.dualshockers.com/star-wars-battlefront-2-microtransactions-live-services/]"

He's an utterly tone deaf CFO that came from Yahoo and is doing nothing positive to the brand. At least the public image of EA will be somewhat heightened if his stupidity looks like it's even intolerable to EA itself.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

?The one thing we're very focused on and they are extremely focused on is not violating the canon of Star Wars,?

It's like they're not even TRYING anymore.

 

[ChaplainOrion]

Oh please, like they couldn't have milked money out of star wars fans by having the subtle variations of Vader's costumes throughout the movies in the game.
https://i.imgur.com/DGZTzOc.jpg

Or do a battle damaged version of him
https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/fanon/images/c/c6/Darth_Vader_Battle_Damaged.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20111231213233

Or even original concept art vader
http://fd.noneinc.com/secrethistoryofstarwarscom/secrethistoryofstarwars.com/vaderpainting.jpg

And that's not even going into all the other costumes they could have done for the other characters.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Sure. Fine, whatever. I mean, I don't remember Star Wars ever having lootboxes in canon either, but ok, anything you say, Mr money man. Why start sparing everyone the bullshit now anyway?

 

[Hawki]

Fuck off EA.

...what? I refuse to put more creativity into my forum posts than this PR drivel.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Oh yeah, I totally remember canonical stuff like regenerating health, standard Tie Fighters having missile launchers, B1 battle droids lugging around First Order heavy repeating blasters, beaming into vehicles (Star Wars and Star Trek are basically the same thing, right?) and lowly troopers turning into main characters from the movies. But let's assume for a moment that they aren't talking out of their ass...they totally are, but let's humor them. There are so many ways they could have implemented cosmetic lootboxes and stayed fairly canonical (certainly more canonical than what they went with).

Rebels and Resistance are ragtag organizations with all manner of alien species in their ranks. That alone opens a plethora of options, and that's not even getting into the fact that weapons and equipment were not uniform for them, as they used whatever they could get their hands on. Even the Republic and Empire had a fair degree of visual diversity, from the different phases and personal paint jobs on clone trooper armor (prequel fans would doubtlessly appreciate the opportunity to deck out their trooper to resemble their favorite Clone Legion and/or commander) to all the different Stormtrooper variants in the films and EU. The only factions that might be difficult would be the CIS (mass-produced droids) and the First Order (hasn't been thoroughly explored/fleshed out yet), but I'm sure they could come up with canonically friendly variations if they put their minds to it. Another idea; ditch the stat changes within weapon types and only make the visuals different. That way movie fans can get their Han Solo on with a DL-44 for their pistol while those of us who still hold a candle for the Jedi Knight games could rock the Bryar instead.

I'm not saying switching to this method would solve the game's issues on this front. I still despise lootboxes in all their forms, but if I had to make a choice between purely cosmetic ones and those that affect gameplay I'd pick the former any day of the week.

 

[laggyteabag]

I mean, they're right.

I don't know about you, but my favourite part of A New Hope was the part where Luke Skywalker was frantically opening loot boxes so that he could get faster lock on times for his X-Wing, but kept on unlocking victory poses and duplicate upgrades for Kylo Ren instead.

God, it was just so tense!

But seriously, EA, fuck right off. Nobody is asking for a pink fucking Darth Vader or whatever the fuck. Look at the universe that you have the rights to. There are so many costumes for so many characters, that they will be spoiled for choice.

TFA Han Solo, ANH Leia, Starpilot Luke, Senate Robe Palpatine, Jango Fett, Chewbaccba with C3-PO on his back, Unmasked Vader, Hooded Maul, literally any of the clones from the Clone Wars TV show.

Put a little bit of fucking effort into your games, EA, instead of just trying to cram fucking P2W mechanics back into your shitty game.

Fucking, no, actually, you know what? Fuck off, EA. Im not going to buy your shitty games, anymore. I can't be bothered with how badly you fuck up, and how little you care.

Jesus Christ.

 

[Fox12]

The canon that Disney completely gutted just a few years ago?

Days of Waiting and *this* is their PR response?

 

[McMarbles]

You know, if they just admitted "We like money" I'd at least respect them for honesty.

Call it the Mr. Krabs defense.

 

[CritialGaming]

Frankly I hope this prompts Disney to pull the Star Wars License from EA and give it to a developer who actually gives a fuck about making good games. Well, a publisher that likes good games at least. I don't believe DICE's intentions were to make a shithole of a microtransaction cluster fuck. All signs pointed to DICE actively wanting to do right by the community. They put in the effort to create a campaign mode, that isn't very good but DICE isn't very good at campaigns in general. But at least they tried. I think this was EA getting so greedy that it corrupted the game to the core, and now even with MT's gone, the progression system and raw game within Battlefront 2 is basically fucked.

I wouldn't be surprised if EA gets Star Wars pulled from them, and has to serious remodel their business activities as the government steps in to shut this lootbox shit down.

 

[American Tanker]

So no Indiana Jones skin for Han Solo? How boring.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

So EA continues the practice of insulting our intelligence.

 

[Maximum Bert]

If EA put as much effort into making their games good as they did trying to make as much money off of as little game as possible they would be making some of the best games ever.

Also where do I apply to do PR for companies like EA, Activison, Ubisoft, Capcom, Square etc because I guarantee I could do a better job just by maintaining radio silence.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I remember a company called LucasArts that at one time was cool as fuck, even in the shittier games, putting non-canon stuff into their games... like the Guybrush Threepwood skin in TFU2.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Does anyone remember when stuff like that could be unlocked by completing in game challenges? I miss those days.