Speaking to The Washington Post (via Eurogamer), a Lucasfilm spokesperson said the production company supports EA’s decision to take microtransactions out of the recently released shooter.
‘Star Wars has always been about the fans, and whether it’s Battlefront or any other Star Wars experience, they come first,’ the rep said. ‘That’s why we support EA’s decision to remove in-game payments to address fan concerns.’
Only this morning it was revealed that sales of Battlefront II are down just over 60% on the original, but EA says that’s partly down to an increase in digital sales. It’s doubtful that purchases on digital storefronts bring figures up that much, though.
The Star Wars community has been vocal about their displeasure over the paid loot crates, and EA has been attempting to fix that leading up to last Friday’s launch. First, they cut hero prices dramatically, before removing microtransactions altogether and apologising because they ‘didn’t get this right.’
EA has said it intends on flipping the in-game purchases switch back on at some point, but Disney appears to be laying it on thick that they’re happier without the controversy, and by extension, microtransactions.
Venturebeat reported that the call to disable them came from Disney chairman Bob Iger, while The Washington Post says that Disney’s chairman of consumer products and interactive media, Jimmy Pitaro, was the one who got on the blower with EA head Andrew Wilson about the issue. Whether it was either of those two gentlemen, or Mickey Mouse himself, they’re not in use at the minute and Disney seem happy about that.
