EA to Push for Microtransactions Despite 'Star Wars: Battlefront 2' Controversies
Electronic Arts has been contending with ongoing controversy with "Star Wars: Battlefront 2," but what many gamers might not know is that the company is also dealing with weaker than usual sales form the game. Still, EA is hoping that the right opportunity comes to put back in microtransactions to make the game profitable.
EA is also putting the blame for the game's weak sales performance squarely on the loot box controversy surrounding "Star Wars: Battlefront 2," according to the Wall Street Journal via Polygon. Since the game launched on Nov. 17, 2017, the big-budget "Star Wars" game has recorded about 9 million sales.
With the company expecting another 1 million to 3 million in sales until March, EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen is hoping that they could at least hit 13 million units sold before the fiscal year ends in March.
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In contrast, the first "Star Wars Battlefront" sold more than 14 million copies by the time the 2016 fiscal year ended. With EA expecting the new "Battlefront" to do much better than the first one, their revenue projections are also off the mark.
Jorgensen also added that microtransactions will be put back in the game "in the next few months."
EA has removed microtransactions from the game shortly before it launched late last year, meaning that players, for now, have no access to the in-game market to buy crystals or loot boxes. For now, EA is waiting for the right time to add microtransactions back into "Star Wars: Battlefront 2," and hopefully put their revenue projections back on track.
"We'll do it when we think it's ready," Jorgensen noted, as quoted by IGN. The EA finance officer also "blames the controversy in large part" for the weak "Star Wars: Battlefront 2," according to the Wall Street Journal.
