Star Wars Battlefront II—Electronic Arts most anticipated title of the year—has a galaxy of excited gamers ready to stoke up their lightsabers and join either the Empire or the Rebel Alliance. That was until they felt great disturbance in the Force. Specifically, a controversial change to the game made it more difficult to get Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. With fans revolting, EA has responded, saying it will make it 75% easier to unlock the game’s top heroes.
“Unlocking a hero is a great accomplishment in the game, something we want players to have fun earning,” writes John Wasilczyk, an executive producer at game development house DICE. “We used data from the beta to help set those levels, but it’s clear that more changes were needed. So, we’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75%.”
Controversy over the change in gameplay began Sunday when players began discussing the change via a Reddit thread titled “Seriously? I paid 80$ to have Vader locked?” The outrage is over changes to Battlefront that let players essentially buy game rewards which would be otherwise unlocked via attaining achievements while playing the game . Fans were so upset that they began contacting the game’s developers, allegedly making death threats against the people who worked on the game.
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EA’s statement did not respond specifically to the threats, and Coins2Day has reached out to the company for comment. But its changes to the game’s format on the eve of its launch show how serious it is taking the success of Battlefront’s launch. “It’s a big change, and it’s one we can make quickly,” notes Wasilczyk. “We know some of our most passionate fans, including those in our subreddit, have voiced their opinions, and we hear you.”
To that end, Wasilczyk says the company welcomes the conversation, so much so that developers will be hosting a Reddit AMA on Wednesday. Hopefully during that interaction, people will remember that it’s only a game.
