EA is temporarily pulling the microtransactions from Star Wars Battlefront II, a shocking move that comes after days of zealous fan anger and just hours before the official launch of the game.
These in-game purchases will return at some point in the future, EA says.
Previously, you could spend real money on crates and crystals that let you improve your gear and get better at the game, a system that veered dangerously close to “pay-to-win” waters.
Controversy over Battlefront II has been swirling for weeks now, but peaked over the weekend after Early Access players discovered that the game’s heroes could take dozens of hours to unlock, a process you could expedite by spending money to buy loot crates and earn credits.
Earlier this week, EA cut the costs of all heroes, but the damage had been done, and was exacerbated by widespread confusion over whether EA had also cut the number of credits you’d receive from playing the game.
This week, it seemed like the only thing video game fans wanted to talk about was Star Wars Battlefront II‘s various methods of making you pay extra money.
The rage led to the most downvoted Reddit comment of all time and even hit mainstream press, with a CNN article today proclaiming that “The new Star Wars video game is under attack.”