Star Wars Battefront 2 is still a few days away from releasing, but controversy has already thrust itself upon the upcoming Electronic Arts release. In the game, players have two routes to unlocking heroes: they can either unlock them with in-game credits earned from time spent playing the game, or spend real currency to unlock the characters instantly. Earlier today, one fan took it upon himself to investigate exactly how much game time is required to unlock certain Star Wars Battlefront 2 heroes without spending extra cash, and the answer was a whopping 40 hours for top tier characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.
Fan reaction to the idea of playing a game for 40 hours just to unlock a single character has been overwhelmingly negative, with many lamenting the fact that bonuses for playing well are no longer an incentive. Many gamers were already nonplussed about the game's expensive loot crate system, so one can understand why the idea of the average consumer not having the spare time to unlock heroes and being forced to splash extra cash doesn't sit well with the majority of consumers. In response to the flurry of comments, Electronic Arts issued the following response:
The intent is to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes. [...] We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets. Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can.
Reaction to the official Electronic Arts response has been overwhelmingly negative, with the Reddit post reaching over ten thousand downvotes. Many gamers feel "a sense of pride" isn't quite the same thing as a single character unlock taking longer than the full completion time of games like Nier: Automata or Final Fantasy 15. In short, they feel like 40 hours is simply too much of a grind for what players get in return. To make matters worse, an Electronic Arts employee disparaged the concerned community members as 'arm chair developers', though that tweet has now been deleted.
The sheer amount of grinding that is required to unlock heroes also has fans worrying about the free future content planned for Battlefront 2, with Resistance figure Finn and the First Order's Captain Phasma set to join the fight on December 13th. If these free characters are locked behind 40 hours of gameplay requirements, it's easy to see how Electronic Arts might be forcing players to purchase an instant unlock for these characters instead.
In an era where many studios are sinking their teeth into microtransaction profits, there's sure to be negative reactions as developers test the proverbial waters. Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition dealt with plenty of negative feedback for the way it forced players to grind during the launch of the game, and many gamers still suspect that singleplayer content for Grand Theft Auto 5 was passed over in favor of its more lucrative online game mode. It'll be interesting to see if Electronic Arts sticks to its guns over the in-game unlock times, or if it will bow to consumer reaction - something surely to last longer than the 40 hours it takes to unlock the likes of Luke Skywalker.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 will release on November 17, 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.