While the concept of loot boxes isn’t new, it seems that EA’s Star Wars Battlefront 2’s loot boxes was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back, resulting in investigations around the world where various organizations wanted to explore whether or not loot boxes were considered gambling and if children should be allowed to play such games.EA had pulled the feature temporarily when there was an uproar, and now it looks like after a few months, the company has come forward to address the issue again. Speaking to The Verge, EA executive Patrick Söderlund, he admits that they got it wrong. “We had the intent that was designed for us to have more people play it over a longer period of time, and like a lot of other games on the market, to be able to afford to do that we had an idea of getting returns from that. But at the same time, we got it wrong.”
He goes on to add, “And as a result, we had to take very quick and drastic actions to turn everything off, and we’ve since worked and redesigned the progression system. People seem to appreciate what we’ve done, players are coming back, and we’re seeing stronger engagement numbers. People seem to think that for the most part, we got it right. It doesn’t mean we will stop. We’ll continue to improve the game, we’ll continue to push on these things, and we’ll have to be very cautious with what this means for future products.”
As to what this means for the game, Söderlund seems hopeful that Battlefront 2 can still be “saved”, but the company has definitely learnt a lesson in this and will be taking a closer look at such mechanics for future games, such as the upcoming Anthem.