The year is 2017 and Star Wars Battlefront II released to an incredible wave of hate, boycotts, and legal questions due to it's lootbox system. For those unfamiliar with the situation, many popular games of late such as this, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, and more reward players with boxes on in game loot that can range from cosmetic to new characters and weapons. When Battlefront II released, these loot boxes were pretty difficult to come by and it was not at all uncommon to hear players stating that they had to grind for over forty hours to just get one hero character (like Darth Vader or Han Solo) to play as. That was fine. Many games with loot chests follow the same strategy with characters being pretty rare, however EA (the game's publisher) failed to realize that this game is not like Heroes of the Storm and other MOBAS. No Battlefront II is a shooter and as such a hero character has way more impact.
EA allowed players to spend real money on loot chests. Suddenly the game became a casino. You could spend as much money as you wanted on loot chests, but you were still not guaranteed to get what you wanted. Heroes could be bought with in game credits, but it would take and incredible amount of time to accumulate those. The faster way was to pay and pray. Just days before the game launched the loot chest controversy hit a fever pitch. Due to massive fan backlash, EA temporarily disabled all micro transactions in the game. Meanwhile in Belgium both Battlefront II and Blizzard/Activision's Overwatch were put under investigation for their loot boxes on the pretense that they were a form of unlicensed gambling. Due to the removal of micro transactions, Battlefront II was found to not be in violation of any gambling laws, but the problem remained. Eventually EA brought back loot boxes, but they were greatly changed. Now they only contain in game credits and no longer contain any form of characters or skins. All of these are now able to be purchased with in game credits and all heroes are unlocked by default for all players.
When the game came out in 2017, it quickly seemed like it was dead in the water. While it was nominated for many awards, it's reputation as a big casino and just a disaster preceded it. With the game seemingly dead in the water, Dice (the game's developer) and EA changed course and a journey to the light began. EA announced that rather than have a season pass the game would go through various seasons that would bring free downloadable content to all. The scale of that downloadable content though, nobody could have expected. Since the game launched in 2017, it has gone through twenty five free content updates. These updates have brought new games modes, heroes, cosmetics, and more into the game. Some of the highlights (but certainly not all the content) of these updates are as follows and really shows the teams dedication to the fanbase after a complete disaster of a beta and launch.
The Last Jedi Season: This update featured an additional single player campaign that shows the struggle between the Resistance and the fledgling First Order from the main character's view. Finn and Captain Phasma were added to the Resistance and First Order as playable heroes. The battle of Crait also was added to the game.
The Night on Endor: Ewok Hunt mode added to the game. Enough said.
The Han Solo Season: Jabba's Palace is added as a map and the Heroes vs Villains game mode is added to the game. In addition, Starfighter Custom Arcade is added as a game mode. The second part of the Han Solo Season featured Lando's Millennium Falcon entering the fray as well as a new game mode, Extraction (similar to capture the flag). Kessel is also added in as a map.
The Clone Wars Season: The Clone Wars hit Battlefront II in a big way with new units, heroes, and maps such as the Battle of Geonosis. For the first time since the original Battlefront II (2003), players could enter the Clone Wars and play as either the Republic or the CIS. Along with this came a slew of new heroes and game modes including Coop and Instant Action.
The Rise of Skywalker Season: From here on out the game finally reached it's pinnacle. Coop was expanded to include all eras of the films, new heroes for the Resistance and the First Order, Scariff is the last map added to the game, new weapons, costumes, and so much more were also added.
Thus the turn from the dark side of the gaming force to the light was complete. It is now 2020 and Battlefront II went from a game that was constantly trashed, called a blatant cash grab, a game that failed to come even anywhere near the original Battlefront II from 2003, a game that helped start the ongoing loot box controversy, to something so much more. Twenty five free content updates were put into this single game to make it one of, in my opinion, the best Star Wars games out there. Does it ultimately live up to the original Battlefront II? For me, it's so hard to compare the two. They are two truly different and separate games and at this point I feel like both have their own unique advantages.
At the end of the day the only that really matters here is that this game went from being a disaster to a game where fans are so happy with what it has become that they are now willing and asking for additional paid content. That is something I have never heard of before, fans clamoring for more content and not for free. Dice and EA did something that no enough video game companies do and listened. Yes their hand was certainly pushed by the legal issues with the loot boxes, but look at it this way. They didn't have to release the Clone Wars content for free. They could have charged who knows how much for it. They didn't need to continue to add in game modes like Coop. It's a multiplayer shooter, it doesn't NEED a versus AI option. They didn't need to add a second campaign, the first was plenty good in its own right.
They did all of that for free. I cannot put emphasis on that word. When you take a hard look at so many other games you see paid content everywhere. Heck, even Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, and The Legend of Zelda now have paid content, but this game doesn't. Dice and EA could have taken the greedy way out, but for whatever reason they didn't. Rumors swirled after the game launched that Disney was considering pulling the license from EA after all the craziness surrounding the launch, but the company made up for it in the best way possible.
Thank you for reading about this game's journey from the dark side of the gaming force to the light. I will certainly be talking more about Battlefront II in the near future so stand by for that as this game has so much to talk about, especially in its campaign that bridges the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. I'll leave this blog with the trailer for the Rise of Skywalker update. If it doesn't get you hyped, I'm not sure what will. Stay tuned because the next blog will be coming real soon!
The Rise of Skywalker Season: From here on out the game finally reached it's pinnacle. Coop was expanded to include all eras of the films, new heroes for the Resistance and the First Order, Scariff is the last map added to the game, new weapons, costumes, and so much more were also added.
Thus the turn from the dark side of the gaming force to the light was complete. It is now 2020 and Battlefront II went from a game that was constantly trashed, called a blatant cash grab, a game that failed to come even anywhere near the original Battlefront II from 2003, a game that helped start the ongoing loot box controversy, to something so much more. Twenty five free content updates were put into this single game to make it one of, in my opinion, the best Star Wars games out there. Does it ultimately live up to the original Battlefront II? For me, it's so hard to compare the two. They are two truly different and separate games and at this point I feel like both have their own unique advantages.
At the end of the day the only that really matters here is that this game went from being a disaster to a game where fans are so happy with what it has become that they are now willing and asking for additional paid content. That is something I have never heard of before, fans clamoring for more content and not for free. Dice and EA did something that no enough video game companies do and listened. Yes their hand was certainly pushed by the legal issues with the loot boxes, but look at it this way. They didn't have to release the Clone Wars content for free. They could have charged who knows how much for it. They didn't need to continue to add in game modes like Coop. It's a multiplayer shooter, it doesn't NEED a versus AI option. They didn't need to add a second campaign, the first was plenty good in its own right.
They did all of that for free. I cannot put emphasis on that word. When you take a hard look at so many other games you see paid content everywhere. Heck, even Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, and The Legend of Zelda now have paid content, but this game doesn't. Dice and EA could have taken the greedy way out, but for whatever reason they didn't. Rumors swirled after the game launched that Disney was considering pulling the license from EA after all the craziness surrounding the launch, but the company made up for it in the best way possible.
Thank you for reading about this game's journey from the dark side of the gaming force to the light. I will certainly be talking more about Battlefront II in the near future so stand by for that as this game has so much to talk about, especially in its campaign that bridges the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. I'll leave this blog with the trailer for the Rise of Skywalker update. If it doesn't get you hyped, I'm not sure what will. Stay tuned because the next blog will be coming real soon!
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