After receiving monumental backlash from players and the gaming community, EA has decided to temporarily disable microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront 2.

The controversy has raged on for a number of days now, with players threatening to boycott the upcoming Star Wars shooter after it became apparent that purchasing the game’s loot boxes for real money could give you an advantage over your opponents with special items and bonuses. In addition, popular characters such as Darth Vader and Rey were locked at launch, requiring players to spend money or an obscene amount of time to unlock content they had already paid for with a purchase of the game.

The idea of loot boxes as a form of gambling was also raised by potential players, who were concerned it would be a poor influence on the game’s younger players.

EA and DICE employees seemed to be holding fast during the backlash, explaining their intentions behind the decision and also that they would be keeping a close eye on loot box purchases to ensure the game’s multiplayer remained balanced. Their assurances were not appreciated, though, and it led to one of the most downvoted Reddit comments of all time. Review scores were also all over the place.

However, microtransactions have now been temporarily taken offline while EA and DICE assess the situation.

“It’s clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design. We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages. And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game. This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right,” said Oskar Gabrielson, general manager at DICE.

While the announcement has pleased many, others are still concerned by the final kicker that the microtransactions will “become available at a later date”. Will the feedback from players actually create long-lasting change on the game, or will everything go back to status quo shortly after launch once the ire has died down?

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