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EA's Star Wars Battlefront II was perhaps one of the most anticipated games of 2017. However, after consumers quickly discovered a disgusting in-game moneymaking strategy, and a poorly designed progression system, many people voiced their opinions. The gaming community primarily went to Reddit to post their negative comments which got the attention of EA. In fact, EA replied back on Reddit to defend one of their decisions, and the post quickly received the most down-votes in Reddit history.
For a limited time, EA has disabled the in-game loot boxes in order to calm the waters, but the damage was already done. EA's stock fell 8.5% causing them a loss of $3.1 billion of shareholder value; meanwhile, its main competitors have posted positive gains during the same period. UK's first week of game sales were down 61% compared to SW Battlefront from two years ago (a much worse game in my opinion).
Consumers are not the only people who have taken notice of this game. Politicians from both the US and abroad have vowed to implement regulation to protect kids from the game's micro-transactions. The loot box system, they say, is practically a form of gambling that is directed to children who wouldn't know better.
Despite Battlefront's flaws with it's micro-transactions and it's progression system, the game itself is very fun and pleasing to play. The game has made many necessary improvements from the last version; however, that doesn't seem to be quite enough for the gaming community. EA will undoubtedly have to rethink its monetization strategy across its entire franchise which will impact profitability.
Shocking to see how a small in-game purchasing ploy could anger an entire population of players, resulting in a noticeable loss of stock value. Even after amending the situation, the damage done was unable to be saved. This really shows the importance of video game design and its features. A small mistake like that can have a dangerous financial impact on a company. Also nice to see personal insight to a report, makes the article that much more dynamic.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting that one game released by EA would cause their stock to decrease by such a large margin. Although this game has been disappointing many of its players, it is pretty remarkable how one negative part of the game can affect a company so much. That being said, it is not surprising that many people have voiced their opinions on the game because there was so much anticipation that came with it. It will be interesting to see what will happen after EA has fixed many of the complaints had by their customers.
ReplyDeleteIt's tragic that a large company like EA failed so hard in developing a game that was expected to be great. The gaming industry of Korea has failed quite badly until recently, due to similar causes. EA should communicate more with the community to devise a fix. The games that last long are usually the ones that take the gamers' opinions into consideration. If they don't make it appealing, EA will lose way more than 8.5% of stock loss.
ReplyDeleteIts remarkable to see that Battlefront could cause EA's stock to decrease. stock fell 8.5% and a loss of $3.1 billion of shareholder value is a lot. Im interested to see what EA will do to bring the numbers to be where it should be
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