star wars battlefront 1 season pass free 2018

Weapons - the truest determinant in shooter gameplay - are gated by in-game milestones (kills by a certain class, for example). Originally, that included real money - at least until those transactions were jettisoned at the final hour following a tremendous public outcry. Electronic Artsįor those who don’t play Battlefront 2 or its multiplayer modes with dedication, advancement in the game is a byzantine system of checkpoints and random drops, some of which can be bypassed or sped up with funds. In either context, the company still did the right thing by its players. The odor of pay-to-win, even if EA cut off actual paid microtransactions a day before launch, has been cleared.ĭepending on how you feel about EA, the upcoming progression system update is either a gutsy call or a mercy-begging mea culpa. Instead, EA DICE has effectively reinstated the first Battlefront’s advancement system: When the update is live, players will boost their performance through a traditional experience-point system.

Secretly, I had expected that Electronic Arts would wait until Star Wars : The Last Jedi was out of theaters (it is, incredibly, still playing in some domestic markets) and then introduce real-money microtransactions, restoring the original progression model used just prior to the game’s launch in November. The changes announced today, coming March 21, directly address Battlefront 2’s misplaced priorities. The game’s opaque progression system, tied to a random draw of buffs out of loot boxes - whether or not they could be bought for real money - drew attention away from what really is a strong-playing first person shooter made by a studio that does it very well. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was a disaster, but it still might not be as bad as it looked at the beginning.My strongest criticism of Star Wars Battlefront 2 was that I simply didn’t know what its priority was. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 will offer an interesting test case on just how much even the loudest internet outrage can affect sales for a popular franchise like this, and offer companies like these a little guidance on how to take these sorts of things in the future. Right now, rival Activision is experiencing its own fan backlash over Destiny 2, another tentpole franchise with a strong eye towards microtransactions. Battlefront remains the biggest title that's come out of EA's partnership with Disney on the Star Wars license, which is particularly noteworthy considering the collapse of Visceral's high-profile single-player project. Disney's marketing for The Last Jedi was no slouch, but there was no way to replicate the intense excitement surrounding the return of the franchise. Star Wars: Battlefront, however, had the advantage of the massive wave of hype that came along with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Crucially, sales are also down from Star Wars: Battlefront, which sold 13 million during its holiday season.

Star wars battlefront 1 season pass free 2018