EA community manager Mat Everett has apologized for angering Star Wars Battlefront 2‘s community, saying that a tweet he posted referring to “arm chair developers” was “taken out of context” and that he wasn’t referring to complaints regarding the upcoming game.
Battlefront 2 has been in the headlines a lot lately, but not for particularly good reasons. With it recently being reported that it could take up to 40 hours to unlock a single hero in the game without purchasing loot boxes, many have strongly criticized EA for what they believe to be predatory microtransaction practises. The debate surrounding Battlefront 2 has become so heated that a comment left by EA on Reddit is now the most downvoted comment in the site’s history .
In the midst of this controversy, Mat Everett posted a tweet on Sunday afternoon reading: “The armchair developers on this internet.” The post was later deleted, though not before it was screenshotted and circulated among the game’s community.
Also: Star Wars Battlefront 2’s The Last Jedi DLC Has You Choose Between the Light and Dark Sides
After Everett’s tweet began gaining a heap of traction, he responded to the criticisms that had been leveled in his direction, tweeting: “Taking tweets out of context, and fun Sunday conversations. I did Twitter wrong today. I am logging off.”
A few hours later he continued: “My tweets earlier had nothing to do with community remarks or topics within or around SWBFII. I made a tweet about a general thing and people claim I am speaking about my games community complaints. #disheartning #Frustrated Sorry to those who think it was about Star Wars.”
He concluded: “I removed those tweets as hordes of angry gamers being told I was speaking about them were upset. I get that, but someone misinterpreted my tweet, I again apologize for that, but it was not my intent. Trust me I am at bat for this community and game/franchise I love.”
My tweets earlier had nothing to do with community remarks or topics within or around SWBFII. I made a tweet about a general thing and people claim I am speaking about my games community complaints. #disheartning #Frustrated Sorry to those who think it was about Star Wars.
— Mat Everett (@sledgehammer70) November 12, 2017
EA is currently coming under a ton of pressure from Battlefront fans and the wider community surrounding games to alter their stance on Battlefront 2‘s microtransactions, though thus far the publisher has only stated that it will make changes and adjustments post-launch. Whether or not the controversy will force their hand and convince them to make drastic changes to the current loot system is questionable, but with the heat surrounding microtransactions now at fever pitch, we’ll have to wait and see if it affects the overall success of the game following its official release on November 17th.
