We’re quickly approaching the Christmas Season, and there’s a few video game companies that are definitely on Santa’s naughty list. EA managed to get far enough to the top of Santa’s list that they’ve been slated to get a whole coal mine and instead of making massive profits off of the Battlefront 2 microtransactions they lost $3 billion in stock value.
Bungie was feeling left out with all the microtransaction controversy going on, but thankfully they got in on it when players found out they were throttling XP in Destiny 2 to make it harder for players to get Bright Engrams. Once they were called out, they disabled the throttle, only to make it now take twice the XP that it used to to get Bright Engrams.
Take-Two Interactive wanted to go ahead and get on the bad PR train too, explaining that they don’t think loot boxes are gambling. EA made yet another blunder this week after being utterly destroyed in social media when CFO Blake Jorgensen made excuses about Battlefront 2’s loot boxes not being cosmetic because the publisher didn’t want to “violate the canon.” This made even less sense after a data mine revealed that character customization has already been partially implemented in the game.
For some non-microtransaction related news, a new study has reported that Pokémon Go has caused an increase in road traffic deaths and accidents. Apparently, people are dying to play Pokémon Go and not in a good way.
Also this week, Paul previewed EA’s UFC 3 beta and remarked on the pay-to-win microtransactions in Ultimate Team mode. Cody took a look at the Resident Evil Revelations Collection on Switch. Finishing out the week I reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which I thought was a great closer to a strong first year for the Switch.
Our readers had plenty to say on these controversial topics as well. Here’s some of our favorite comments from GR community members for the last week:
Kamen Rider Rayz
Article: Devil May Cry 5 Leak Reveals Return of Old Dante and PS4 Exclusivity
Comment: “Holy shit, still taking place before DMC2. Just make it after DMC2 already! Goddammit Capcom..”
oneshotstop
Article: Pokemon Go Caused an Increase in Traffic Deaths and Accidents
Comment: “I read a few stories about people trying to access restricted areas on military bases to get pokemon before they updated the game.
No, guys, there isn’t a MewTwo on that pylon of nuclear cruise missiles. You’re supposed to be smarter than that.”
the_mighty_toast
Article: EA Loses $3 Billion in Stock Value after Battlefront 2 Debacle
Comment: “I don’t think anybody was actually expecting this debacle to bring down EA as a company. As long as this causes a ripple through the industry to ease back a bit on Microtransactions, then I’ll count it as a small victory.”
RayathF
Article: EA Shut Down Visceral Because a Single-Player Star Wars Game Wouldn’t Make Enough Money
Comment: “Yeah, because Battlefront 2 is banking so hard right now, right?”
jmm96
Article: EA UFC 3’s Ultimate Team is Built on Pay-to-Win Loot Boxes
Comment: “The aaa game industry is not only dead, but its corpse has been unearthed and unspeakable thing have been done to it. Never will i spend a dime on a game remotely related to EA.”
