EA's Failure to Hook Players is the Real Reason Battlefront 2's Loot Boxes Failed

Loot boxes are, obviously, intended to make publishers / developers more money. They're not intended to "provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment," as a particularly strategic comment from EA DICE on the Star Wars Battlefront 2 subreddit put it. They're intended to make you spend more money on a game than you initially planned to, by way of mixing an array of in-game items into a box and asking you to cough up the cash in an effort to get your hands on the good stuff.

[Phoenix76]

Taken from the article...... The key to success with loot boxes is to replicate the thrill of a slot machine but in a virtual setting where the rewards don't actually matter.

And kids being exposed to gambling does not actually matter either to the author!

[Paytaa]

"Pride and Accomplishment"

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Loot boxes are just like lotto, slots and scratch tickets, except with a guaranteed prize. A percentage of gamers with obsessive, impulsive, or addictive personalities will casually buy loot boxes without noticing the accumulated cost. But unlike lotto, scratch and slots, what people “win” from a loot box is entirely superficial, their “winnings” won’t meanfully change their lives ever!

[UltraNova]

Well said.

The problem is even bigger if tou consider the fact that we are brought up while tought to be cautious about gambling or spending our money on games of chance, whereas in-game gambling is nowhere near society's or parents radar as of yet. So in essence EA and the rest of them can rip the benefits as long as they go unmonitored and unscathed - and that's exactly what they are doing.

Its up to us, the 'alert' gamers to warn others until the world catches up.

[ShinMaster]

Often times the "guaranteed prize" is worthless.
Even if you choose not to pay any extra money for them, Loot boxes make progression slower and trivial, as long as companies have the option to make real life money out of it. You can spend $40-$50 on them and get nothing.

[TheSaint]

EA exec downvoted you.

[firelens]

Its failure comes from all the BS they threw in the game...

[Godmars290]

More like the typical money digging BS they've put into every game, only this time they chose to over exploit on a well known franchise at a time when the IP holder has a movie coming out and didn't want the negative press associated with this mess.

[TheColbertinator]

The gaming media sure is intent on covering for EA

[arkard]

I'm sure there is no money exchange at play here....

[Godmars290]

Or future job prospects.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

There's no other main reason for why the loot boxes failed besides greed and ignorance. Plain and simple.

[-Foxtrot]

God knows what they are going to do now

I mean they literally closed down Visceral games and bought Respawn JUST SO they could do another multiplayer focused game for lootboxes and MTs

Now Battlefront II has caused such a huge backlash their investment has literally just blew up in their face. If they had Visceral still they could have tried to please gamers and beg for forgiveness by letting them do what they wanted, giving them freedom and releasing the best game they could have. Now they don't have that...they are f*****

[daBUSHwhaka]

Pretty much.They had a shit strategy with no plan B..Stuck between a rock and a very hard place.Serves EA right for trying to piss on the player.So happy that this backfired and they are bottlenecked.... this is for the players.

[johnell]

This is what happens if EA took us lightly. This will make them think twice if they ever try to implement P2W again.

[JBaby343]

I was very excited for Visceral's SW game. Cancelling the game and closing the studio were terrible moves. I'm glad this whole thing backfired.

On a side note, I would love to have sat in on the board meetings at EA for the past 2 weeks. They had to be some entertaining stuff.

[Tru_Blu]

Games as a service is a complete failure of a business model.

[Blank]

I wonder what loot based weaponry in Anthem will be like HAHAHA!! I'm still not buying that garbage regardless.

[kevnb]

They made the loot boxes akin to what we see in a free to play game.

[zb1ftw777]

No shit Sherlock.

And the reason that is is because gamers grew a brain at long last.

[Artemidorus]

You can't hook players to a game with continuous paywalls.

[_-EDMIX-_]

No.

The failure of this has everything to do with the greed and the company altering the progression system to incentivize people to spend money on Loot boxes.

I don't see how anyone is going to hook players on spending money to try to win especially when it's not even guaranteed you will get anything of use

[Summons75]

No, loot boxes failed because it's inexcusable to require us to pay money to keep up with competition online. Not to mention the topic of gambling in gaming. Don't defend loot boxes, they are not okay and there is no deeper reason why they fail except that they are not needed and we won't be stepped on. We stood against them in Shadow of War and we are standing against them now.

[SkippyPaccino]

Not sure why they didn't use the Battlefield 1 template... Everyone has access to vehicles and super weapons in game... This point system is dumb as F! What's the point of it? People just want to have large scale battles without having to save their penny's for a chance to get a hero if its available when you die... It's the same thing as tanks in battlefield except you don't have to have killed 15 people to get the tank

[titans9999]

people still don't get it...the REAL reason Battlefront 2's loot boxes failed...is...because....Battl efront 2 HAD loot boxes....PERIOD!

[WelkinCole]

The current backlash was building for some time. EA however overstepped and went just a bit too far for many gamers. It does not help that Battlefront is a big game on top of being a start wars games coming out near the release of the next Star Wars.

[badz149]

and they are doing it double time with SWBF2 and NFS Payback

[blacktiger]

Never bought dlc or got into loot box Unless dlc or loot box is included into a game

[waderae]

The game didn't fail purely because of loot boxes @tedakin was correct. it the ridiculous cost of everything. the difficulty in progressing normally is where they went to far.

Also

Just think if they charged only £15 ($20) for the game on launch, we wouldn't be having this conversation. and SW would be in no.1 spot all xmas.

It was greed that led to a mix of bad decisions.

[Dragonscale]

More like loot boxes are the reason gamers weren't hooked fgs.

[RedKnightOH]

This looks like Battlefield 5, next year or early 2019, is going to be a real gamble and crap shoot now. If EA/DICE doesn't go back to the Battlefield 2 and BF3 formula of game making... their goose is cooked.