Electronic Arts' "Star Wars" Game Draws Criticism From Gamers

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) has seen its stock price soar 150% over the last three years as in-game spending has grown, but the company might have gone too far with this strategy with the newly released Star Wars: Battlefront 2.

EA received a lot of flak from the gaming community due to the game's heavy reliance on in-game purchases to unlock all the licensed Star Wars content, such as getting the chance to play as Yoda or Darth Vader in the game's popular competitive multiplayer game mode. Gamers were disappointed that they had to either spend potentially hundreds of dollars in microtransactions or unlock the content for free only after slogging through hundreds of hours of play time.

EA management heard these concerns and has since temporarily suspended all in-game purchases until the company comes up with a remedy. While it's possible the game may not sell quite as many copies as expected, the issue with Battlefront 2 highlights where the industry is headed and how game companies have to balance generating a profit without upsetting gamers.

Source: Fool.com