Gaming
Pachter: “Loot Box Debacle will Influence EA’s Behavior”
The final piece on the Star Wars: Battlefront II loot box saga is finally here, ladies and gentlemen. Electronic Arts saw a lot of controversy this month alone, from closing down Visceral Games to a big scandal that saw government concern. This made a huge dent into Electronic Arts’ stock and it seems like this will be an influence for future practices.
According to our favorite Webdush Securities analyst, Michael Pachter, EA’s stock price drop comes as major competitors’ shares have gone up, and the overall market is up. He is confident that the whole Loot Box debacle will influence EA’s behavior.
In the interview he had with Polygon a few days ago, Pachter describes that EA got ahead of itself in presuming that MTX [microtransactions] would work equally well in all games. He made a comparison with the Loot Boxes in Battlefront 2 to those offered in Need for Speed: Payback.
Pachter also brings the Ultimate Team modes in EA Sports games. Which actually delivered over $800 Million USD in revenue annually. “In FIFA, the single-player game allows access to all players, and only the Ultimate Team multiplayer mode requires card collection,” Pachter said.
“The same is true of [Grand Theft Auto 5] vs. GTA Online, with the former having all content available and the latter (multiplayer) creating items for MTX purchases.”
However, reality changes once we focus on Star Wars: Battlefront 2, which has player progression influenced by the acquisition of Loot Boxes. This makes the game a pay to win scheme that relies on a huge game of chance.
Pachter mentions the fact that Overwatch has a better chance than Battlefront II because of the skins. While it may be a good point, I completely disagree, as the first Star Wars: Battlefront game had customization options for characters and heroes.
“I’m quite confident that this debacle will influence EA’s future behavior,” Pachter said. “Management will take this seriously, and will endeavor to handle MTX more elegantly in the future.” And we can certainly hope this is the case, hopefully with a better established regulation.
Sonic Frontier’s third and final free DLC update, The Final Horizon, is frustrating some players with its difficulty. Some say it’s Sonic’s hardest gameplay ever.
Many players complained about this unexpected difficulty spike in a 12-page GameFaqs forum post called “This DLC is way too hard” (thanks VGC). One of the main complaints about Sonic Frontiers was that it was too easy, and Team Sonic overcorrected, which makes it surprising.
Final Horizon, the last free update, let players play as Tails, Knuckles, and Amy and complete a variety of optional challenges, which is the challenge. Many are breaking down after a vertigo-inducing tower that requires pixel-perfect platforming without checkpoints, apparently inspired by viral Twitch hit Only Up!
Have you tried Sonic Frontiers Final Horizon DLC? Is it really that hard, or has Sonic always been the Dark Souls of mascot platformers?
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s cinematic trailer appeared suddenly as the wait seemed endless. It shows us that together, we can overcome anything.
The scene is surprisingly sad, with flashbacks to each Spider-Man’s tragic past. As property damages mount, Peter and Miles have emotional internal monologues while fighting Venom.
Venom appears to be about to lose when he realizes they can be stronger together before the scene fades to black. We won’t know how this story ends until Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches exclusively on PS5 on October 20.
Do you think teamwork makes the dream work? Should you see more of Insomniac’s latest or are you sold?
A new trailer featuring Aleks Le’s fearless protagonist S.E.E.S makes Persona 3 Reload more real. Atlus promises weekly character tributes, so get excited. Our stoic protagonist, who will be playable on PS5 and PS4 when this remade RPG releases on February 2, is introduced well.
We’ve accepted playing without our favorite character and are starting to like Reload. The setting, story, and cast have always been great, and the more we learn about the proposed changes, the more we want to return to Tartarus.
With Persona 3 Reload, where are you? Did you play the game before or is this your first time?
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