Battlefront II dev temporarily turns off all microtransactions

This evening a blog post attributed to EA DICE general manager Oskar Gabrielson was published to the Battlefront II website detailing how the studio will be temporarily disabling all microtransaction opportunities in the game.

It's a significant twist in what has been a very public about-face for the studio in the face of remarkable fan outcry over the game's progression systems and virtual currency economy.

"As we approach the worldwide launch, it's clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design," reads an excerpt of the blog post. "This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right. We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases."

It goes on to state plans to re-allow players to spend real money in exchange for in-game "crystals" currency at a later date, after the dev team has had time to make changes to the game's design. 

While the team has been making a show of reacting to player criticism since the game's beta period, the outcry over its virtual currency systems began in earnest after the game (which officially launches tomorrow, the 17th) became playable for EA Access subscribers last Friday.

Shortly thereafter, someone on Reddit claimed that they'd played the game on Access and had roughly calculated that it could take as much as 40 hours of play to earn enough in-game currency to unlock Darth Vader as a playable hero. In response, the dev team cut the unlock cost of all heroes by 75 percent earlier this week.