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760°

EA Is Cracking Down On Battlefront II Forums, Devs Forbidden From Talking

From GameWatcher: "Star Wars Battlefront II had a famously bad launch, what with the lootbox controversy and pay-to-win mechanics stealing all the thunder from what should have been the biggest gaming-related Star Wars event of the year. Electronic Arts quickly apologised for the situation without changing anything, but a stern call from Disney caused the publisher to immediately backtrack and remove the game's microtransactions."

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Community2948d ago
theXtReMe12948d ago (Edited 2948d ago )

LoL. Theres a way to get gamers respect, go against the constitution and try to silence all of your critics for calling you out on your attempted money grab, using an establshed beloved IP. I hope Disney rips your contract in two and gives the rights to a developer who actually cares about the Star Wars franchise, for more than an easy pay day.

I applaud Disney for calling them out and forcing their hand. Because EA never wouldve listened to the gamers who buy their games.

ZeekQuattro2948d ago

I don't give Disney any credit. Remember they picked EA dispute its history of running franchises into the ground. Plus Disney has mobile games full of loot crates some of which are Star Wars related. Disney was only shitting bricks because of the backlash Battlefront 2 was/is getting otherwise they are all for loot crates. When things die down as they almost always do the loot backs will be back with revengeance. lol

Ittoittosai2948d ago

Um disney didnt pick anyone EA had the rights from Lucus Arts from before.

ShadowWolf7122948d ago

...loot crates are fine in F2P honestly, MT's are how they make their money.

Ittoittosai2947d ago Show
Notellin2947d ago (Edited 2947d ago )

@Ittoittosai Actually you are incorrect. Disney acquired Star wars in October of 2012. The EA/Disney deal was extended and agreed upon in May 2013. So Disney did have the option not to extend.

Spoticle2947d ago

@Ittoittosai Shut up Meg.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2947d ago
ShadowWolf7122948d ago

That's uh... not "going against the Constitution". Free speech gives you a right to speak, not a right to a platform. Cracking down like this is scummy, but it's not a violation of anyone's Constitutional rights any more than your rights would be violated if you were banned from Facebook or N4G.

ZeekQuattro2948d ago

Loot crates and F2P go hand in hand. I was only saying Disney are okay with them but not when there is a spotlight on it.

2947d ago
DragonKnight2947d ago

Uh, it's not the denial of a platform when EA are forcing devs to keep quiet. Unless a pre-existing NDA exists preventing developers from talking about a game that's currently out, they are silencing free speech of each and every dev.

Stevonidas2947d ago

@ShadowWolf712

It concerns me greatly just how many people disagreed with you, despite everything you said being exactly right.

rainslacker2947d ago (Edited 2947d ago )

Absolutely right. It's censoring what can be said(or at least what is shown) on their forums, but people are still free to speak how they wish. There are other places that can be done, and EA has no authority over that.

@Dragon

They can restrict their devs. Or at least they can sanction them should they speak without permission on topics they aren't allowed to talk about, as they're actually representatives of the company, and things like that fall more into ethical conduct and NDA's. however, those devs are still free to talk elsewhere should they choose, but the consequences probably would result in termination, and then they'd still be held to typical NDA's which would persist after employment. Should such an NDA be broken, the dev could potentially face a civil suit. In most cases, only certain people within a development house are allowed to interact with the community anyhow. NDA's are a legally binding contract which the industry takes pretty seriously though.

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InTheZoneAC2948d ago

Disney only said something because their greenlight for microtransactions has led to this outrage by the community for calling out the gambling for kids tactics.

Disney only cares that people are aware of the situation, otherwise they'd be fine targeting stupid kids/parents for their stupid addictions

_-EDMIX-_2947d ago

? Disney oked the game in the first place

michellelynn09762947d ago

And if you don't care. Why do you and a few others always comment with the same nonsense? Hmmm

Vectrexer2947d ago

I think it was more like pressure from gamers the ones who actually spend the money on the game who made both Disney (the one's soon to release a movie as well) and EA make the changes. Too little too late given the cheap price the game can be had for new.

opinionated2947d ago

Nothing to do with the constitution. Nothing whatsoever.

fiveby92947d ago

Although I agree with your sentiment, to be precise, it is not a constitutional right to discuss in forums against your employer's wishes. Freedom of Speech in the U.S. is about individual rights and government censorship. A company is well within the U.S. Constitution to bar employees from certain conduct. But I do agree it is really bad handling by EA to be so restrictive. I would also like to see a proper Star Wars game made in the hands of a different publisher.

fenome2947d ago

It would've been nice to see what Visceral was going to do with it before they scrapped the game and the whole damn studio with it "because gamers don't like single player games" translates to "That doesn't seem like something we can milk, so you're all fired".

You know there are a ton of devs who are die hard Star Wars fans that would really put in so much effort to really just wanting to make a great game in this universe, it's a shame that EA are the only ones allowed to at the moment. It's not even that their teams aren't good, it just seems like EA rule with an iron fist that's clenching money.

About the constitutional shit, yeah, you can say what you want but there can always be consequences. People get fired all the time for popping off on Twitter or Facebook, it is what it is.

Zer0Flinch2947d ago

Lol you think Disney isn’t all about the money LOL they paid 2 Billion dollars for the franchise. You talk about EA not caring about the franchise, have you seen the new movie? It’s obvious Disney is just making way for more revenue streams from Star Wars, they don’t care about the story either just the money the story makes.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 2947d ago
-Foxtrot2948d ago

EA: "It's fake news...move along people...nothing to see here"

Godmars2902948d ago

It not fake news, its dictated opinions. Authoritarian statements.

81BX2947d ago

It's more of a nothing burger at this point!

Godmars2902947d ago

@warriorcase:
We've gotten to and are well past a point in which publishers try to control the opinion of their games as they focus on profits rather than the actual value of a game. $60 games being designed to manipulate a small minority "willing" to be gouged for more money at the cost of any appeal it might have had towards the general majority. And its a joke.

Yeah, guess it is.

sizeofyou2947d ago

warriorcase was saying -Foxtrot was making a joke...but your lecture is on the right side of the argument nevertheless... 🤣

Razzer2947d ago

Thankfully their forums are not the only place people can speak. Like.....here, where they have no authority.

Godmars2902947d ago

@Razzer:
Their forums are still where most of the general market goes to. And places like here have "fans" who willfully defend "their" IPs even and especially when the likes of EA something greedy that compromises game quality.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 2947d ago
rainslacker2947d ago

EA really should have let this lay. Seems everything was settling down, which is typically of controversies after a week or two. This one went a bit longer, but overall, it ended quicker than I thought. While there still may be talk in their forums, I can't imagine it is like it was a couple weeks ago. Everytime they do do something to try and avoid any conflict, they just end up stirring the pot again. You'd think they'd know full well they can just ignore this stuff and it'll eventually go away. Since there isn't much way to fix things right now, it doesn't make sense to keep aggravating the issue.

Sciurus_vulgaris2948d ago

Looks like EA is working their way to another lawsuit.....

UltraNova2947d ago

EA: Been there done that 😎

Razzer2947d ago

Lawsuit? For what? Being a-holes? That is not against the law in most countries.

2947d ago
bluefox7552948d ago

Put those devs in their place EA! Why should they be able to talk...or have creative freedom!

JackBNimble2947d ago

Not that I care at all, but EA is their employer so unless they go indie, EA is their boss.
EA owns their creativity and the product, so I am sure EA has the right to say to their employees not to talk about their product in public forums.

PapaBop2947d ago (Edited 2947d ago )

Just like EA has the right to make their games in a way that lures children into online gaming but it doesn't make it morally acceptable.

JackBNimble2947d ago

I'm not defending EA, just stating a fact. I don't buy their games and if you don't like their practices then you shouldn't buy them either.
The company I work for has a policy that employees cannot go on Facebook or any other media outlets and talk about the company or risk being fired.
I know of one guy I worked with that was threatened with the possibility of a defamation lawsuit.

_-EDMIX-_2947d ago (Edited 2947d ago )

I mean just to play Devil's Advocate you kind of have to understand that these developers know exactly what they're getting into when they're working for a company.

They're not independent developers they're very much owned by Electronic Arts.

Sorry to say but if somebody wants creative freedom the best way to obtain it is to seek a publisher that is actually openly known to give that to an extent or to Simply Be Independent. I mean I want you to consider that you could say the exact same thing for almost any major corporation you work for.

uth112947d ago

so EA is evil for a practice every other company in the world does? got it.

no company is ok with employees giving unofficial public statements, its why devs online are usually anonymous

DillyDilly2948d ago

If Disney gives a damn they take away the license from EA

ClanPsi12948d ago

If Disney gave a damn they wouldn't have shut down LucasArts.

bloop2947d ago

If Disney gave a damn they might have gotten someone to proof read TLJ script before they released that abomination.

Benjaminkno2947d ago

@bloop
That movie demonstrates that’s disney could give a shit less about Star Wars in general.
Star Wars is dead to me.
the fact that they shut down Lucas Arts tells me everything I need to know about the games.
Last Jedi was indeed a disaster

RacerX2947d ago (Edited 2947d ago )

As a tribute, I went back and re-watched episodes 4-6... Dang what a great adventure, friendship, and storyline! Great and memorable characters! I mean, come on... Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are iconic household names. The best names they could come up with now is Rey and Finn? This one tiny detail, begins to highlight some much deeper issues... Mainly starting with a CASH GRAB by Disney.

Seriously, every little boy wanted to be Solo or Skywalker, every girl the Princess! Who wants to be a reject stormtrooper? Credit to Kylo Ren though. All my nephews want to be that guy LOL

The 10th Rider2948d ago

You're talking about a company that cut the X-Men from Marvel VS Capcom because they didn't own the film rights. Disney couldn't give a flying f*** about the video games as long as they sell well enough and don't impact the films or merchandising.

Even if Disney came out tomorrow and said they're breaking off the contract with EA you can bet it would be because they don't want to be associated with EA's PR mess and it has nothing to do with Disney actually caring about the video games.

_-EDMIX-_2947d ago

Agreed

What I think is so funny is that people have yet to even stop to consider that Disney is the one that even gave them the license in the first place. Trust me Disney does not care that Electronic Arts is implementing these type of tactics I would argue that's the exact reason why they even gave them the license. Electronic Arts also scored them the best selling Star Wars game in history this all has to do with money and I just don't believe Disney's going to walk away from money.

Ittoittosai2947d ago

People keep saying Disney gave EA the rights blah blah blah. EA had the rights before Disney owned LucasArts and Star Wars the least they did was green light EA's ideas EA has had the right to battlefront from the early 00's on.

_-EDMIX-_2947d ago

@Itt- either provide a link to prove that the licensing deal was something that was current or stop spreading misinformation.

https://www.hollywoodreport...

So you have to understand that licensing deals expire they're not something that just remain 100%.

Put it this way do you remember when Nintendo had the James Bond license? Do you remember when Electronic Arts had it? Do you remember when Activision had it?

Sooooooo yea.

When this deal first happened nowhere that I ever read they were just reminding you of a current deal that existed it's specifically told you that it was done by Disney. ...

It specifically said 10 years

I read nowhere that they're saying they're going to keep them with the license for 10 "more" years and I haven't read anything about them "continuing" a deal.

I mean dear God did you just disregard that Ubisoft made a series of Star Wars games?

So this deal was made by Disney, I have read nowhere that shows otherwise.

_-EDMIX-_2947d ago

Disney does care, they care about making money it's why they gave the license to Electronic Arts in the first place.

I want you to consider that Electronic Arts is just sold the best selling Star Wars game in history......

Disney is not going to walk away from those type of gargantuan numbers.

Strafe2947d ago

You want everyone to consider. That's why you use the word so much. You have to consider that you use the word 'consider' a lot. You have to consider that you think it makes you look intelligent in your long rambling speeches, but you have to consider that it doesn't.

I mean you have to consider that.

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40°

Best Star Wars Games Ranked by Replayability Guide

From SWTOR to KOTOR and Battlefront II, these are the best Star Wars games ranked by replayability. A guide to the games worth replaying today.

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30°

Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) on PS2 Was Bigger Than You Remember

Star Wars: Battlefront II on PS2 expanded scale, strategy, and storytelling, delivering one of the most ambitious Star Wars shooters of its era.

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80°

Star Wars Battlefront 2 player count skyrockets on Steam and all it took was a generous discount

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is currently available with a massive discount on Steam, which has caused its player count to rise in a big way.

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Community205d ago
1nsomniac205d ago

When are we going to get 1+2 on Switch 2?