EA Pledges To Learn From Star Wars Battlefront 2 Loot Box Fiasco To Make Anthem Better

EA has a lot of work to do in order to win back the trust of gamers after the infamous Star Wars Battlefront II loot box fiasco, especially if they want to see a mass community built for their upcoming Anthem title.

The company’s image took a serious negative hit when controversy surrounding the ethics and legality of loot boxes in video games arose thanks to their system, turning people off of the Star Wars title and leaving a bad taste in the mouths of gamers when it comes to EA titles.

EA’s new Chief Design Officer Patrick Söderlund is aiming to right the wrong, and is looking to upcoming titles such as Anthem and Battlefield 5 as a means to do so.

“I’d be lying to you if I said that what’s happened with Battlefront and what’s happened with everything surrounding loot boxes and these things haven’t had an effect on EA as a company and an effect on us as management,” Söderlund said in an interview with Verge.

“We can shy away from it and pretend like it didn’t happen, or we can act responsibly and realize that we made some mistakes, and try to rectify those mistakes and learn from them.”

Star Wars Battlefront 2’s system of loot boxes and microtransactions has been completely overhauled, but did it do enough to win back gamers?

Only time will tell.

“We have taken significant steps as a company to review and understand the mechanics around monetization, loot boxes, and other things in our games before they go to market,” he says. “For games that come next, for Battlefield or for Anthem, [players have] made it very clear that we can’t afford to make similar mistakes. And we won’t.”