This could get really ugly really fast. Electronic Arts (EA) and Marvel have recently announced that they will be collaborating on three Marvel-related games, even though EA’s track record with franchise games hasn’t been the best.
Saying that EA has had a spotty track record with huge franchise games is like saying the Death Star caused a minor disruption to the daily lives of the citizens of Alderaan. It’s a HUGE understatement.
Not only has EA been widely criticized for its greedy uses of the ‘Ultimate Team’ modes in games like Madden, FIFA, and NHL, but has also overseen one of the most notorious game launch debacles in video gaming history: Star Wars: Battlefront 2.
Yeah, remember this game? It seems like a lifetime ago now, considering the fact that EA stopped making the games due to the extreme backlash this game received, that Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was in the news, but no one should forget how horrific it was immediately after it was launched.
Using the Star Wars’ fanbases excitement against them, EA kept huge chunks and portions of the game, such as characters, missions, locations, weapons, upgrades, etc., hidden behind paywalls that would end up costing 20-50X the base price of the video game itself.
Seriously, the release day price of Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was $60, but it cost 60,000 credits (which is equivalent to app. $100) just to buy the Darth Vader hero. JUST DARTH VADER!
And, as I said, the vast majority of heroes that are icons to so many fans, such as Luke Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, and Princess Leia Skywalker, were also hidden behind similar paywalls. Even Iden Versio, the main character to the single-player campaign EA created specifically for this game, was hidden behind a 20,000-credit paywall in the multiplayer modes. How greedy must you be to lock off your own original characters?
Nonetheless, these callous and shady practices were widely and rightfully condemned as EA was forced to backtrack faster than their executives would jump into a den of vipers if a 100-dollar bill was at the bottom (which would be very quick) and reduced the prices to much more reasonable figures. Though, the damage was already done and the sequel to the game, Star Wars: Battlefront 3, was dropped entirely after only two years.
Anyway, this all relates back to this Marvel collaboration announcement as it’s practically the same situation. With Disney seemingly not caring that the Battlefront franchise was ruined because of EA’s greed and ruthlessness, they’ve only emboldened the video game developer to add even more loot boxes and paywalls into these new Marvel games.
And don’t tell me EA wouldn’t do that as those vultures posing as executives would sell their own mothers for a few extra microtransactions sales. Moreover, I’m afraid too many people (especially kids with their parent’s credit cards) will willingly splash their cash on these expensive microtransactions games, even though these games’ prices are destined to topple $80 come release day.
Do you really think that EA won’t charge us an arm and a leg for a single player, third person, action-adventure Iron Man game? We’ll be lucky if said game doesn’t cost us both arms and legs.
But, maybe I’m wrong and EA has learned their lesson with loot boxes and microtransactions. Though, seeing how the ‘Ultimate Teams’ in Madden and FIFA have divulged into literal gambling, I think I’m quite right to be extremely cynical.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Marvel) (Marvel’s Iron Man 3 Domestic Trailer 2 (OFFICIAL) – YouTube)
