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Earlier today (or yesterday, depending on when you're reading this), we reported on some rather rough Star Wars Battlefront 2 news. The story covered the outrage sweeping across the 'net regarding the game's increasingly controversial loot boxes and the notion that heroes -- that's Darth Vader and the other powerful, named characters -- would be locked behind huge in-game currency costs. Word quickly spread that it would take around 40 hours of grinding to unlock just one hero if you didn't want to spend any real money on microtransactions to speed up the process. Naturally, people are up in arms, and you certainly can't blame them.

The aforementioned controversy surrounding Star Wars Battlefront 2 is nothing new, and you can tell that EA is starting to enter damage control mode -- at least to some extent. Between attempting to talk things out with prominent YouTubers and issuing statements to the media, the company is definitely trying to scrub away the stain of negativity that now sits over the title just days ahead of its launch.

With that in mind, it's no real surprise that the publisher is now saying it'll lower the in-game currency cost of heroes. In an official post, DICE executive producer John Wasilczyk writes "Listening, and providing choices in how you play, will always be our principle with Star Wars Battlefront II. We want to ensure the game is balanced and fun both today and for years into the future. Making games great comes from regular tuning."

Wasilczyk continues: "We’re reducing the amount of credits needed to unlock the top heroes by 75%. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader will now be available for 15,000 credits; Emperor Palpatine, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa for 10,000 credits; and Iden at 5,000 credits. Based on what we’ve seen in the trial, this amount will make earning these heroes an achievement, but one that will be accessible for all players."

That sounds way more reasonable, but it's a real shame that it took such a widespread backlash to force change. Still, it just goes to show that if you can get enough people to rally against something, it can be altered for the better. Fighting the good fight and all that.

Of course, this won't be the last that we hear of Battlefront 2's loot boxes. Regardless of your own feelings on all of this, it's going to be interesting to see what kind of impact, if any, all of this negativity will have on the game's initial sales figures. We won't have to wait too long to find out.

[source ea.com]