Controversy over Star Wars Battlefront 2 has sent EA stock plummeting over $3 billion, even after the microtransactions controversy earlier this month.
We all know by now that EA has really stuck their foot in their mouths this time with the Battlefront 2 controversy, but in addition to hitting the company’s already awful public image, the game’s horrific reception has sent EA stock plummeting nearly $3 billion, likely due to all the bad press recently.
This is especially ironic considering that, after EA took microtransactions out of the game just before it launched, they had to assure their shareholders that they wouldn’t experience any loss of revenue. One has to wonder what those shareholders are thinking now.
In addition to the microtransaction trouble, EA is also experiencing a great deal of other controversy as more and more idiotic statements are made, such as the studio taking out customization (which was something that players could work towards in the first Battlefront game, back in 2015) due to “concerns for canon”.
This is despite the fact that not only was there customization in the first game (which was only limited to soldiers, not heroes), but that heroes from multiple different eras can fight on the same map no matter what time period it’s in. Yeah, let’s have Kylo Ren fighting Yoda, or Darth Maul fight Emperor Palpatine. Remember when that happened in canon?
One also has to wonder what Disney is thinking, since they were the ones that gave the rights to make Star Wars games to EA in the first place. While Disney apparently intervened in getting EA to remove microtransactions in response to all of the bad press, they might very well take the license away from EA if they can’t keep fans happy and keep games profitable.
Either way, hopefully the sight of EA stock plummeting in such huge amounts will be enough to shock EA into action and get their act together before they lose out on an enormous market.
