Show It’s Committed to Improving Current Games
2017 was definitely a rough year for EA, with multiple games releasing to a not quite so enthusiastic response from fans. This includes the rocky release of Mass Effect: Andromeda which was criticized for being not only buggy but bland, as well as the loot box fiasco that Star Wars Battlefront II brought. Sadly, Mass Effect: Andromeda only received a handful of updates, meaning the game only saw minor improvements. The rocky release even saw EA put the Mass Effect series on hold, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Star Wars Battlefront II had a disastrous problem with its loot boxes and microtransactions, something that almost immediately upset fans. This led to EA almost immediately pulling all microtransactions from the game, and it still hasn’t reintroduced them. Additionally, the negative conversation around Battlefront II clearly had an effect as the game only sold 1.3 million copies in its first week, compared to the 3.6 million the first Battlefront sold in the same time frame.
Because of this, it’s absolutely imperative that EA shows they’re committed to improving current experiences for players, not just focusing on what’s new. Battlefront II still needs work done with its microtransactions, and EA can really double down by giving players a continuous stream of new content, much like Titanfall 2 received. They need to provide incentives for players to keep going back to their games, and making all follow-up content free like with Battlefront II is a good way to do that. There’s a lot of goodwill that EA needs to win back from its fanbase, and debacles like Mass Effect: Andromeda really make people lose faith. Combine that with lukewarm receptions to games like Need for Speed Payback and the Sims 4 for consoles, and you definitely see some work that needs to be done. Really working on improving their current games would show that EA cares about quality and not just churning out the latest product.
