Star Wars Battlefront II "One of the Best Games We've Ever Built;" EA Boasts High Player Retention

Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen is proud of the quality of Star Wars Battlefront II, boasting high player retention.

[Snookies12]

Yeah, real shame your greed ruined it.

[-Foxtrot]

Highly doubt aswell they have such a high player retention

"he also added that player retention over time is better than most of Electronic Arts’ games"

Pffft...sure.

These guys are living in their own world. Reminds me of Microsoft after the awful Xbox One reveal except on steroids.

[TankCrossing]

Player retention as a percentage probably is better. The backlash for the game started before launch, so the people that still bought it knew what they were letting themselves in for (or weren't the type to care).

EA are basically spinning a positive out of the fact that many people "on the fence" never bought the game, so they were never lost.

[thekhurg]

Considering the servers are full pretty much non-stop across all game modes, they're probably not joking.

[arkard]

Full of AFK'ers grinding credits while they are working or sleeping.

[TheSaint]

Player retention is different from actual player numbers. If three people bought it and are still playing it that's 100% player retention....

[ravinash]

player retention is good because you have to play for ages to get anywhere.

I'm sure the game probably is great, but if you try to stiff people, their not going to trust you enough to came back and play the game.

[fiveby9]

Nothing is more immersion breaking than the system they devised. Having to jump out of game into the loot box system is dreadful. EA is a lost cause. I'm skeptical of what Bioware will be forced to do with Anthem due to EA interference. Due to the financial "success", EA had with FIFA Ultimate Team, they will try to do that same type of BS with Anthem too. When all you have is a hammer...everything looks like a nail.

[InTheZoneAC]

I've opened 3 loot boxes so far as I realized I had to save for Vader and other heroes. The loot boxes(without the ability to pay for them with real money) are not much different than other loot boxes in other games. I know these provide in game enhancements but to me that's fine as long as people aren't allowed to pay for them to be boosted earlier than the rest. I do like the current progression system as not everyone is stacked from the get go.

[threefootwang]

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

I just hope BioWare and Dice survives out of all this.

[Cernunnos]

Bioware is already dead. If you think Anthem will be anything than a mindless shooter with lots and lots of micro transactions, then I think you're in for dissappointment.

[bloop]

I'm sure Anthem will definitely have mt's but as greedy as they are they can't be that stupid to not take into account what's happening with BFII, can they?!?! If articles of sales are anything to go by would they really risk it again? BFII has fallen well short of expected sales and they've lost a shit tonne of expected revenue. If they pull the same stunt with Anthem, it's dead on arrival too and they'll lose another huge chunk of cash. It'll be interesting to see how stupid EA really are.

[Relientk77]

EA "One of the Best Games We've Ever Built... for ripping off gamers"

[FlameBaitGod]

They should boast about losing 3.1 billion in stock value LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

[indysurfn]

That is something for all the fools to think about. All the fools that repeated the market pitch: "micro-transactions are here to stay, accept them". NO!

[RadicalCannibal]

High player retention isn’t something to boast about less than a month in

[killswitch80]

its too bad most people haven't played it and see that you can easily unlock all the heroes and pick three cards to max out easily for each trooper. You receive crafting parts and can craft everything. You do not need all the cards unlocked most them are pointless or only fit a certain persons playstyle....this was the most overblown thing in video game history.

[Nyxus]

Hm, let's see, Metacritc: 68 - mixed or average reviews. If that's the best you can do, okay.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Low standards lol.

[Tedakin]

Too be fair all the bad reviews are based on the microtransactions. Hardly anyone actually reviewed the game itself.

[thehitman1398]

But microtransactions is the core of the game. You would know this, if you hardly actually played the game itself

[jeromeface]

what thehitman1398 said...

[T2X]

Exactly, the game itself is excellent for what it is. It's a Star Wars game. I'm enjoying the campaign very much. Then I'll jump into the mp. So far, I don't see what the problem gamewise is. The mt are stupid in all games, but if someone wants to spend their money on them, fine for them. I'm not.

[Mikelarry]

buhahahahahahahahha, well they aint gonna come out and talk bad about it, but we all know

[isarai]

No

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Nope your stocks, metacritic, subrreddit downcount record says otherwise. Stop lying buddy

[-Foxtrot]

3 Billion they've lost

EA:

http://www.reactiongifs.us/...

[BuildTheWall]

Hope E.A. loses billions more.

[thorstein]

Their stocks dropped from $109 to $105 and are now at $106.

Please. EA is not going anywhere. Besides, you don't buy stocks based on daily ups and downs.

EA, no matter if you love or hate them, are a money making machine. "Metacritic" mehticritic.

Social media has little to no impact. If you really think the negative press and the opinion pieces are going to have any impact, think again. Come back to this comment in 6 months and you'll see the same practices.

[indysurfn]

If that was true companies would not fire Executives for causing stock drops. Every sale has a LOSER on the other side and these downs average out and create momentum. It did not go down only for social media, but because of SALES forecast was NOT MET. Which is HARD DOLLARS.

EA has 307 MILLION outstanding shares it is setting at 105.49 109 subtract 105.49=$1,077,000,000.

that's 1 billion and 77 million DOLLARS VALUE LOST

[Dario_DC]

EA: "we ruin our games"
Mass effect
Need for speed
Star wars battlefront
Mirrors edge
These are just the latest ones...
Shame on you EA, shame on you..

[DialgaMarine]

Might as well just add Battlefield to the list, since it’s obvious they won’t have learned crap by next fall.

[Dario_DC]

I'm not an MP guy and I've spent over 75 hours on BF4 (despite the horrible launch) , played BFone a few times and it didn't kept me interested enough to continue. So I don't really care much about the next battlefield.

[Goldby]

Bf4 was the last good battlefield

[SegaGamer]

THIS is one of the best games you have ever built ? Even if you removed the microtransactions controversy, it still isn't anything special. It's got a ton of bugs in it for a start ( like every EA game ) and the gameplay is ok-ish at best. Mediocre is the nicest word i can use for this game.

If they truly believe this is one of the best games they have ever built then they have really low standards.

[-Foxtrot]

This guy gets it

What people fail to realize is that if you take the Loot boxes and MTs away it's a very badly made game, sure it's pretty, the sounds are superb and the graphics are great but the multiplayer feels generic, it gets stale, the single player is awfully written, it's short, unfinished, there's a shit load of bugs in it. Look it up guys...it's not pretty.

[Jinger]

Have you played it?

[_-EDMIX-_]

That's the thing Fox when you go full hard Edge against the publisher in regards to expressing how much you hate them it's very difficult to take most of what you say seriously about the game.

I mean put it this way regardless of any publisher that I dislike you'll find that I'll still compliment a good game when it's actually fun even if I disagree with the Publishers practices.

I mean you might hear me complain about Capcom Nintendo Microsoft and many other Publishers but I still play their games if there are actually fun.

But your dislike for this publisher actually makes it extremely difficult to ever believe that you even played enough of it to render a real unbiased opinion.

As of right now this is the most content packed Battlefront that is actually ever released or Star Wars game to ever release. And it's going to be getting free content

[Rachel_Alucard]

It's awful. I've hopped on a few times every so often and the maps are all choke point heaven, low ticket counts and even if you win an overtime you only get 30 tickets back, a delayed loss. These people saying it's a good game if the MTxs were removed are full of shit and can only see surface level problems without actually examining why something is poorly made. All the maps are ass and I could write a 2 page essay on balancing between the classes.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Outside of the microtransactions in the really bad progression system this is a very high-quality game and is very fun.

If this game didn't have the garbage progression system as well as the whole microtransactions I actually think it probably would have been up there with one of the highest regarded titles this year.

They fixed so much with the game and from my point of view it feels so much better than the first game.

This publisher just doesn't understand that sometimes you have to just let these things go as they're going to hurt you more than help you. This entire microtransaction controversy has only caused Electronic Arts to lose money.

I truly believe that Battlefront 3 needs to release with zero microtransactions and they will have a much warmer reception. A lot of this controversy has unfortunately overshadowed a lot of the great things that were done with Battlefront 2.

[BLow]

Thank you for making an honest assessment of the game and not following the sheep to just say it's bad because of MTs. I might actually pick this up later(used) just for the Singleplayer. Thanks for your impression of the game.

[JBaby343]

I agree with you. It is a very well done game with tons of content. If not for the MTs and progression it would be fantastic. Still lots of fun in SP and MP but even more if you're a fan of co-op and offline action against bots.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Let's be real about it. If you remove the [justified] hate for EA, the microtransactions, and the progression system, it's actually a very good game underneath that. That's really the saddest part about it. It sure as hell isn't mediocre.

[Liqu1d]

Are we sure this guy is a CFO and not a comedian?

[Felsager]

"Star Wars Battlefront II "One of the Best Games We've Ever Built;" EA Boasts High Player Retention"

Keep dreaming....

[Felsager]

Looks like many misunderstood my comment.

EA, is simply delusional. They threw away Battlefront 2 with thanks to their own greed. Now they pretend something that is completely false.

EA, you are the one to blame for being shortsighted. You can't impose your greed towards your customers.

[Jinger]

The game is very solid with plenty of content. Just got a very bad rap because of the progression system and the massive bandwagon hate. EA/Dice gets assaulted while Activision/Sledge Hammer are off scot-free doing the same thing with WWII. Star Citizen can sell ships for thousands and charge you for a 4x4 storage space, but lets not say anything about that. No, EA/Dice/Battlefront 2 is the only devil...

[Nyxus]

Just because another game does something doesn't mean EA should go free. They deserve all the criticism. Have you read Blake's comments recently?

[DialgaMarine]

His comment doesn’t even deserve that much credit; he’s bringing up CoD WW2, but the loot box systems from both games don’t even compare. CoD is purely cosmetic, while BF2 is directly linked to progression.

[jznrpg]

All of the games you mentioned suck because of loot whoring and I did not buy one of them. I agree SWBF2 isnt the only one who should get the hate but what they got was deserved

[OB1Biker]

Seems you more or less agree with him. I agree its a good thing they get flak because of the loot crates getting in the way of a fair progression.
Me and the people I play with like the game very much but we can still see the loot crates and progression are wrong. Hopefully that can improve. It doesn't have to be all black or white.

[-Foxtrot]

"Badwagon Hate"

Why are you white knighting this game? Seriously...what do you benefit from it? The evidence is completely out of your favour so why try and defend a badly made buggy game with awful anti consumer practices stuck to it?

The thing is we usually do complain about other things, it's just EA is stringing this out with really bad PR bullshit like this instead of keeping their mouths shut.

[Jinger]

What do I gain from it? Your replies make my day, Foxtrot.

I personally haven't run into any bugs or glitches. So far its been a very solid, fun experience.

[FunAndGun]

A catalyst for change has to start somewhere. There are many reasons why BF was at the forefront for this issue.

[Elwenil]

Ah, the EA shill. Working hard for your paycheck I see. We should just mark all your posts as spam since you are a corporate puppet jerking whenever your strings are pulled by EA.

[Jinger]

Okay

[DialgaMarine]

Your comment is BS, and you clearly haven’t even played CoD WW2. NOTHING in the supply drops (the loot boxes) is tied to progression. It’s all calling cards, pistol grip designs, weapon skins, and character outfits; ie it’s all cosmetic and has zero actual effect on the gameplay. Everything from weapons to weapon upgrades is still unlocked through ranking up, just like in every other CoD title of the last 10 years. The fact that you have to use loot boxes in BF2 to get upgrades for your weapons proves EA/ DICE are doing far more abuse.

[Jinger]

Okay bud, how about you look into the new loot drops they just put in with the inclusion of their CoD points.

https://www.vg247.com/2017/...

[DialgaMarine]

Uncharted 4 has a similar system with the DLC Gameplay chests, and they were all easy as hell to unlock without spending a dime. Since you obviously didn’t even read your own source, it explicitly says those new supply drops aren’t out yet, so they still don’t know how exactly they will work, and there’s no evidence that anything is locked behind a paywall/ affects progression like in BF2.

[Grodd]

One of the biggest differences is that Call of Duty has always had a costly DLC.
Battlefront 2's DLC is free, so to help cover the costs they went the loot box route. Not saying its correct, but since they listed to fans and removed it, maybe now we can tell em what we want.

[Grodd]

I agree For $44 on e-bay its one hell of a deal. Great maps.

[King Nezz]

Of course the game has a high player retention, it is still fairly new. Give it a month and see if that is still the case. If players are still playing it, then you can gloat.

[Mexxan]

All the games you mentioned do not have pay to win as the business and neither do they channel you to buy the Mt's because they are critical to win.

[Dante101]

Yet they're talking about it cuz I guess sales wise it is not performing well even after black Friday ( Coming from a game store employee )

[MunchMiller00]

Blake Jorgensen should have a nice, tall can of STFU.

High player retention. ROFL It's been out for what... 10 days? HAHAHAHA.

[KryptonKronos]

Why don't you boast about a 3.1 billion dollar drop in stock value since you released this turd. Whatever drugs these Chief financial colour Sergeants of EA are taking, i want some.

[2cents]

'listening & learning'?

Learning a lesson not to be such rip-off merchants? Or learning how to better mask gambling?

[Relientk77]

EA are such a joke, glad they lost 3 billion in stocks and hope they lose more.

[Kornholic]

Then what does that say of your previous titles?

[Einhander1971]

I don't care EA I really don't

[brownbanana]

He's so proud of the stock dropping a whopping 3 billion buckaroos. Ouch!

[BadElf]

HOld up....let me check the definition of "retention"

[Der_Kommandant]

His ass is jealous from all the shit coming out of his mouth.

[HeroPsychoDreamer]

He's got to say something positive, although not producing any numbers. Probably trying to calm down the shareholders, since the EA share has gone down by 10% the last month.

Stop Supporting EA.

[Doomeduk]

Girlfriend bought it for me on release, 3 days later it's in cex sold and replaced with both yakuza games I have battlefield one, sorry but you can't beat a good old bolt action online

[dolfa]

Seriously, how good is the game - gameplay wise when compared to Battlefront 2005?

[Immorals]

Limited and underwhelming. Feels very restricted

[Chaos_Order]

You didn't even build it. You're the publisher, not the developer. All you did was force Dice's hand into making the loot box system. *slow clap* WOW EA, you worked SO HARD.

[Profchaos]

Easy to retain small numbers probably just the few that purchased all the MTS

[KwietStorm_BLM]

High player retention? It just came out.

[Tedakin]

Now fix progression and you've got something here.

[Ittoittosai]

Um wasnt there a story just yesterday how people were building robots because they wete tired of playing the game already. We already know you people are Liars EA this PR positive spin isnt going to stop the decline in your stock or gamers outrage.

[jeromeface]

Completely overshadowed by the worst advancement system we've ever developed.....

[Yodagamer]

Yeah you and pandemic made a really great game. It's a shame about the latest though

[lio_convoy]

They gotta say something so the shareholders don't get spooked, I guess.

[BenjaMan64]

Well, the game is actually good, I've not had any problems finding matches, although I do agree that upgrades for your classes being mostly randomized do set back the experience a little. Also, the single player campaign isn't horrible, but it's not memorable either save for a certain spoken line in the last stage.

The average customer doesn't care about loot boxes according to certain sources, in a few months the whole controversy will be mostly forgotten except by the most persistent crusaders and people obsessed with denouncing and hating everything EA does... and when the new movie strikes this holiday season, sales and player number will surely skyrocket.

[ClanPsi1]

I sure hope retention is high. The game's only been out for two weeks.

[Psychosious]

Wait, they are talking player retention, after two weeks? Lol. Seen all this empty game shelves, but still swbf2 sitting there all lonely...

[rocketpanda]

Could of been.

[zb1ftw777]

Imagine how much better
It would have done if you hadn't of fucked it up so bad.

[Segata]

Aside from the loot box crap the game is still a buggy mess. It's trash no matter what. EA going to be EA.

[DialgaMarine]

So 4 if the 5 people who bought the game are still playing it? Cool.

[kparks]

Player retention? The games been out for like a week. LOL

[stefd75]

and one of the best games I wont buy because of E ( how much money can we make of the gamers ) A ....I am so proud of the gamers all standing up to them.

[InTheZoneAC]

Bought used, I'm enjoying it for the most part. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the flight controls though. The first battlefront had way too much hand holding in flight combat and I can fly fairly easily in battlefield 3, 4, and 1, but for some reason I struggle with roll. And whose idea was it to have normal pitch controls for flying instead of inverted. That is the one time inverted should be mandated.

[C-H-E-F]

Any game can be one of your best games if you have 1000 average games all one thousands of those games are one of your best games lOl.

[guyman]

No it's sure as shit not one of the best games you've built

[GNCFLYER]

Not all gamers are on the internet talking about this hobby they have. Sure they are going to have lots of sales. It doesn't change the fact they likely lost a million or better.

Spin it however you want EA. You not only hurt yourself with this game but with your other titles as well. This company is gaining a worse reputation by the day.

[EatCrow]

"boasting high player retention"

No shit. They use them robots for quite a long tiime since they made unlocking shit take forever.

[Grodd]

Its a good game one you get past all of the hate. Most of the hate comes from the last one getting an incomplete game and paying $110 for it +DLC and no campaign. Here you get a much deeper game, much better Spaceflight, lots of free DLC, a nice 5-6 hour campaign plus another free 1+ hour campaign coming. Despite some claims you can unlock Darth in 2 hours. I see a lot of misinformation here and on reddit.
I get why EA did it (to pay for free DLC) and I get some of the hate also. But I don't buy loot boxes.