Analyst Says Video Game Companies Might Limit Use Of Monetization Schemes After Battlefront 2 Controversy

Star Wars Battlefront II was surrounded by controversy during its release last year. There was a lot of outrage over Electronic Art's "pay to win" system in the Star Wars Battlefront sequel and in the end the backlash racked up so much strength, video game publisher had to put a hold on the microtransactions it originally had in place in the game.

Now, in a new interview with CNBC, Cowen banking firm analyst Doug Creutz predicts that game companies will be cutting down on placing microtransactions in their video games.

"Game development times are getting longer, and R&D costs are growing faster than they had previously. This isn't a monopoly business…Angering your customer with bad MTX (Microtransactions) does matter," Creutz explained.

Though gamers would complain about various game companies' microtransaction systems, there were a few games that became notorious for its "pay-to-win" schemes. Creutz, however, expects the scene to change after Star Wars Battlefront 2.

"(Star Wars: Battlefront II) had pretty clearly significantly underperformed expectations and remains without a live services revenue stream, while Destiny 2 has at the least suffered some unwanted engagement attrition," Creutz said. "We suspect that 2018 will see a pullback on industry attempts aggressively drive MTX growth as a result. "It's not just that gamers are angry and complaining. There have clearly been performance consequences for the games involved. And in an industry where every company is dependent upon a relatively small number of franchises, this matters."

Of course, the sales performance of games does matter. Thankfully it seems like companies like EA are finally listening to what players have been asking for, for years – a better look at their monetization schemes. Hopefully, this new wave will change the status quo of the industry.

Star Wars Battlefront II is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

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