Another rather intriguing story than annoying, in which microtransactions come as the main topic. Need for Speed, Electronic Arts most popular racing franchise is up to receive a new series named Heat. Need for Speed: Heat won’t be adding loot boxes that will grant benefits over other players, unlike in Payback, putting microtransactions at the minimum. But, wasn’t this the story of Battlefield V too?
Back in the days of pre-release of BFV, Electronic Arts has openly stated that there will be no loot boxes or any microtransactions coming to BFV. Everything was set to be a part of the progression system, unlike what it is today.
At the very beginning of the BFV hype, the developers stepped on the same scale as the community, neglecting microtransactions at any cost, for a couple of months later the game to receive a brand new currency that can be bought with real money and used to purchase skins.
It is somewhat easy to smell the similarity between then and now, and no matter how EA states everything to be bound to progression, it may take a slightly different turn as the time goes by.
This comes from the mouth of Ben Walke, which in a Reddit thread, he firmly declined the addition of loot boxes and their potential upcome in the future. According to his answer:
There are no Lootboxes in NFS Heat and there won’t be.
But yet again, the same sort of confirmation was given pre-release of Battlefield V. As first acknowledged; everything was set to be bound to progression. Do not get me wrong; indeed, everything was related to the progression system rather than a paycheck. But, as time went by and the game started losing its player base, EA had to find a way to mesmerize the loss.
The whole gaming media boldly believe in these statements and hope that EA will finally put an end to loot boxes. But, are they? We’ll have to wait and see for the final verdict.