EA scraps in-game purchases for now

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Gamers play the video game ‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ developed by DICE, Criterion Games and Motive Studios and published by Electronics Arts on Sony PlayStation game consoles PS4 Pro during the ‘Paris Games Week’ on October 31, 2017 in Paris, France.

EA has temporarily scrapped a controversial money-making feature in its “Star Wars Battlefront II” video game which was released on Friday, following backlash from fans online.

The controversy centered around in-game purchases that allow players to save time by spending real money to make key characters like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader available to play with. Traditional games require players to play for a certain number of hours or do specific tasks in order to “unlock” rewards and characters.

Many fans were outraged that the game, which already costs $60 to purchase, was trying to introduce a “pay-to-win” culture, where those who were spending more would advance further.

On Tuesday, EA said it was reducing the cost to unlock key characters by 75 percent.

And on Friday, the firm said that it was turning off all in-game purchases, but only for a temporary period.

“We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing and tuning. This means that the option to purchase crystals in the game is now offline, and all progression will be earned through gameplay,” EA said in a statement.