'Star Wars Battlefront II' News: Analyst Disagrees With Fans Backlash; Explains Why Gamers Are Actually 'Undercharged'
Electronic Arts has been under scrutiny for how it designed the microtransactions of its newly-released game, "Star Wars Battlefront II." However, an analyst recently commented that gamers were actually "undercharged" for the locked game contents.
In a recent note to investors that was obtained by CNBC, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Evan Wingren said that gamers seemed to have overreacted based on the criticisms that EA has been getting.
Wingren said: "Gamers aren't overcharged, they're undercharged (and we're gamers). ... This saga has been a perfect storm for overreaction as it involves EA, Star Wars, reddit, and certain purist gaming journalists/outlets who dislike [microtransactions]."
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The analyst's comments were based on the predicted per day cost of playing video games and spending on microtransactions versus other paid entertainment services such as pay television and movies.
Wingren's analysis said that if someone who played for 2.5 hours every day spends $20 per month on microtransactions, it would only amount to 40 cents per game session. In comparison, he added this cost was lower than the average 60-65 cents per day cost of TV viewing, 80 cents for movie rentals, and over $3 for movie theaters.
"If you take a step back and look at the data, an hour of video game content is still one of the cheapest forms of entertainment," Wingren further explained. "Quantitative analysis shows that video game publishers are actually charging gamers at a relatively inexpensive rate, and should probably raise prices."
It can be recalled that in the days leading to "Battlefront II's" launch, gamers looking to play the title were extremely disappointed after learning that an array of essential playable characters were locked in the microtransactions.
While there is an option not to pay real money for these game contents, players commented that the hours it would take to unlock all contents in "Battlefront II" were unjustifiably long.
Following the backlash, EA was forced to temporarily shut down the microtransactions upon "Battlefront II's" launch.
Despite Wingren disagreeing with the general consensus of the players toward "Battlefront II," the analyst commented that EA handled the situation poorly. In the same note, he forecasted that the video game company was unlikely going to reach the previously predicted 13 million unit sales of the game.
