Recently due to the controversy surrounding Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and its loot boxes, EA announced their plans to temporarily suspend the feature. Given that in-game purchases have proven to be a good way to generate revenue from games beyond the initial purchase, it does seem like the suspension could affect EA’s earnings.However the publisher doesn’t seem to think so. In a disclosure in the filing made to investors, EA claims that the suspension of the feature will not harm the company’s earnings. “On November 16, 2017, Electronic Arts Inc. (“EA”) announced in a blog on its website at www.ea.com/news that it will turn off all in-game purchases for the Star Wars Battlefront II title until further notice. This change is not expected to have a material impact on EA’s fiscal year 2018 financial guidance.”
This seems to go against the predictions of analysts who believe that as a result, the game could sell below the predicted 14 million units sold in this fiscal year. It has also been noted that EA’s stock price has dropped following their announcement. We’re not sure why EA is confident that this will not harm their earnings.
It is possible that they see the suspension as temporary and that for the short time it is disabled, they don’t expect their losses to be that great. In the meantime regulators in various parts of the world are starting to look into loot boxes and whether or not they constitute as online gambling.