Word quickly spread around the internet and upset many people who were anticipating the game’s release. Crystals ranged in price from $5 for 500 to $100 for 12,000 crystals. While characters like Vader could not be purchased for money, players not willing to invest that amount of time could instead purchase crystals, a separate type of in-game currency than the credits, which could be used to buy loot boxes in the hopes that the boxes would contain the items they want. But in order to unlock iconic character Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader, estimates had gamers needing to spend 60,000 in-game credits which could be earned after an estimated 40 hours of gameplay.
In the week before the game’s wide release, “Battlefront II” was made available to play for subscribers to the EA Access service. The purchasable items in “Battlefront II” are being roundly criticized for providing a dramatically different gameplay experience and provide an unfair advantage over players who do not purchase them.