EA has been sitting in hot water for a while now with an entire community of gamers observing their next move with cautious and watchful eyes. Their latest attempt to quell the anger from the Star Wars Battlefront II community meant liberating the game from “recurrent spending opportunities”, but the publisher’s hope is to find some compromise to bring it back on. According to EA CFO (Chief Financial Officer), Blake Jorgensen, they’re “not giving up” on microtransactions. Will it be the same for Anthem microtransactions?

The next triple-A title on EA’s list for publishing is BioWare’s highly anticipated Anthem. Based on the publisher’s reputation within the video game industry, its debut this Fall 2018 comes with hesitation. Even those with loyal hearts to BioWare and their franchises such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect, may fear that unfair microtransactions will weasel its way into a supposed science fiction RPG. However, an industry analyst believes otherwise.

According to industry analyst, Michael Pachter, EA is unlikely to make the same moves on Anthem microtransactions as they did with Star Wars Battlefront II. Assuming that microtransactions will continue, Pachter believes that it won’t follow the model it has been with other franchises, and may very well follow after Overwatch method. This means, though they will exist, it will purely be cosmetic items that won’t feed a pay-to-win design. Here’s the official word from Pachter:

So the question for Anthem is, will EA screw it up like with Star Wars?Or will they follow the Overwatch and Destiny roadmap, where the actual game is fun to play and the payments are ancillary? Because where they got into trouble with Star Wars was in making it pay to win. Had they limited themselves to purely cosmetic items, I don’t think anyone would have said anything. So Anthem has the potential to be Destiny like in terms of game experience, and Overwatch like in terms of microtansactions offered, where it’s all cosmetic and no one bats an eye.”

Furthermore, Pachter believes that “EA is on probation with gamers” at the moment and cannot “afford to put an onerous microtransaction scheme in any game going forward”. Despite having bad parents, Pachter believes Anthem will sell comfortable based on BioWare’s cult following alone, predicting approximately 7 to 8 million copies. That is if the game is as fantastic as gamers hope.

I think right now EA is on probation with gamers. I think everyone is watching everything they do. I don’t think they can afford to put an onerous microtransaction scheme in any game going forward, they need to re-earn gamers’ trust again. So I hope they are sobered by this experience, and learn from it. But I think they are smart people, so I am sure they will do the right thing going forward. We’ll see.”

BioWare’s Anthem is slated for release in Fall 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. What do you think will become of Anthem microtransactions? Do you believe Pachter is right in his prediction or do you believe EA is stubborn enough to refuse the audience? Let us know in the comments section below or start a conversation on Don’t Feed the Gamers Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming news as it happens, follow us on Twitter! Here’s some of our latest:

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