Battlefront II’s crate system garnered much negative fan backlash over its microtransaction-supporting existence, more so ita focus on their pay-to-win mentality. While EA has now temporarily removed microtransactions from the game to appease fans, the heat is still very much on the company. Belgium’s gaming commission has announced they will look into EA’s practices, and now, the State of Hawaii has also confirmed that they will investigate EA.

Hawaii State Representative Chris Lee made the announcement that he will lead a state-funded investigation into EA and similar gaming companies whose products veer close into, if not over the line of, gambling. The highlights seen above come from Chris Lee’s YouTube channel, in which he and his colleagues state that their investigation is meant to “ensure future protections for kids, youths and everyone when it comes to the spread of predatory practices in online gaming.” Lee effectively hammers the proverbial nail of his point by further declaring that Battlefront II is “a Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into spending money.” In the spirit of Admiral Ackbar, though perhaps not intentionally, he also calls the game “a trap.”

Lee seems to very well understand the controversy, conveying that the loot crate system seen in Battlefront II is very much an extension of the microtransaction systems seen previously in mobile games that had children unknowingly spend thousands of dollars in several cases. While all of this doesn’t inherently spell the death of loot crates and microtransactions in games any time soon, this investigation might surely give cause for developers to more carefully design monetization within games, or reconsider utilizing them altogether, in the future. What do you guys think about Hawaii’s decision to investigate EA? Let us know in the comments below.

Be sure to stay tuned about future developments in the EA Battlefront story, especially considering their previously stated intention to focus on progression boosts when microtransactions return, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers! Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live!