EA will be reinstating microtransactions into Star Wars Battlefront II, after they were initially removed due to fan backlash.

As we’ve all been advised before job interviews, dates, and meeting parents, first impressions are a huge deal. They’re not everything, though. 2015’s reboot of the Star Wars Battlefront series looked fantastic right from the off, and was widely praised for its sky-high production values. The content was sorely lacking, though, as John Boyega, Finn himself, complained.

Star Wars Battlefront II, in turn, had something big to prove, and fell way short of the mark. The game hit a nerve with gamers everywhere with its microtransactions; so much so that EA temporarily removed them from the game. Apparently, though, for whatever reason, the time’s now ripe to bring microtransactions back.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, Blake Jorgensen, finance chief at EA, has said that a ‘monetisation feature’ will be reinstated in Battlefront II “In the next few months.” He offered no more specific timeframe for this, elaborating only that “we’ll do it when we think it’s ready.”

Jorgensen also touched on the disappointing sales of the game, which were surely marred by the whole microtransactions debacle. Early in the title’s lifespan, while playing the beta, gamers found that the dread loot boxes were out in force. Not the awesome Star Wars kind of Force, either.

One of gamers’ biggest bugbears, pay to win, was strong with this one.

So, what is this new scheme going to entail? Have EA Learned their lesson? It’s too early to say. On the Xbox One’s launch, Microsoft had made a number of well-publicised questionable decisions with their approach to the system, and its momentum suffered as a result. They were forced to flip-flop on some of their policies as a result. So we are capable of change.

But what of EA and Battlefront II? Destructoid have emphasised that the game’s sales suffered, falling one million copies short of EA’s estimate and being beaten out by 2015’s Battlefront. They also report that EA DICE have previously promised to be working on “significant changes to progression,” and that they’ll have some details ready to share with players in March on that score.

Just what these changes will be remains a mystery for now. In-game purchases with real cash will be returning soon, we know that for certain, but will they truly be optional? Cosmetic items, perhaps, a still very real but slightly less egregious issue? Players will have to stay tuned to find out. Until we know anything concrete, though, let’s try and keep that glass half full.

Maybe the Ghost of Christmas Past has visited EA with his buddies, and taught them the error of their money-grubbing ways.