Andromeda was EA’s test-run for Battlefront’s lootboxes

www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/11/14/activision-is-doing-loot-boxes-right-ea-is-doing-them-horribly-wrong/#1dfe7923b247

“Yeah, I’m heading back here, as I think this was a loot box system that was a canary in the coal mine a lot of what EA is doing now, even if it wasn’t as clear or as controversial at the time with everyone so focused on funny face memes. Mass Effect Andromeda got away with its loot boxes because it wasn’t a PvP multiplayer game. There was nothing in the co-op vs. AI mode that would “unbalance” it in favor of anyone except the players over the AI, so if your teammates were whales, that only really helped you.

But all of that was cover for what was pretty much the most clear example of a mobile gacha model in a AAA console game I’ve seen to this point. The way you got new heroes in the multiplayer mode was to find them in loot boxes. And to take them to their max potential, you had to find multiple copies of them, as dupes would take them to mass rank. But on some of the more rare heroes, that was next to impossible, and you could spend hundreds of dollars on randomized loot boxes and still not max the hero you wanted, or even find them in the first place. And yes, in every single way the game sold power, as duping weapons would make them stronger and you’d also get consumable items that would heavily turn the tide of battle. All of this was ignored because it was just co-op, but it was a sign of things to come.”

Pretty brilliant actually.