'Star Wars Battlefront II' shoots down in-game purchases right before release day

Like the Death Star, EA's loot box disaster loomed over the release of Star Wars Battlefront II.

Now, the day before the game's release, it looks like the rebels have won ... for now. EA removed "crystals" -- which cost IRL cash -- from the game on Thursday after fans revolted.

The criticism was that people who spent tons of money would have an unfair advantage during multiplayer battles. Also, that cash wouldn't just buy cosmetic items — it would give you access to Star Cards, which could give you credits to unlock special characters, including Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. (Yes, it's complicated, and yes, we have an explainer.)

"We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages," wrote Oskar Gabrielson, general manager of DICE, the game's developer. "And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game. This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right."

"We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases."

EA's initial response to the controversy resulted in the most downvoted Reddit comment of all time, so after Thursday's news, fans were pretty stoked.

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So, victory? Not so fast. Those crystals are coming back, but not until they've been fixed, um, somehow.

"The ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date, only after we’ve made changes to the game," Gabrielson wrote. "We’ll share more details as we work through this."