College Football 27, EA Sports’ latest edition of the popular pigskin video game series, was released last week to both massive fanfare and scathing critiques.
The big sticking point for a number of college football and gaming fans was the introduction of microtransactions, a practice involving paying real money to unlock features in the game.
Microtransactions have become increasingly prevalent in modern video games, but the idea of putting them into the latest College Football game seemed absurd even a year ago.
YOUTUBER BORDEAUX GOES IN DEPTH ON EA SPORTS COLLEGE FOOTBALL 27’S ‘MICRO TRANSACTIONS’
Many fans pushed back on the concept of microtransactions and voiced their displeasure on social media, and none were more vocal than YouTuber Bordeaux.
The content creator became the tip of the spear in a grassroots campaign to get EA to remove microtransactions from the game entirely, even adopting the hashtag #CFBPlayDontPay.
Bordeaux wasn’t the only content creator attempting to hold EA Sports accountable, but he was one of the biggest and earliest to do so, a move that could have been disastrous for his career as a college football video game YouTuber.
I asked him whether that had any impact on his decision to lead the charge against EA in our conversation last week, but Bordeaux insisted it never entered his mind.
“No matter what, I have never needed a partnership to do something,” Bordeaux said, referring to his multi-year collaboration with EA. “The game is good, I’m never going to backtrack on that opinion. It’s just the fact that they’re putting those microtransactions in, is where I have to draw the line and say, ‘Do not spend money on this.'”
It would appear as though Bordeaux’s efforts paid off, as EA announced that it will be doing away with microtransactions for this year’s version of their game in a lengthy post on X late last week.
While the move was (and should be) seen as a win from the online community – prompting Bordeaux himself to post a video on his YouTube channel titled “We Won” – the language used by EA with regard to “providing service plans for CFB28” could mean this victory is short-lived.
Regardless, for the time being, it looks like Bordeaux accomplished what he set out to do when this whole crusade started.
“I wanted to speak my mind on how I felt, and raise some awareness to it,” Bordeaux said last week. “Because I felt like it was unfair, a lot of us creators were blindsided… I wanted to say my piece, draw my line and say ‘I can’t work with them after this.’
“I was hoping that they would address it and listen to the community.”
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With the news that EA will roll back microtransactions, there’s a chance Bordeaux will find his way back to them for a partnership somewhere down the line.
When I asked him what a road back to EA would look like, Bordeaux laid it out simply.
“Take out microtransactions completely, bring back all of the features that they removed, and never go in the direction of making “Dynasty” and “Road to Glory” a mode with microtransactions, especially offline.
“If they really took that stance, I’m okay again,” he said.
For the time being, it looks like Bordeaux got his wish, and he can confidently declare victory for the gaming community.
His impressive crusade against a nearly universally hated practice in the gaming community should be lauded, and shows the power we have as consumers.
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