A lot happened in the gaming industry in 2017. The Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X were both released along with numerous top-tier titles such as Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, among others.But the gaming industry also suffered several major controversies throughout the year, and both developers and publishers faced overwhelming backlash from consumers. Gamers and games journalists alike berated EA for its sudden closure of Visceral Games, but only a select few mishaps (many of which were due to loot boxes) in 2017 warranted apologies from major developers and publishers - and not all of them went according to plan.Related: The 20 Most Disappointing Video Games of 2017Here's a rundown of the seven major gaming controversies of last year - and how developers responded to them.This Page: Friday the 13th, Forza Motorsport 7 and Need for Speed: Payback
Friday the 13th
Illfonic and Gun Media's Friday the 13th: The Game suffered numerous issues at launch: connectivity problems, long maintenance schedules, and database login failures. The issues got so bad that Gun Media eventually released free DLC as an apology for all the server problems, hoping to get back on the player base's good side. Unfortunately, Xbox One players had to wait longer than PC or PS4 players because the DLC failed to pass Microsoft's certification process. What's more, the Xbox version had a persisting memory issue.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Players can deal with server issues (for a short time, of course), but Gun Media's harsh punishment of players helping the Jason player, as well as masquerading as employees of either Illfonic or Gun Media, is why some gamers are boycotting the game and the studio.
Forza Motorsport 7
The latest installment in Turn 10 Studios' Forza series, Forza Motorsport 7, idled earlier in 2017 when it released to early access users. But VIP members quickly found out that the service had changed between installments. VIPs no longer earned double XP, at least not after 25 races. People were justifiably outraged by the lack of communication on the developer's part, as they were expecting the same perks awarded to them in Forza Motorsport 6. Turn 10 immediately issued an apology to VIP members and Ultimate Edition owners, promising to be more transparent about what their purchases include and what they don't. They also gave VIPs four additional Forza edition cars.
In addition to addressing the controversy surrounding the VIP memberships, Turn 10 said they were working on stabilizing the performance issues plaguing PC players, something that should've been done prior to the game's release.
Need for Speed: Payback
EA suffered a great amount of backlash due to Star Wars Battlefront II (more on that later), and Ghost Games presumably didn't want to be the next target, so they updated Need for Speed: Payback's predatory progression system (which relied heavily on microtransactions) the week following Battlefront II's brouhaha. A developer detailed all the new changes on Reddit, and the same developer also said that all these changes were supposed to happen anyway, as a result of consumer feedback, not due to fear of further backlash.
While EA never issued a formal apology for all the game's problems, they did make a blog post mentioning that they've been listening to feedback. "Something we've heard loud and clear is that it's often too time-consuming to upgrade multiple cars. We agree, and as a result, this is something we've been tackling over the previous weeks, and will continue to act upon." Sure, Need for Speed: Payback still suffers from many issues, but they've managed to fix most of what players were complaining about.
Destiny 2
Bungie faced some backlash following the release of Destiny 2 in 2017, the long-awaited sequel to 2014's Destiny. The developer landed in hot water by blocking previously available content behind new DLC. Destiny 2's Nightfall and Raid events contained a special difficulty mode called the Prestige, which required players to be a certain Power Level before selecting the challenge. Everything was fine until the game's first DLC came out.
When Bungie released the Curse of Osiris DLC, they increased the requisite Power Levels for each Prestige variant for both events along with the increase in the game's level cap. The Raid required players to be a Power Level of 270, whereas the Nightfall was bumped to 330 (a level vanilla players couldn't obtain). That didn't sit well with fans. Bungie formally apologized for the lockout less than one week after the news broke, and they remedied the matter by revising the trophies and achievements players were blocked from getting, but they didn't lower the requisite Power Levels.
As if that wasn't enough, Bungie also faced some backlash for rigging the post-game XP system players used to get Bright Engrams. By continually reducing the speed in which players earn XP after hitting the game's soft level cap, the developer effectively encouraged players to pay real-money, via microtransactions, to obtain Bright Engrams. While they didn't formally apologize for rigging the XP system, they did "fix" the issue. So, at least that's something.
Fortnite
Epic Games' co-op sandbox title, Fortnite, entered Early Access in July 2017, with the developer and publisher planning a full-fledged free-to-play release sometime in 2018. The game became famous for its standalone Battle Royale mode that released in September 2017, but before that released, players spent hours building forts, and all their hard work just disappeared one day. An Early Access patch made changes to the Plankerton, Canny Valley or Twine maps that caused players' forts to disappear. While players' resources were eventually replenished, the time they spent building those forts were all for naught.
To make matters worse, Epic Games didn't announce the change in advance. And so, they issued a very candid apology: "Ok first we messed up in missing a HUGE part of our patch notes. I apologize. We understand how much time you have invested in building your Storm Shield base, it's your home, your defense, your vision, we feel that way too." They also vowed to be more transparent in the future.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Monolith Productions' sequel to 2014's Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, was heralded by many, despite its blatant prolongation of Act 4, which encourages players to purchase microtransactions to obtain the game's true ending. But publisher Warner Bros. Interactive didn't face outrage until they decided to charge players (in some regions) for Shadow of War's Forthog DLC, which was created to memorialize developer Michael Forgey, who passed away from a brain tumor at the age of 43 in 2016.
Monolith and Warners explained the reasoning behind charging for the DLC, saying all the proceeds were going to be donated to the Forgey family even though the fine print suggested otherwise, and they planned on promoting the donation only in the U.S., excluding certain states due to their charitable promotion laws. In response, all players who purchased the DLC were refunded and the content was made free, with Warner Bros. Interactive promising to donate to the Forgey family anyway.
Star Wars Battlefront II
The most infamous apology of the year - and perhaps of the decade - came from EA just one week prior to DICE's Star Wars Battlefront II hitting store shelves. An EA Access user noted that it took him approximately 40 hours to earn enough credits to unlock Darth Vader. The same user later posted his findings on Reddit upon further research, which sparked a worldwide controversy that decimated Battlefront II's chances of becoming the biggest game of the season.
EA quickly responded to controversy and attempted to alleviate concerns by vaguely explaining how the game works. Well, that didn't work. The publisher's response, though attempting to come from the right place (at least from their perspective), earned unanimous disapproval. The statement is now the most downvoted post in Reddit history. In fact, the line, "sense of pride and accomplishment," is continuously quoted in various circumstances on social media. EA might not be able to shake that off for quite some time.
While the game is still flawed in many ways, EA has since reduced the cost to unlock certain Heroes and removed the game's microtransactions, but they reserve the right to re-implement them at a later time. By doing so, they would effectively be returning to the blatant pay-to-win scenario that landed them in hot water in the first place.