Electronic Arts Inc. late Thursday suspended micropayments on its highly anticipated new video game "Star Wars: Battlefront II," just hours before the game's Friday launch. The move was made to appease fans, who had revolted online in the days leading up to the game's release. Many voiced strong opposition to its "loot-box" system, in which players paid real money to unlock characters and in-game items, arguing that the game forced players who did not pay for upgrades to spend dozens of hours to unlock items, and potentially penalized players who did not want to spend as much. "We've heard the concerns," said Oskar Gabrielson, general manager of EA's Dice unit, in a statement Thursday. "We hear you loud and clear, so we're turning off all in-game purchases. . . . and all progression will be earned through gameplay." EA said it would make changes to improve gameplay, and in-game purchases would return at a later date. EA shares were flat after hours Thursday, after closing up slighly for the day, and are up almost 42% year to date compared to the S&P 500's 15% gain.via