Backlash grows against new Star Wars video game's loot-box feature

San Francisco

A NEW Star Wars video game is coming under fire for a feature that essentially allows money instead of skill to determine who wins.

Game giant Electronic Arts has been criticised for its "loot boxes", a money-making tactic that typically offers digital items such as stylish outfits for characters or decorations for in-game abodes. Until recently, game makers were careful to require players to rely on skills for weapons or abilities that could help beat challenges or adversaries.

The controversy over Star Wars Battlefront II centres on how the game prompts players to chance money on loot boxes that hold unknown assortments of in-game goods such as weapons, abilities and items needed to purchase coveted characters like Luke Skywalker or Darth V…