The ongoing furore over in-game purchases in Star Wars Battlefront 2 feels like it has had more convoluted twists than the saga the video game is based on. For those of you just joining us, let’s recap. You can imagine the following in the Star Wars text crawl to make it more exciting, if you are so inclined.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 is primarily a multiplayer game in which the Light and Dark sides face off in battles across the series history. As is the wont of many modern video games, players can upgrade their characters with weapons and items found in ‘loot crates’, randomised boxes of goodies you can earn through playing the game extensively or buying with real world money.

When developer DICE and publisher EA released a beta test run of the game in October, fans were concerned that the loot crates would lead to a ‘pay to win’ system, in which more affluent players could drop a lot of real-world cash to give themselves an advantage. In response, the developers adjusted the system so that the most powerful items were only earned through play. Many felt this wasn’t enough but, as it turned out, this was only the tip of the iceberg.