I think it was an entrapment strategy. Get people invested in the game, lure them in with Portal and the promise of customization. Then slowly take it away. They didn't want to even give us a server browser. Some of their social media mouthpieces seemed to not even understand why people wanted a server browser and were asking as soon as 3 months from release why this was important. So they gave us server browser, but in portal only, then severely neutered portal 2 weeks after release, which just happens to be a cutoff period for a lot of digital platforms for returns. They're also counting on people being too invested in the game and the progress they've made by then to put it down and try to get a refund. So the players that are invested then go back to regular multiplayer servers, and EA doesn't have to worry about people playing exactly the matches they want via a server browser. As you said, they now control it again.
what im doing is not spending any more money on the game until Portal is restored. I was looking forward to buying that Battlepass too.
