One of the biggest controversies from last year in the world of gaming came at the hands of EA. Multiple titles of theirs had Loot Boxes done in such a way that it forced players to “Pay-2-Win”, or sometimes, just to advance through the game. Titles like Star Wars Battlefront II, FIFA 18, Need For Speed Payback, and UFC 3 were all guilty of this, and the backlash was extreme. For not only did gamers throw hate on the situation, governments around the world took notice of Loot Boxes and wondered if this a simple game mechanic, or gambling.
Many countries have ruled that Loot Boxes aren’t gambling, including the US and the UK. However, others haven’t been so kind, and have made revisions to laws to ensure that Loot Boxes aren’t present in their games, or else. During an Investor Call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson spoke about the growing issue.
“We don’t believe that FIFA Ultimate Team or loot boxes are gambling,” he said during an investor call. “Firstly, players always receive a specified number of items in each FUT pack, and secondly we don’t provide or authorise any way to cash out or sell items or virtual currency for real money.”
This logic has been why countries like the UK and the US have been hesitant to label this as gambling, but the pressure is mounting. And as Battlefront II players can attest to, the backlash around that system was so bad that EA shut down the microtransaction system, and only recently did they start it back up. But, with the catch that it was just to buy cosmetic items and nothing else.
The irony of all of this is that EA had a massively good year in 2017 revenue-wise, and the first quarter of 2018 has gone well for them too. But, if they keep up with their Loot Box activities, that could change.
