EA has been fined €10 Million ($11,646,520.00 USD) in a court ruling against the company by a Holland District Court stating the EA has violated the Vetting and Gaming Act in Holland.
It has also being reported that EA was denied in the request by the company to keep the details of the fines from being disclosed to the public. Currently EA is in the process of appealing the the fines, which the company has six weeks to do.
The fine is specifically relating to the use of loot box in the Ultimate Team mode in the popular EA sport’s FIFA series, where gamer’s can purchase cards that provide players with unique stats. the link of loot boxes equating to gambling is a hot topic as of late with even the UK Government in the process of researching loot boxes to make more educational decisions on the matter. The FIFA games over the last several years have also included virtual currency and a marketplace where purchased cards with different amounts of in-game financial value can be traded with other players.
EA’s use of loot boxes within the company’s sports and action titles have been significant since the beginning of the current generation in 2013. Games like FIFA Soccer, Madden NFL, and the NHL series have had some form of the popular Ultimate Team Mode where a player’s progression can be assisted with purchases of cards that boost certain stats or provided unique additions to a team.
In 2017, EA released Star Wars Battlefront 2, the sequel to the company’s 2015 reboot of the series. Battlefront 2 was largely criticized by fans and critics alike with its inclusion of loot boxes that provided players with stat boosts, unique characters and weapons, each with a rarity assigned indicating the chance of receiving a wanted reward. The backlash towards Battlefront 2 was so severe that EA pulled lootboxes from the game and would later admit to making the wrong choices in Battlefront 2.
Since then, EA has largely focused on story-based content with the Star Wars license including the single player focused, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. In addition, EA has stated that the newly released Star Wars Squadrons will have no DLC or purchasable add-ons of any kind, despite the multiplayer mode in the space-shooter.
Meanwhile next gen versions of FIFA 21, Madden NFL 21, and NHL 21 are still being developed with current gen owners having the ability to upgrade to a PS5 or Xbox Series X version for free once the games are made available. With the fines a big issue going forward for the company, it will be interesting to see what changes, if any, EA will make to future games.
Source: Gamebyte
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