Loot boxes have long been scrutinized in the gaming community. The heated debate came to a head in 2017 when, at release, EA’s Star Wars Battlefront 2 locked characters and weapons behind either a huge grind or a paywall in their boxes. Since then, countries like Belgium and the Netherlands have classified loot boxes in games like the FIFA series as gambling, demanding the feature be removed before the game can be sold. Recently, former EA President Peter Moore weighed in with his own opinion.
FIFA‘s Ultimate Team mode has been criticized for its monetization practices. Players either have to grind or purchase FIFA Points to buy packs containing players that they can then add to their squad. Each pack type has different chances of which player-cards can be pulled, however, there is no way for players to know what they might get, and the chances of getting the player you want are incredibly slim. One issue some players have with the mechanic is that the packs are pay-to-win, meaning players that spend large amounts of money on packs will almost always have a better starting eleven than players who don’t spend as much.
Peter Moore, former president of EA, sat down with GamesIndustry.biz and was asked his opinion on the criticism of loot boxes. Moore stated that the concept of Ultimate Team “goes all the way back to collecting cigarette cards in the 1920s and ’30s,” going further and saying people loved the uncertainty of opening card packs and not knowing what they would be getting. Both Moore and EA do not believe their loot boxes are gambling because it’s very similar to collecting sports cards and that regardless of whether they get what they hoped for, FIFA players still get something out of the pack. To quote Moore, “You’re always getting something, It’s not like you opened it and there are no players in there.”
Moore’s opinion is that the most important thing to consider is whether players like what’s going on, regardless of rumors of secret business practices. The signs for EA do seem to point to players enjoying it, as Ultimate Team has made the company over one billion dollars for the last three financial years. When it comes to whether the packs are gambling, however, Moore had this to say. “This is a personal view, but the concept of surprise and delight vs gambling… on a continuum, they’re a long way from each other. You buy or grind your way up to getting a gold pack, you open it up, and you’re either happy or you think it’s a crappy pack. I don’t see that as gambling, per se — but again, this is my personal view as an outsider right now.”
With Canada joining in with a class-action lawsuit against EA, the debates surrounding loot boxes will surely continue as more countries’ governments weigh in on whether they constitute gambling. Until either players or governments force changes, it can be expected that business will continue as usual.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
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