EA and Belgium
Gambling is a highly addictive habit from what we have seen,
recently though its been making a move in the gaming world in the form of “Loot
boxes”. Loot boxes are items that can be opened like a pack of Pokémon cards
and has random items for the game it is in. Some people might not have an issue
with this but Belgium seems to be having a bit of an issue with it. According to an article named “Belgium
Investigates EA for Loot Box Saga” the country seems to be taking
the problem of them to a higher level by launching a criminal investigation on
the developer for its use of Loot Boxes in its FIFA game series. What made the
government of Belgium decide to launch an entire investigation on this
developer is my main question. The
developer EA has been known to love money and their sources of revenue as seen
in Battlefront 2 (2017) and in their push for yearly games like FIFA, and most
importantly they are very protective of their microtransations to the point
where they denied to remove the lootboxes in FIFA when requested to by the Belgium
Government: “However while all other developers have agreed to remove the loot
boxes from the Belgian versions of their games, EA has refused to meet this request.”
The biggest question here is why they are denying to remove something that
other developers have removed in their games. EA seems to be very protective of these
lootboxes as well to the point where their own CEO stated that they were not
gambling and has been very protective of this claim. After some time the
company was then put under a criminal investigation which still has not
concluded, but the developer has made these loot boxes “include odds for the
very first time, as well as giving players a breakdown of what they stand to
gain from each loot box they purchase.” This seems to have made many people but
does it really fix the problem? I feel its like telling someone at a gambling
table that their odds of winning are 1 in 100. The investigation is sure to be
an interesting one though and I will be waiting for the results.
I think it's really stupid how the only reason lootboxes are even available for minors is because of technicalities.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious to any and everyone that they're designed in such a way that triggers the same response as gambling; spending money in hopes that you get something out of it. In fact, the given reason that they aren't considered gambling is the fact that the will always reward you with something, even if that something isn't what you wanted.
It's a lot like the way Pokemon cards work. Buy a pack and hope that you get the blue eyes white dragon card. You didn't get it? Well, maybe if you buy another, it will have one. These are also designed to trigger a gambling response but are once again voided because you will always win something.
I think it's interesting how a loot box in a video game can create this big of an issue. But well written article.
ReplyDeleteWhat made it well-written?
DeleteSam, fascinating stuff. I love that all the articles everyone has chosen to respond to have been so different. I didn't know anything about this until I read your response and checked out the article.
ReplyDeleteExplain why you think this is news worthy or COULD be important to us here or to the video game world. What are the biggest concerns one way or the other? Also, you need to work on the overall organization. Let the piece naturally fall into paragraphs that support the same main idea.
I had now idea this was happening... I really like this article, it is well written. Good job!
ReplyDeleteMeaning the flow was good and the transitions were smooth...
Delete