Loot boxes, an infamously hated feature in Triple A Games like "Call of Duty" and "Overwatch" that keep appearing again and again, recently got Electronic Arts into a lot of legal trouble. Late last year, Belgium declared that loot boxes were a form of gambling and were doth vowed illegal in the state of Belgium from that point forward. Many Developer Studios that had used loot boxes in games acknowledged this and worked around it, but the money-grubbing people at EA didn't like this one bit. Apparently, loot boxes we're a massive selling point in Belgium, specifically from FIFA, so they ignored this law being passed and continued to roll out loot boxes for Belgium. The government officials of Belgium saw this and promptly dealt with it.
They swiftly filed a lawsuit towards EA and now the whole world is on top of EA, trying to get them to lay off the loot boxes since they are pay-to-win and an honest to god form of gambling. Apparently the numbers they we're getting from Belgium FIFA players was just so earth-shattering that they had to risk a lawsuit over it. Probably since the release of the "Ultimate Teams" mode that heavily encourages the use of card packs, the game's own form of loot boxes. Overall, every other company opted-out of this, but once again EA is only out to maximize revenue and rake all players of every hard-earned dollar on their cards.
I feel like both sides were in the wrong in this situation. EA shouldn't have broken Belgium's laws. But at the same time the law itself is kinda dumb, because loot boxes in games and gambling are two very different things
ReplyDeleteSam. I feel like both sides were wrong, but EA is just trying to make profits. If they've made money from this for a long time, shouldn't they be able to keep doing it. I get that Belgium made loot boxes illegal, but they need to think about the cons of their decision. With every action there's a consequence.
ReplyDelete