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EA Still Believes in Loot Boxes, Will 'Push Forward' With Their Use (variety.com)
Electronic Arts will "push forward" with loot boxes in its future video games, despite admitting that all loot boxes are gambling. From a report: "As you might imagine, we're working with all the industry associations globally and with regulators in various jurisdictions and territories, many of whom we've been working with for some time and have evaluated and established that programs like 'FIFA Ultimate Team' are not gambling," Wilson said. "And we don't believe that 'FIFA Ultimate Team' -- all loot boxes are gambling."
The issue of loot boxes, a form of microtransaction that has players spending real money to purchase a virtual box and then open it to discover what's inside it, came to a head late last year with the release of EA's "Star Wars Battlefront II" which featured a form of the box that players felt was costly and unfair. EA later pulled the form of microtransaction and completely retooled it before reintroducing a more accepted form of loot box to the game.
While the debate continues over loot boxes and whether they are a form of illegal gambling, Wilson explained Tuesday why EA believes they're not. "Firstly, players always receive a specified number of items in each ['FIFA Ultimate Team'] box. And secondly, we don't provide or authorize any way to cash out or sell items in virtual currency for real-world money. And there's no way we can make value assign to FUT items in game currency. And while we forbid the transfer of items of in-the-game currency outside, we also actively seek to eliminate that where it's going on in an illegal environment, and we work with regulators in various jurisdictions to achieve that."
The issue of loot boxes, a form of microtransaction that has players spending real money to purchase a virtual box and then open it to discover what's inside it, came to a head late last year with the release of EA's "Star Wars Battlefront II" which featured a form of the box that players felt was costly and unfair. EA later pulled the form of microtransaction and completely retooled it before reintroducing a more accepted form of loot box to the game.
While the debate continues over loot boxes and whether they are a form of illegal gambling, Wilson explained Tuesday why EA believes they're not. "Firstly, players always receive a specified number of items in each ['FIFA Ultimate Team'] box. And secondly, we don't provide or authorize any way to cash out or sell items in virtual currency for real-world money. And there's no way we can make value assign to FUT items in game currency. And while we forbid the transfer of items of in-the-game currency outside, we also actively seek to eliminate that where it's going on in an illegal environment, and we work with regulators in various jurisdictions to achieve that."
People can choose to simply not play the game.
gambling on french toast, m'ladies
Thats’s what EA actually said. Full post on reddit.
...make better games instead. But that wouldn't give them as much $$$
The last video game I spent any time with was Warcraft 2. After that I lost interest. I see now that I'm not missing out on anything.
Well Iâ(TM)ve not played an EA game for the last 10 years.
EA games are really abusive shit. Fuck EA
...believed in bank and train robbery right up to the bitter end, when someone else who believed murdering him for bounty money was ok. The trouble with belief lies in its disconnection with reality. I don't know (or care) if loot boxes are gambling, I do know they suck and undermine games.
So can the regulators ... especially EU.
And so can the customers.... I believe EA is fucked.... go EU!
Loot boxes are a license to print money. Little of real tangible value is provided yet the demand for it exists because the games are designed to be tightly integrated and even require (in a not always subtle way) them.
I find the argument that loot boxes are implemented in a way that is 'not gambling' if you can't sell the results for real world money, specious.
Time is money.
If a loot box will potentially save players hours of time getting to some goal, then the value of the loot box is the time it will save. The fact a player can't sell it to someone else is irrelevant.
Any non-cosmetic lootbox mechanic is gambling and should be regulated entirely as such.
--- Mercutio was right.
pal. Stay at your location.
If EA wants to disassociate loot boxes with gambling, they just have to do one of two things:
1. remove the financial outlay element.
2. remove the 'possibility of losing' element.
Now, it's EA, so we can summarily dismiss the first option. The second one, however, is relatively simple: ensure that any time a player purchases a loot box, at least one item in it is an upgraded model of an item the player already has. This way, there's a guarantee to the player that they are paying for an upgrade, while the inability to determine which item is upgraded still provides incentive to purchase additional loot crates. The EU regulators can simmer down since players are guaranteed upgrades when loot crates are purchased, and EA can continue to provide incentive for players to use the slot machine mechanic, making unreasonable amounts of money in the process.
You're welcome, EA.
Team Fortress 2, Rocket League, etc- you buy them, they have cool cosmetics in them, but do not change the gameplay. Yes. Good.
If a lootbox gives you an advantage in the game, it is not good.
Simple as that.
This is a battle between the casual gamer and the "hardcore" gamer. Those truly invested in games and what they can accomplish in game worlds appear to have no issue buying loot boxes. This is why they are profitable, gamers are buying them. Now the casual gamer that has no interest in this isn't going to spend the money, but also probably won't continue to buy games because they will feel they can't compete. Over time as gamers spend more and start to create communities were competition is only fun for those willing to pay the price the online games will become less attractive to casual gamers. Now, if I were a game company I'd have a hard time caring that casual gamers are complaining about loot boxes when the more aggressive gamers are shelling out tons of money. Profit is profit, who cares if you piss off casual gamers. This is exactly why I stick to single player games.
Sent from my TARDIS
Good thing that Disney cracked down!
Card packs are loot boxes. You're buying a random assortment of cards in the hopes that some of them will have value. The cards have monetary value in the secondary market.
I actually don't mind loot boxes at all, I think they can be kind of fun if done well (admittedly there is often room for improvement).
What I do dislike about loot boxes though, is that it seems like in games that have them I spend too much time opening and allocating "loot". That is the real buzz-kill for me, I don't play games as much as I used to so I mainly want to play, not run a warehouse sim for exotic weapons and gear. As a result I end up dropping interest in games that have loot boxes more often than I might otherwise...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The number of items isn't the issue, it's the value of the items received.
Their argument is like me saying: give me $10 and I'll give you a bank note which could be : $1, $5, $10, or $20. You always receive one bank note, so this isn't gambling? Except it is.
EA: Enough Already. Good businesses don't operate on principles such as "Well gee bob, we're only screwing 49% of our customers..."
There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
I remember gumball machines full of small toys from when I was a kid. You'd drop your hard earned quarter in the slot and turn the dial with great anticipation that you'd get the cool x-ray ring or reflective sticker featured on the front of the machine. When the sort of egg shaped container dropped, you were generally disappointed to find a gummy artificial worm or a plastic spider ring that you had to remove the flashing from yourself. But, I once lucked out and got one of those flower shaped rings that would squirt water in the face of your friends when you got them to look at it (which got almost immediately taken from me when I used it on my aunt's boyfriend. :-(
I didn't realize at the time that I was such a high roller! I shoulda taken my game to Vegas.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
"It's not kids gambling!", EA gambled.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
And I'll continue pushing my money toward other companies that actually listen to their player base, make quality games, and don't try to drain my wallet into the triple and quadruple digits before I have the full game.
msmash's comment and the summary are 180 degrees apart.
Electronic Arts will "push forward" with loot boxes in its future video games, despite admitting that all loot boxes are gambling.
Wilson explained Tuesday why EA believes they're not.
Will push forward with continuing to not purchase any of their products.
If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be respected, sit down and shut up.
I'm more pissed off that they duplicated game names. There was already a Battlefront I and Battlefront II. The newer games should have been Battlefront III and IV. Instead there are two Battlefront I and two Battlefront II. Assholes.
...for their upcoming game "Anthem."
It looks like it could be a very nice game. They are going to utterly ruin it with loot boxes.
Oh well, I guess there is always Warframe....
EA. The cancer of games.
If you're paying for the CHANCE to get something, then as far as I'm concerned it's a lottery-style gamble. You might be guaranteed 10 rare items, but it's not guaranteed you'll get something you want. You might as well flush your money down the toilet x% of the time.
Children occasionally do things their parents would rather them not do, you know.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
This works because EA keeps making lots of money off this system.
People need to stop buying games that have this, and also tell others to do the same. Even if the game is free, don't download or play.
Not buying the loot boxes isn't enough.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
Loot boxes are why i don't game anymore. Expansions were good, but then it turned into bullshit dlc.
Mtx is where i draw the line. Fuck gaming
But I do know for sure that preording any EA game is always a gamble.
Yeah, EA is a greedy pile of shit... we've known this for years.
Don't they know how unobjective they are to DISAGREE with slashdot.
Inconceivable !
Also, this proves perfectly that the best presidents in US history were Feuerbach, Chavez, and Harvey Milk.
#AwarenessAgainstRefusingMonolithicTruthsWhichAreThinlyVeiledOpinions
Let's go find some lawyers because someone owes me a million dollars.
they've been in the Fifa & NBA games for years. It wasn't a problem until Star Wars Battlefront because the hardcore gamers who play it were pretty vocal whereas the Fifa & NBA players just kind of accepted it (easier to do when you only play one or two games a year).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Players spend real money to gamble on Draft Kings fantasy teams in MLB, NHL, NBA, and NFL. How is this not considered gambling yet loot boxes that don't payout real money is? All these pro leagues not only tolerate this, they take money from Draft Kings who is an official sponsor? What would Kenesaw Mountain Landis think of this?
Life is a gamble.
Go into business for yourself and it's a gamble.
Work for someone else and it's a gamble.
Plant a tomato seed and it's a gamble.
Sitting in a dark hole trying to avoid gambling is a gamble.
Everything is gambling.
Gambling is good.
Electronic games, games in general in fact, are simulations that help teach people how to deal with risk management - also known as gambling.
its gambling. Fuck you and your dissonance. This practice needs to end, period.
If your BM can't handle the loss of revenue,you should not exist.
Here in the US, about 50% of the arcades I see are not video games, but gambling games. Is this the case in the Netherlands and Belgium?
The games I am talking about take a few forms:
1) Roll a coin down a track and if it gets in the right place you get a prize
2) Pull a lever and if it lands on the right spot you get a prize (or a larger number of tickets)
3) Hit a button at a certain time. Sometimes these games "feel" like games but there is not enough fidelity so they might be random. (Ex: Stacker)
If you don't like living, feel free to die.
EA Still Believes in extracting as much cash from their customers as possible, Will 'Push Forward' With Their Plans
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
It's like when burgers were 99 cents. There's a point where folks don't want to pay more. For videogames is $60 bucks. As more folks entered gaming that helped keep prices down. But let's not forget that a $60 copy of Street Fighter II in 1995 is around $100 bucks in today's money and needed fewer people to program it than Street Fighter V (which I paid $15 for on sale).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Oh god now I'm fearing what Borderlands 3 might look like with loot boxes. One enemy camp has 20 loot containers, 10 of which are locked with keys you have to buy with real money; but wait, there are different colored keys which guarantee different minimum rarity levels for the items the key-unlocked containers have.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Yeah the different colored keys thing is especially irksome when found. I have a stockpile of machine guns and other weapons, I really need a red flamingo key to open this lock? How about my friend Vera here has a little talk with your lock for a few minutes, it has a steel coated tongue...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley