EA Refuse To Back Down, Will 'Push Forward' With Loot Boxes

Last month, we reported that Dutch officials and lawmakers had found issues with loot boxes in certain games; Fifa 18, DotA 2, PUBG and Rocket League were the ones named. Earlier this week EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in an earnings call that he doesn’t believe loot boxes are gambling and that they’re going to “push forward” with their support of loot boxes and defending them.

The full quote is as follows:

“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. And we don't believe that FIFA Ultimate Team – all loot boxes are gambling.

“Firstly, players always receive a specified number of items in each FUT pack. 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.

“And so net-net, we're going to continue to push forward. We're always thinking about our players. We're always thinking about how to deliver these types of experiences in a transparent, fun, fair, and balanced way for our players. And we'll communicate with regulators around the world on it.”

Loot boxes have been a hot topic this year, and it all started with their inclusion in EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II. Players felt they were unfair and incredibly costly, so EA pulled them from the title before shortly reintroducing them in a fairer manner. They can be found across a plethora of games though, with some offering gameplay modifiers like Call of Duty WWII with its gun variants, while others are purely cosmetic like Overwatch.

EA CFO Blake Jorgensen also explained on the earnings call that Ultimate Team has been their number one money maker, while Battlefront II failed to have the impact they were no doubt aiming for: “...it was Ultimate Team across FIFA, Madden, and hockey and to a smaller extent NBA, but really Ultimate Team number one driver. Sims 4, number two driver, and that's been consistent through the year. It's been extremely strong as we continue to add extra content to that game. And Battlefield 1, we're at the tail end of extra content along Battlefield 1. Battlefront was not a major addition since, as you mentioned, MTX came in very late in the quarter.”

One of the main problems with loot boxes is that some rewards can be traded and sold for real world currency. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a serious offender of this, with some weapon skins going for thousands of dollars. You can read the full transcript of EA’s FY Q4 earnings call here. Fortnite has no doubt had an impact on EA’s earnings and player-base during the last few months, so if you’re one of those players, check out this sweet loot you can get free with Twitch Prime from today.

(Header image courtesy of FUTHead.)