The U.S.' Potential Loot Box Ban Could be the End of FIFA as We Know It

Luke explores just how much EA will have to change Ultimate Team's model if the bill passes, and why it should change even if it doesn't.

[2pacalypsenow]

I hope it passes.

[Brave_Losers_Unite]

And hopefully Fifa can go to a legitimate developer. EA is a cancer. They havent done anything good for gaming the last few years.

[georeo]

God you are right. I'm really missing the old need for speed.

[simoboyu]

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[Kostche]

to be honest its not just EA, its the people that buy it, they are worse that EA in my books

[quent]

Decade actually, go back and look at what was added, improved or removed with every itiration of annual EA releases in the quests to sell you more fragmented content for more of you're money

[SheenuTheLegend]

this looks like a dream article that i am reading. hope it becomes a reality soon.
MT's almost fu**ed gaming.
and i also do hope a ban on multiplayer behind a paywall. that price of multiplayer is already included in the price you pay for the game.
If it is that costly, how are f2p games handling that lol.

[arkard]

Lootboxes

[quent]

It's in a word a dream unfortunately, there's just too much money involed

[NeoGamer232]

Even if a loot box ban became law, it is unlikely that it could hold up in courts very long.

There is no difference between loot boxes and sport or card games like (Magic The Gathering). If you ban loot boxes you would have to ban them as well to succeed in court.

[frostypants]

That analogy only works if there is an easy means of trading/selling the loot items on a fully open marketplace. "Walled gardens" don't count either.

[Tross]

Except physical Magic cards have resale value (mostly minute but it’s still there), and you don’t have to pay to play the game. You just need the cards. Even with the digital game, you aren’t paying $60 just to be able to play it. Also, genre wise, selling physical or digital cards makes way more sense than that kind of transaction in a FPS or in this case, a soccer game.

People are opposed to loot boxes because they’re already paying to play EA games and they’re shoved into games where it doesn’t make sense. Paying to play a game should entitle someone to all its contents unless legit DLC is added later, and then paying for that should mean access to all that content.

[Imalwaysright]

I'm not familiar with magic the gathering but does it use monetization practices similar to the ones described in this video? https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[quent]

are there any age restrictions on trading cards ? , also do the cards I buy vanish into thin air on a yearly basis ?

[Dragonopolis]

Magic the gathering the card game is more like comic books and graphic art sales than loot boxes. Magic the gathering the Company does not make any money of card trades and resale only in the initial sale.

There is no favoritism like in lootboxes esp ones who pay money. In magic gathering the card game you are buying an unknown deck but everyone has that disadvantage. If you buy resale cards knowing what they are you are gaining an advantage but the company isn't directly making a profit and is not in control of resales cards

The whole purpose of lootboxes is to steer players to the games store front. I doubt EA would continue with lootboxes if they weren't going to make money

[Nu]

I'd like for the football association to stop giving these predatory companies license for these type of games. Disney could end EAs hold of the Star Wars licence

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Please ban lootboxes because game companies aren't self-banning the practice

[harmny]

Don't worry. Nobody plays FIFA in the US. They won't care

[KyRo]

And that's the problem. Now if Europe and the UK banned them, that would put a massive spanner in the works for EA but hopefully if the US ban them, it might make other places sit up and wake up. At least that's what I hope for lol.

I don't even play FUT but that is easily thr biggest scam in gaming but casuals lap it up, just for it to be irrelevant a year later.

[AnubisG]

You know that the UK is part of Europe right?

It's like saying, Canada and North America banned them....

[indysurfn]

I get your point about it not being popular in the US but as the article points out it is not just FIFA.

QUOTE:" it’s also available in the MADDEN NFL and NHL series"
But even in 2012 (as the article pointed out it had 2.6 million people play it) Plus it has grown since then.

Plus once they get it banned in sports it should be VERY easy to ban in all other games. Because all they have to do is set a presidence.

[Imalwaysright]

Fifa 19 didn't sell that badly in the USA but if this bill passes it will have an impact on every single EA game.

[DaveZero]

are you daft.
Tons of Americans play fifa 19.

[Sono421]

Honestly it's the consumer's fault more than it is the game companies, if these less than intelligent people would just stop buying them, they wouldn't keep trying to force them into every game, but nope these mindless people keep buying them, so why not lock some stuff behind a lootbox, all it takes is developing the box model and some super over the top flashy opening and chime when you get an EPIC item, and then make 10x the profit. To these companies it's a no brainer, and ironically they profit off of people with no brain.

[ZeekQuattro]

It will be a severe blow to EA if it passes. Most of the money they make comes from FIFA and its microtransactions.

[AK91]

Good Lootboxes and microtransactions need to go, FIFA was already a successful franchise before them.

[badz149]

No thanks to FUT, FIFA is trash now

[addictedtochaos]

Good.

[DillyDilly]

Wont they just call this crap something else & they would need a new bill ?

[Segata]

"Surprise mechanics"

[indysurfn]

ROFL.
The next month "Surprise mechanics 2!"
"ultra street fighter Surprise mechanics 1....special edition!"

[indysurfn]

Good question. But that has been addressed many years ago by the law since the software industry got started. The courts can decide if product A is the same as product B.

[Segata]

Fuck EA

[indysurfn]

I will not lie. I thought that was too many words to waste on EA. BUT I have to agree even though they don't deserve the amount of press, that was the perfect amount of words/letters!

[Count_Bakula]

and Madden and NHL, I hope, since they have MUT and HUT as well. Fuck UK for not finding their mechanics as gambling though.

[cabbitwithscissors]

Good, this cancer on gaming needs to go.

[jjb1981]

I remember unlocking characters through gameplay. Now you just pay extra for them and developers act like they couldn't fit them in the final game.

[TheGamez100]

F**k EA. Ok Ill take my leave now.

[Critic4l_Strik3]

please, let EA die already

[sprinterboy]

If you could swap your players with friends like you used to back in the 80s in the school playground I wouldn't have a problem with the fifa packs

[3-4-5]

I literally only play offline career so nothing is different.

[CuVe]

I hope MT's will be gone... AAA games for $60 shouldnt includes these.

[Soybetaboy]

Yes please

[Smokehouse]

This does absolutely nothing lol. Wow the great bill of our time that will change everything thwarted by apathetic parents. Like parents don’t buy these kids mature games and know how much their kids spend. Maybe if these parents are habitual offenders we can get them jail time and send their kids into foster care. Such a shame they violate the law and put their kids in such danger. It won’t pass, if it does it would be defeated in court by the first person to fight it.

[indysurfn]

If the bill passes it will MAKE them take it out! If it is OUT then it has already changed EVERYTHING!
Now the parent is not unknowingly buying a loot game. When a parent goes to buy a game it will not have this stuff in it. They will no longer get a shock that 'johny' stole and entered their credit card and paid $3,000 on a video game!

And stop being defeated! It will not be defeated by the first person to fight it!

[Smokehouse]

No it won’t lol. They can’t “make them take it out” lmao. Putting an age restriction on lootboxes won’t make EA give up billions of dollars. If you think so then you aren’t too bright, no offense.

[indysurfn]

If you dont know they can make them take it out. Look back at the alcohol ban this country had for YEARS.
Look at what the constitution says about the congress. That is literally their jobs. Making laws.

[franwex]

I haven't bought a sports game in many years. I didn't even know they had loot boxes!!
Then again, should I be surprised by now?

[GameStallion]

with all my heart i hope this passes. will save so many future games. loot boxes are evil.

[indysurfn]

VERY GOOD POINT!

[Smitty2020]

Good you, money grabbing ppl

[SaveFerris]

I feel that the title is missing '... and that's a good thing.'

[ShadowWolf712]

Good.

[CrimsonWing69]

Good, so now they’ll need to make a game with all content included. Seems like a win for people who like the game.

[TheSinsibleOne]

Sadly the UK ruled it out after they got bribed. Same will happen in the us probably.

[Kostche]

why? because they might have to actually put the content in the game to make it fully fledged game.. oh no

[sampsonon]

because one of the most successful game annually needs the money.

[mijayire]

Ban all loot boxes and micro transaction in console and mobile games.

[Artemidorus]

UK people can pick up the slack by charging them more, watchdog says it's not gambling anyway...

[Majinzo]

About dam time

[DaniMacYo]

I doubt it’s the end of FIFA by EA though they’ll just find another way to get your money

[william_cade]

It won't pass. It will be like that lady tool from the UK saying we need more research and then 20 days later they say it's okay.

The US will do something similar. They will waste a bunch of money on meetings, say they need more research and then come out and give EA the go ahead.

[zodiac909]

HOW COULD IT BE THE END?! Whatever happened to simply having "unlockables" by doing challenges or simply progressing further into the game with SKILLS?! This bs mentality of needing microtransactions have made some people so stupid. Forza Horizon series manages JUST FINE by having deep progression, and rewarding unlockables simply by playing.

[DaveZero]

All that will happen if loot boxes get banned, would only make devs think of a new way in which to charge players for what they are losing.

I'm on the side of banning them but the problem is no one is suggesting a compromising way in which they can be replaced.

What will happen no doubt is either our games will go up and start costing 20-30 pounds more which I'd be pissed about or we would start seeing catalogues introduced in games where a market of whatever the dev is selling at whatever the price they set each item too.
One problem with Catalogues and markets popping up is that the best items get held hostage for extreme prices, then you start getting division on games which in turn starts the pay to win off. All sorts of problems are going to happen once loot boxes are banned. While we would be happy for our games to be taken back to how they were at the start of last gen, which is you buy the game and everything developed is yours, devs simply wont allow that to go back to that era ever again because theyve made to much money off of everyone.

The only way to sort Loot boxes out now once banning them is devs and us finding a compromise that everyone happy with and accepts or devs will just take it to the next extreme.

[JokerBoy422]

Oh no.... not that...............anything but that..............

[quent]

Was hoping for the end of EA actually, not just Fifa

[battletrax]

I sense a disturbance in EA's pocketbooks.

[DoubleTTB22]

I think people are confused as to what this means. Loot boxes are microtransaction, but not all microtransactions are loot boxes. Basically if all loot boxes disappeared tomorrow, there would still be overpriced costumes in Street Fighter, sponsored skins packs in Minecraft, Overprices outfits in fortnite, expensive insurance to buy in GTA Online, and Pokemon would still be trying to sell you two full priced versions of the same game, just because they swapped out about 10 of the 200 or so monsters in each game. It would just mean that what your purchasing wouldn't be random, not that you are protected from bad purchases.

Say in a card game. Instead of just purchasing a bunch of card packs for a small chance of getting what you want, you might instead by asked to buy virtual currency that can be used in crafting the specific card you want. Or maybe there is an event in which it is much easier to progress with the use of virtual currency to get the ultimate reward that you want at the end of the tunnel.

Here's another loophole. Games can have random elements to them. Like Borderlands or Diablo. These are games filled with random loot. And that's fine. I don't think people really have a problem with a game containing randomized weaponry, they are campaigning against buying randomized boxes individually. But that's the thing, you are buying a game in Borderlands that contains random boxes. When you buy an Expansion pack in Borderlands, you are usually receiving new missions or new portions of the map that contain random boxes. Often times they are higher level areas and have better loot than the base game. If a developer wanted, they could sell a premium time exclusive mission. The mission is time locked, but the specific mission that you are buying is consistent, not random. But within that mission you could have access to crates with generally better loot. Since it is time locked they could just keep selling you access to missions for premium currency over the lifetime of the game if they wanted.

And it isn't just limited to boxes. A lot of games have random loot drops on enemies and monsters. Those can be exploited in the same way. Even if the drops weren't random. They could still just put better loot in these timed missions anyways, whether they are random or not. Really, this is just stuff I thought up off the top of my head. There is a lot you can do with micro-transactions that aren't just people purchasing individual boxes with random stuff in them.

[DoubleTTB22]

This really doesn't change as much as people think from a consumer perspective. Sure loot boxes are worse than other types of micro-transactions, but their are plenty of ways to over monetize a game to the point where it is almost just as bad. Heck, in a cruel twist of fate, you could make it so that loot is normally randomized and money is the best way to ensure that you get the specific item that you want. Game designers have countless ways to monetize games without resorting to also making the carrot at the end of the stick random. Actually it is kind of funny. If they wanted, a big company could easily crack down on loot boxes for the PR boost, and then continue to use a bunch of predatory micro-transactions in their place. It would make little difference to them. The fact that they can even be bothered to fight tooth and nail for loot-boxes borders on cartoon villainy. They don't need it to screw their customers at all. They could just keep selling overpriced hats directly, rather than at random if they felt like it.

Devs already have countless ways to screw the consumer no matter what. Because ultimately the law can't really protect people from making bad purchasing decisions. We can argue all day about loot-boxes in particular being gambling, but we can't stop people from purchasing an overpriced virtual hat and monocle for their character if that is what they feel like doing, and they know what they are getting into. At least we can't stop them if we want to maintain any semblance of our own individual freedoms in the first world. Only the consumer can stop bad microtransactions from being made. And it starts by deciding not to buy into them in the first place.

[DoubleTTB22]

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[Codewow]

Relying on children gambling is a pretty crappy way to survive.

[KillZallthebeast]

Not a gamer alive gave a single fuck

[Profchaos]

FIFA existed prior to loot boxes some of the best releases of the game through the years were literally just base games on Sega mega drive and the PS2.

FIFA will continue to exist after loot boxes are dead and the consumer will benifit.

Remember getting the PS2 games around 2006 and getting online connectivity which also let you download the latest roster so the only reason to buy the new game was for revamped gameplay.