A senior executive at Electronic Arts told the United Kingdom’s Parliament that the company prefers to call loot boxes “surprise mechanics,” and argued that their use in EA games is “quite ethical and quite fun [and] enjoyable to people.”
Appearing before a House of Commons committee on Wednesday, Kerry Hopkins, vice president of legal and government affairs at EA, responded to a member of Parliament who had asked if the publisher had any “ethical qualms” about loot boxes. Their use in 2017’s Star Wars Battlefront 2 kicked off a huge controversy that drew scrutiny from several governments, including those in the United States and Europe. Loot boxes, in the form of Ultimate Team packs, are also a major source of revenue for EA’s FIFA franchise.
Hopkins compared loot boxes to other products: Kinder Eggs, a chocolate treat with a toy in its center, and Hatchimals, a blind box-style toy hidden inside an egg. “People like surprises,” she said. But the comparison to Kinder Eggs was quite ironic, given that the chocolate eggs were banned in the U.S. until recently, over concerns the prizes were a choking hazard.
“We do think the way we’ve implemented these kinds of mechanics is quite ethical and quite fun,” she said. “They aren’t gambling and we disagree that there’s evidence that shows they lead to gambling.”
The British Parliament is investigating loot boxes over concern that they constitute gambling, and the potential harm that could cause to children, citing anecdotal evidence and research that call loot boxes addictive.
Loot boxes, microtransactions, and pay-to-win mechanisms have come under mainstream scrutiny over the past year. A bill to regulate them died in Hawaii’s legislature, but a Republican senator recently introduced a bill, with bipartisan support, that would prohibit loot boxes in games marketed to or played by children. Loot boxes have been likened to gambling, a comparison that Electronic Arts and the Entertainment Software Association dispute.
In 2017, New Zealand regulators reached the same conclusion. However, in 2018, countries like Belgium and the Netherlands found that the loot boxes in games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and Overwatch were a form of gambling; developers Blizzard and Valve modified their games to comply with regional regulations. Other nations, such as South Korea, China, and Japan have started regulating loot boxes, too.
EA’s statements may raise eyebrows, but they’re unsurprising given the company’s history on this issue. EA pushed back hard on the Belgian Gaming Commission when it ruled that loot boxes constituted unregulated gambling, but still decided to stop selling FIFA Points, a microtransaction in its FIFA soccer series, in that country.
Parliamentary members on the committee have not announced any plans to regulate loot-boxes in the U.K. as of now.
Comments
well they better outlaw packs of baseball cards too. Those are loot boxes. Packs of Pokemon cards? Gotta get rid of those.
Those $.50 machines with the cheap plastic trinkets in clear plastic spheres? another loot box.
Kinder eggs be gone.
And so many games with free loot box gameplay. Just because it’s free it doesn’t it isn’t addictive.
Mario Kart is a big offender. Every one of those darn question mark boxes is a glorified loot box. you keep hitting them hoping you get something good but no you get a banana peel or a green shell. Worthless! Obviously though it’s training ground for future gambling addicts.
BR games? Fortnite? PUBG? Apex? Firestorm? Total loot box game mechanics. I’m going to check out just one more building to see if I can get a better gun. I promise just one more. Well that building had nothing. That was too quick. One more building. Last one. I swear. Then we’ll fight.
By trip1ex on 06.21.19 9:23am
Have you seen how much some people spend on MTG or Pokémon cards? Loot boxes, gatcha games are definitely predatory. I think the difference between that and MarioKart or PUBG is that those random items are reset every round. They make up a central aspect of the gameplay. And as for free in game loot boxes they definitely are addicting but without the cost they don’t have a negative financial impact on the player. Just look up the piece Polygon did on FF Brave Exvius to see how people were dropping thousands of dollars into theses games just to "keep up."
By OnTheBus666 on 06.21.19 9:43am
Difference with TCG’s is I can go buy the specific card I want off of eBay, trade for it, sell it or just throw all my cards in the trash.
By XanXic on 06.21.19 10:41am
Part of me agrees. There’s potential for many, if not all, of the physical ‘loot boxes’ OP listed as being collector’s items, increasing in value and becoming a collectable. Skins/cosmetics are collectable, absolutely, but the value is temporary. Just look at Destiny, after only a couple of years, all the money players sank into cosmetics for the franchise was lost when they released D2. About the only games I can think of from OPs list (as I’m a bit of a layperson) that had cosmetics trading was CS:GO and PUBG.
But that argument can go round in circles, and I figure people come in with their mind already made up. I’d like to keep an open mind, but I personally find the rolling of dice more frustrating than rewarding.
My issues with loot boxes is the research, design and development that’s gone in specifically to make addictive. The animations, the drop rates, the colours (and tiered pricing if they’re for sale). Get that dopamine hit and move on. They’re not fun, they’re addictive; designed to give intermittent satisfaction. That’s a different ballgame and she knows it. She’s a Senior Executive because she knows what’s up.
By shaihalud on 06.21.19 10:56am
Thank you for the reference to the FF Brave article. I always love well-written articles that tell a story. Reading it now…
By gommerthus on 06.21.19 3:17pm
"And so many games with free loot box gameplay. Just because it’s free it doesn’t it isn’t addictive."
That’s not gambling, you’re not putting anything in to get a return
By Menage on 06.21.19 9:52am
Sure they’re free, but remember that all games with loot boxes give you the chance to spend your money to get more. The addictive feedback loop is supposed to hook people and incentivize them to want more, once you’ve blown past the free drops and haven’t gotten what you want you feel the need to start spending real money. Not much different from the goold ol’ "The first one’s free", you want to hook certain people in and they’ll for sure get addicted.
By voodooman_71 on 06.21.19 1:51pm
If you’re talking about real-world money, then you are incorrect. Horizon: Zero Dawn has loot boxes that cannot be purchased with real-world income. Same with World of Warcraft, and surely some other games.
But more broadly speaking, I think the phrase "games with free loot box gameplay" is meant to refer to games that don’t have paid loot boxes, but do have randomized rewards. Because I’m guessing we all agree that the whole "first one’s free" thing is insidious and underhanded.
By Lil Kut-Ku on 06.21.19 5:06pm
Horizon Zero Dawn doesn’t have loot boxes, it has randomized material and upgrade drops which is an entirely different mechanic. A game where you can optionally spend money on or may require you to spend money on for random items is exactly what’s being discussed, the Zero Dawn thing doesn’t factor into it at all. The only extra thing you can spend real money on in that game is DLC.
By voodooman_71 on 06.21.19 5:25pm
I guess it all comes down to what is meant by the phrase "free loot boxes", and since this isn’t a concept that anyone really talks about with any regularity, it sounds like neither of us agree on what is meant by the term. which is fine, certainly not something to argue about. it probably would have been helpful if the OP had elaborated on what a "free lootbox" is in that case. oh well.
By Lil Kut-Ku on 06.21.19 6:49pm
Did you forget the /s?
I’m genuinely asking because while I’m pretty sure this post is a joke, there’s a small chance someone could actually believe something like this. It has the roots of an argument, but is so ignorant and underdeveloped.
By Biology4Me on 06.21.19 10:35am
It’s got to be. There are so many holes in the argument, they’re clearly just having a good-old internet rant.
By shaihalud on 06.21.19 10:39am
I get the impression it’s not. I hope I’m wrong. But it just tracks so perfectly with the arguments I’ve seen from people genuinely defending loot boxes.
And also, even if a /s was added…what was the joke?
By Lil Kut-Ku on 06.21.19 11:23am
that last paragraph is throwing me off i can’t tell if op is serious or not because it’s so obviously absurd
By Jigabachi on 06.21.19 12:53pm
You can’t pay for Mario Kart question mark boxes. That’s the big difference here.
By Starflux on 06.21.19 4:57pm
I don’t have problems of Loot boxes as a reward I have problems with them as a product for sale. Addiction issues aside If I feel like if companies are going to sell a loot box they also need to at the very least also sell the product that people want directly as well.
Also I’m not referring to pay to win items. That is just garbage.
By NinJustin on 06.21.19 9:32am
for me a big part of the problem is the ridiculous drop rates that are clearly designed to force you to purchase more boxes.
In a lootbox with 100 possible items you’d need to buy thousands of boxes to get them all, and since people are usually really after the rarer/better/cooler items, most of those 1000 boxes will be stuff you don’t want.
I much prefer the boxes that are restricted to prevent duplicates.
By senote on 06.21.19 9:45am
This. I like free loot boxxes, EA is right, they are fun. But as soon as they become monetary it becomes gambling and results start getting less fun.
By Menage on 06.21.19 9:54am
Also, as soon as loot boxes become paid, the game design changes for the worse to encourage further spending.
By Lil Kut-Ku on 06.21.19 11:15am
I still don’t have a problem with them if they are just cosmetic and give no one any advantages over the other.
When they are purely cosmetic then well. It is just paying to play dress-up.
By gommerthus on 06.21.19 3:52pm
even then, it would be better to simply let you know what you’re getting when you pay for dress up. i mean, even if we’re not talking about ethics; it’s a more desirable choice, and the randomness there exists purely to maximize profit and get you to pay more than you would have (if they expected more sales for "buy exactly what you want," they wouldn’t do the random bullshit).
edit: my point is, even if it’s "ethical" for a store to be like, give me $10 and maybe you’ll get the shirt you brought to the register, maybe you’ll need to try again, i’d be like: "how about this: fuck you?"
By tarnus on 06.23.19 3:30pm
loot boxes as a fun extra for leveling or something would be great, i think
By Jigabachi on 06.21.19 12:56pm
Apex does that.
By Stone Cold Dan Quinn on 06.21.19 3:30pm
while selling them so it doesn’t count
By Jigabachi on 06.21.19 5:13pm
The addiction mechanics are still there whether it’s free or not though.
By AmiralPatate on 06.21.19 1:17pm