During Electronic Arts’ financial conference call for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2018, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson responded to a question concerning the fact that a few regulatory bodies in Europe classified loot boxes in some games, including FIFA 18, as gambling.

Wilson mentioned that the publisher is working with all of the industry associations globally and with regulators in various jurisdictions and territories. They have already been working with many of them for some time, and have “evaluated and established that programs like FIFA Ultimate Team are not gambling.” He also confirmed that EA does not believe that FIFA Ultimate Team or loot boxes, in general, are gambling.

The reasoning behind that is that players always receive a specific number of items in each pack, and secondly, EA does not provide or authorize any way to cash out those items for real-world money. There is no economic value assigned to them. They also actively seek to eliminate any kind of trading in illegal environments, working with regulators to achieve that.

As a result, the publisher is “continuing to push forward and always thinking about players” and how to deliver the features “in a transparent, fun, fair, and balanced way.” They will continue to work with regulators around the world on this.

Posted: May 09, 2018 9:26 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/fifa-18-gambling-ea-response/