With the speed at which news comes out in the gaming industry we sometimes miss important or news worthy things. Some of these things we want to talk about in a way that is both easy for you guys and allows us to get all the facts together as some of these stories develop quickly. Sometimes we also just cover topics that we find interesting and want to discuss.

EA won’t stop selling lootboxes in Belgium

According to PCGamesn, EA has not changed or disabled its Card Packs in FiFA 18 and 19 in Belgium.  An important note, in Belgium there is no new law to do with loot boxes, they just categorized loot boxes as gambling which falls into the realm of the existing gambling laws but it has not been officially challenged in court.  Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and NBA 2k19 have had there loot boxes disabled, ignoring 2K’s ridiculous appeal to players asking them to contact there government to allow them to keep using loot boxes.

With EA’s only official comment about the situation coming from an earnings call this year saying from CEO Andrew Wilson“we don’t believe that FIFA Ultimate Team or loot boxes are gambling” and disclosing drop rates on “Ultimate Team” packs, the Belgium Gambling commission is now looking into taking EA to court.  The local prosecutor’s office will look into whether or not it feasible to take them to court.

Source: https://www.futhead.com/news/opinion/1168/fifa-18-battlefront-ii-loot-boxes-pay-to-win/

Ozzy’s Thoughts:  So EA’s just going to ignore this?  I mean I get sometimes you gotta challenge something because you don’t like it but EA…the main company that initiated ALL THE HATE, the “final straw” for loot boxes, the company that had to back track everything based on a games “sense of satisfaction”, got yelled at by Disney, then spent all that time sense saying “sorry”…is now saying “we don’t think loot boxes are gambling.”

Have I taken the blue pill or the red pill because I completely forget, what world are we in?  Have they forgotten about all the crap that got them into trouble in the first place?  I get companies don’t like disabling something that makes them money, I get when a major part of the game has to do with boxes, but when everyone that isn’t EA is turning them off at the request of a country, and EA says  “nah”…I just…I can’t…WHAT?