Following a recent British parliamentary inquiry recommending that loot boxes targeted towards children be banned, EA has responded with firm disagreement. The report comes following nine months of gathering information, and the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) Committee publishing its findings in an 84-page document that look into immersive and addictive technologies.
A primary recommendation of the report stated that paid loot boxes should be regulated under existing gambling laws and that they be banned from being sold to children. Here is where EA donned their villain’s cap and pushed back against the notion of limited sales to any of their consumers.
In a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz, an EA spokesperson stated, “We have reviewed and are closely considering the findings of the DCMS Committee report. While we don't agree with all of the conclusions and recommendations in the report, we do take our responsibilities to players of all ages very seriously.”
The response is par for the course with EA, who are largely considered some of the worst offenders in their repeated past attempts to milk as much money from consumers as possible using paid loot boxes.
The response comes at an almost comical time, as EA was recently given a Guinness World Record for the most downvoted comment of all time on Reddit. In 2017 the company released Star Wars: Battlefront 2 to an egregious system of loot box mechanics that demanded players first purchase a full-priced, premium AAA game and then spend large sums of money to eventually unlock desired characters in the game through the random drops of loot boxes. Their attempt to explain that users will feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking heroes by emptying their wallets garnered an astounding 667,823 downvotes.
More recently, EA has also stated that Battlefield V would not have any manner of loot boxes, and then quickly angered potential consumers by releasing "Airdrops" which many considered far too similar to loot boxes. While there are differences, the problem lay mostly with the attempt to convey one idea, and then switch it for something too similar to the original problem for players.
Following EA's disagreement with the recent inquiry, they went on to state that,
“We have an ongoing commitment to player safety and well-being whenever they are playing our games or engaging in our communities. We will continue to look at how we can contribute to productive research and solutions for the topics raised in this report, and we look forward to continuing our ongoing dialogue with the UK government.”
Reading between the lines, this simply states that EA will continue to hawk their manipulative loot boxes to children until they are expressly forbidden from doing so by law. It is sad to see one of the largest developers and publishers in the world respond in this way, and it appears that legal action will be necessary by government to curb these tendencies.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz