FIFA Packs/Loot Crates and Gambling

[Skills]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-48908766

Four children spent nearly £550 in three weeks buying player packs to play the Fifa football video game online on the family's Nintendo Switch console.

In Fifa, special players can be bought in packs, but the contents are only revealed after payment is completed.

The children's father, Thomas Carter, had bought them a single pack for around £8, and had not realised they had seen how he made the purchase.

I'm surprised this is still allowed - especially in games like FIFA which are played by minors. I actually don't see the difference between packs/loot crates and gambling. It's encouraging people to throw their money away for a longshot of winning something good.

 

[SilentWitness]

It was banned in Belgium wasn’t it?

I find it interesting that there are a few youtubers that were involved with gambling type FIFA sites that were swiftly banned and taken to court. How EA have managed to work their way around it is really shite.

EDIT: It's also shite that these same youtubers still buy the Fifa Points, kinda shows that they're just about the money too as they complain about the game yet still do it. EA were invited to speak about stuff a couple of weeks ago in the UK and they completely shat themselves in front of adults.

 

[Bojan11]

It’s gambling, end of.

If you paid EA for let’s say Ronaldo then it’s not gambling as you getting what you ordered. Where as with packs it’s just a lottery.

Countries need to follow Belgium and ban it. There’s a lot of other games that do the same shit.

 

[Siorac]

It's just surprise mechanics.

We are, thankfully, at the stage where a game having lootboxes carries the risk of significant negative PR, at least if it's a full-price AAA title, not some shitty freemium mobile game. Don't buy games that have this shit, no matter how good they are otherwise. And if you do buy the game itself, at least don't be tempted by the lootboxes, leave them well alone.

I fully support the idea of classifying them as gambling and banning or heavily regulating them everywhere - but until then we fight against them with our wallet and with our opinions.

 

[LARulz]

It’s gambling, end of.

If you paid EA for let’s say Ronaldo then it’s not gambling as you getting what you ordered. Where as with packs it’s just a lottery.

Countries need to follow Belgium and ban it. There’s a lot of other games that do the same shit.

It's just slot machines. EA's argument that it's 'fun' is hilarious. I'm sure most people who spend money on slots/gambling call it fun before it eventually goes too far and only realised too late

 

[esmufc07]

Who doesn't notice £550 going out of their account over the course of 3 weeks.

 

[Carolina Red]

Dad woulda killed me and buried me in the back yard.

Agreed on the concept essentially being gambling. That shouldn’t be allowed in a game played by kids.

 

[luke511]

100% should be banned. EA have basically redesigned the game (FIFA) so it optimises the amount of money the consumer spends on packs.

They've done extensive research into the psychology behind it all. As a result they've intentionally made the game more frustrating, as this causes the player to feel the need to upgrade their team to get better, therefore spending more money on the game.

EA FIFA is one of the biggest scams in the entertainment industry.

 

[GuyfromAustria]

Yep, should be banned. I'd love that, it ruined FIFA for me and there are many other games who suck for the same reason.

Who doesn't notice £550 going out of their account over the course of 3 weeks.

I'm not sure, if I would notice it within a few weeks or at all.

 

[izec]

100% should be banned. EA have basically redesigned the game (FIFA) so it optimises the amount of money the consumer spends on packs.

They've done extensive research into the psychology behind it all. As a result they've intentionally made the game more frustrating, as this causes the player to feel the need to upgrade their team to get better, therefore spending more money on the game.

EA FIFA is one of the biggest scams in the entertainment industry.

Once you understand it, i dont get frustrated. Yeah i lose some games in a shitty way without a doubt, but i then stop playing and move on. Come back when i feel like playing again.

Weekend league i stop at Gold 1-3 and move on without the stress. I could push for Elite 2-3, but i cant bother most times.

I would also be in favour of a redesign of course, especially for people getting sucked into the cycle.

 

[predator]

EA are cnuts for how they've turned FUT into a mega cash cow but some older users need to have more responsibility when it comes to spending their money. I haven't spent money on packs for about 4 years now. Its tempting to after getting stuffed by a guy who has 4 icons in his starting 11 but from the packs I gather from Draft (using coins) the chances of getting someone decent is so low.

 

[Shane88]

It's not just kids who get hooked on them, adults do too. I, idiot that I was, must have spent about €400 on packs alone during Fifa 15 or 16, can't remember which. There is a rush in chasing all the shiny cards.

Jim Sterling divides people but he did a very good video last week on the subject, well worth a watch to see just how fecking skeezy it all is...


The video of the guy giving a presentation on how to trick players into spending was eye-opening. I've fallen for the "icebreaker" deal before.

 

[Coxy]

Once you understand it, i dont get frustrated. Yeah i lose some games in a shitty way without a doubt, but i then stop playing and move on. Come back when i feel like playing again.

Weekend league i stop at Gold 1-3 and move on without the stress. I could push for Elite 2-3, but i cant bother most times.

I would also be in favour of a redesign of course, especially for people getting sucked into the cycle.

That's fine for you - but not everyone can do that.

Surprise mechanics are disgusting - I hope they disappear soon. I have no problem with micro transactions in free games. But they have no place in paid games, even skins.

 

[luke511]

Once you understand it, i dont get frustrated. Yeah i lose some games in a shitty way without a doubt, but i then stop playing and move on. Come back when i feel like playing again.

Weekend league i stop at Gold 1-3 and move on without the stress. I could push for Elite 2-3, but i cant bother most times.

I would also be in favour of a redesign of course, especially for people getting sucked into the cycle.

This is the mature approach to the problem, to stop playing. Unfortunately the main target audience are children/teenagers, who are much easier to fool.

It's an endless cycle, you pay more for a better team, but as a result you end up matching against teams who have invested as much as you, so there's no point.

There's so many different angles to it, they brought in AI defending so it'd be easier for them to control the outcome of the game and close the skill gap, all to add frustration and the need to open packs. It's all designed to get as much money as possible from the consumer in the form of gambling. Needs to be banned.

 

[Adisa]

How old were the kids? I wouldn't have dared spending my pops' money like that at any stage of my childhood.
Anyway, it should be banned.

 

[hobbers]

Loot crates for cosmetic-only rewards on free-to-play games are one thing, provided parental controls are there to use. Or if there's a proper real-money marketplace for items like in CSGO.

But would love it if Fifa and the AAA developers were hit with gambling bans. Especially EA and the various Cod developers, shower of cnuts that they all are.

I think the emergence of UT and hyper-focus on it has been the driving factor in why the gameplay of FIFA has gone downhill so much so quickly. It's such a money spinner it means they can basically feck off all the other modes and ignore improving any mechanics, not to mention releasing games in half-finished states.

They probably spend 70-80% of a game production cycle making sure the clinks and flashes and noises of a pack opening are sufficiently addicting for all the mindless 12 year olds who'll already be spending £80 on the UT pack editions of the game. The other 20% is in the coding to make sure you get enough agonising scripted defeats in your matches to frustrate everyone into buying packs.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Dad should keep a better handle on his credit card details.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

The issue being the surprise nature of the purchase or ability to purchase itself?

 

[Paxi]

It’s gambling, end of.

If you paid EA for let’s say Ronaldo then it’s not gambling as you getting what you ordered. Where as with packs it’s just a lottery.

Countries need to follow Belgium and ban it. There’s a lot of other games that do the same shit.

Agreed. Sooner UK and other governments realise this the better.

Also, EA are cnuts.

 

[Shark]

EA are the worst company going, an absolute shit stain on the gaming industry, and they own both football and Star Wars, somehow.

 

[Shark]

Loot crates for cosmetic-only rewards on free-to-play games are one thing, provided parental controls are there to use. Or if there's a proper real-money marketplace for items like in CSGO.

But would love it if Fifa and the AAA developers were hit with gambling bans. Especially EA and the various Cod developers, shower of cnuts that they all are.

I think the emergence of UT and hyper-focus on it has been the driving factor in why the gameplay of FIFA has gone downhill so much so quickly. It's such a money spinner it means they can basically feck off all the other modes and ignore improving any mechanics, not to mention releasing games in half-finished states.

They probably spend 70-80% of a game production cycle making sure the clinks and flashes and noises of a pack opening are sufficiently addicting for all the mindless 12 year olds who'll already be spending £80 on the UT pack editions of the game. The other 20% is in the coding to make sure you get enough agonising scripted defeats in your matches to frustrate everyone into buying packs.

Oh 100%, absolutely no doubt about it. Why would they give a shite about offline modes and gameplay when they have people with genuine gambling addictions hooked on a mode that grands them millions upon million of revenue a year. I'd be absolutely delighted if these modes were shut down.

 

[VeevaVee]

I'm not sure, if I would notice it within a few weeks or at all.

Prove it by sending me £550

 

[Krits]

I don’t understand why people have to play UT. Seasons is totally free and just as much fun. I’m still playing seasons on Fifa 18 and don’t have a problem finding games. I haven’t paid fifa anything over the original sale.

 

[rcoobc]

Who doesn't notice £550 going out of their account over the course of 3 weeks.

Anyone with a credit card

 

[esmufc07]

Anyone with a credit card

I've got two credit cards and I check them at least a couple of times a week.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

When I was younger (talking like 6-7 years ago) I played the hell out of ultimate team and wasted a ridiculous amount of money on packs. They're incredibly addictive, especially with the way EA hook you in with multiple different types of cards, packs that come out only for a certain amount of time etc. It's all designed to draw you in and give you the exact same feeling that gambling does, there's no difference whatsoever as far as I'm concerned. I get the same feeling from betting now that I did from buying packs when I was younger.

@Krits At least when I was younger basically all my friends were on UT, it was clearly the main focus of FIFA and the gamemode everyone wanted to be involved in. When that's the case you're not just going to play seasons because you simply don't get the same kick out of it, and the thrill of getting amazing cards was the majority of the fun in UT. Hard to explain really to someone who doesn't really understand that, but it's something that once you get in to it's hard to enjoy other game-modes.

Encouraging kids to get a feel for the rush of gambling money on shitty odds (like, much worse than usual gambling odds) is really wrong and I really can't see why it should be allowed. The odds on actually getting anything have always been fecking shocking as well so you genuinely can end up trying to spend a fortune to get anything remotely decent. It's a complete and utter con.

 

[Tony Babangida]

100% should be banned. EA have basically redesigned the game (FIFA) so it optimises the amount of money the consumer spends on packs.

They've done extensive research into the psychology behind it all. As a result they've intentionally made the game more frustrating, as this causes the player to feel the need to upgrade their team to get better, therefore spending more money on the game.

EA FIFA is one of the biggest scams in the entertainment industry.

As someone who sank a lot of time into Ultimate Team for 3 years I fully agree with this. It’s just a vehicle to make the player spend money on packs. There’s no way this should be played by anyone under 18.

 

[DoomSlayer]

Feck EA, seriously feck 'em. I stopped buying FIFA after 17 and will never do it again, the greedy bastards destroyed this legendary game.

 

[luke511]

Feck EA, seriously feck 'em. I stopped buying FIFA after 17 and will never do it again, the greedy bastards destroyed this legendary game.

Yeah 17 was the first shit FIFA game, right around when they brought AI defending in. 13,14,15 were the best, went downhill from 16.

 

[DoomSlayer]

Yeah 17 was the first shit FIFA game, right around when they brought AI defending in. 13,14,15 were the best, went downhill from 16.

Man, I've been playing FIFA since I was about 4-5 years old. My first one was 2000 for PC, then I had 2002, 2003 and 2004 for PS1, going back and listening to some of the old game soundtracks gives me goosebumps.

The game is so generic and money-oriented now. They literally only care about Ultimate Team and the only worthy addition of late was having the CL licence.

 

[dumbo]

The same mentality as a sex trafficker with drug dependent slaves. Hook em then exploit em, in service to the almighty dollar.

 

[bubbles_]

I don’t understand why people have to play UT. Seasons is totally free and just as much fun. I’m still playing seasons on Fifa 18 and don’t have a problem finding games. I haven’t paid fifa anything over the original sale.

When you get to the top of Division 1 there's nothing left to play for. You don't even get an PS trophy/Xbox achievement for doing so.

 

[Nanook]

To be fair to EA it’s now possible to get a decent team on FUT by playing alone, albeit you need to play quite a lot.

Back on FIFA 12 before there was weekend league, rivals, or even seasons if I remember correctly, getting coins by playing would get you absolutely nowhere. I think I spent £100+ on packs on Fifa 12 whereas I didn’t spend a penny on FIFA 18. I’d be glad to see loot boxes being banned though and I think it’s only a matter of time.

 

[Macern]

It’s definitely gambling and what’s even worse is that every single aspect of Ultimate Team from gameplay to fancy card design to content to advertisement is designed to manipulate kids into spending money.

Unreal that Belgium is the only country to have banned it so far. I just hope it gets banned in enough countries to force EA into actually having to focus on making a good game to make a lot of money.

 

[Ødegaard]

To be fair to EA

Let us not be. Feck EA.

 

[Macern]

To be fair to EA it’s now possible to get a decent team on FUT by playing alone, albeit you need to play quite a lot.

Back on FIFA 12 before there was weekend league, rivals, or even seasons if I remember correctly, getting coins by playing would get you absolutely nowhere. I think I spent £100+ on packs on Fifa 12 whereas I didn’t spend a penny on FIFA 18. I’d be glad to see loot boxes being banned though and I think it’s only a matter of time.

That’s half-true. You can’t get a team good enough to compete with the best just by playing unless you have a lot of luck and play the weekend league (30 games) every weekend. You can get the best players in the game by trading, but it’s not easy and requires effort and knowledge that isn’t very easy to come by.

 

[Macern]

I don’t understand why people have to play UT. Seasons is totally free and just as much fun. I’m still playing seasons on Fifa 18 and don’t have a problem finding games. I haven’t paid fifa anything over the original sale.

The general level in online seasons is very low compared to some modes in FUT so it would be very boring to play seasons if you’re very good. Also it doesn’t have anywhere near the content that FUT has.

 

[hobbers]

To be fair to EA it’s now possible to get a decent team on FUT by playing alone, albeit you need to play quite a lot.

It's possible but it will almost always take hundreds of hours of grinding, and it won't be a team that you'll enjoy playing with the majority of the time.

The way it's marketed and the targeting of naive children, the absurd odds, the price, and the fact it allows them to release a half-arsed unfinished product every year, is all unethical enough. But that's before you even start to factor in how much EA mess with the modifiers for the very best players on UT. The amount of scripted nonsense that goes on in UT compared to seasons is absolutely incredible, and it's always amazed me that more people don't realise, or those that maybe do realise don't even seem to care. They alter the way your team performs and the amount of "bad luck" that befalls you to frustrate you into buying packs. Pay to win and pay to have fun.

 

[mariachi-19]

Don't some of these packs go for $1000's of dollars?

 

[Nanook]

Don't some of these packs go for $1000's of dollars?

No, nowhere near that. Most expensive pack is like $20. They’re a huge waste of money for what you get though.