While that's true - I mean the whole thing should be banned. It's promoted addictive behaviour to kids from a young age, not a good trait to develop.
FIFA Packs/Loot Crates and Gambling
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Definitely.
I don’t like it from a gaming perspective too because it’s whoever pays the most wins. Imagine if you had to pay for weapons in shooting games.
EA have needed competition. When COD does something stupid, then people have lots of other shooters to choose from. For football games, we just have PES featuring @Pexbo. I am hopeful for PES this year though. It’s using the new unreal engine and they had a longer development time than usual, so who knows.
2K are even worse. Their NBA series does everything FIFA does, and more. At least for FIFA, as far as I know (haven't played the last one), the micro-transactions are basically limited to Ultimate Team. Is that how it is? For NBA2k, the base game has become micro-transaction-infested. Even the single player story/career has become almost unbearably slow unless you pay.
Probably competition is the answer there too, but the problem is and probably always will be licensing.
Why did EA stop making basketball games? License or lack of sales?
2K don't even hide it with NBA. Roulette, slot machines, pachinko...
Lack of sales it seems. The crazy thing is that the NBA2k games are good games. The core gameplay is great, it's just that the recent games are so thoroughly infested with micro-transactions.
Oh yeah, definitely. No doubt 2K will be first out the door if or when the EU finally stamps down on gambling in video games.
It's parents' responsibility to offer proper guidance and education to their children. Lucky draws, capsule toys, card games etc. are all related to gambling, shall we ban all of them from kids?
There’s no option when playing Yu-Gi-Ho to use your card details to instantly buy a pack online from which the contents are then slowly unveiled to you using visual mechanics reminiscent of a slot machine.
Plus something like Ultimate Team has ruined FIFA. If it was banned we’d get a much better product as a result because the developers would actually be forced to improve the game.
This seems like a Casino game with some basketball minigames mixed in.
Personally if I pay £50 for a game, I want the game and everything it needs, not to have to suddenly go and jizz another 40 quid on its bloody add ons. Can you image if other forms of entertainment did that? "We know you are 500 pages into lord of the rings, but unless you give us another 40 quid you have to read 200 pages of frodos bowel movement diary!"
It's why I rarely buy games at launch now. I'd rather just wait until everything is fixed and put into the game
Purchasing Match Attax cards from a convenient store is no different, shall it be banned too? I do not disagree that Ultimate Team is ruining FIFA and I always hope they would improve on Pro Clubs and Career Mode, but the gambling issue is another matter.
Why are you comparing physical items to stuff that within a year is useless? Buying Pokemon cards is not the same as buying UT cards. Pokemon cards will have some value, and your UT cards will go down the bin once the new fifa is out.
It is gambling. There are a few countries that have deemed it that, and more will. There are countless stories of kids and adults spending thousands on it.
Let's not shill for a company that could easily sell you the players without buying packs like their employees have been doing behind their backs.
Because both events are of the same nature: opening a pack and crossing your finger you get what you want, regardless of the value. It is definitely gambling, so as many toys and games that we encounter day in day out, shall they all be banned? If kids spend thousands on it, it's poor parenthood; if adults spend thousands on it, it's his own choice and bigger gambling issues exist in the society. I have no intention in defending EA (it is truly a terrible company), but the gambling talk is a logical fallacy.
Make your mind up first?
Who is spending thousands on any of the things you mentioned? Is there a looney going around buying 100s of match Attax cards? Because I'm sure the shopkeeper will tell him to stop. But in this case where EA is the shopkeeper, they won't tell you to stop. They will just put more promotions on.
You clearly have no idea how addiction works and just doing the usual its the parents fault or the adult should know better and absolving EA of any blame. The above guys parent had cancer, but yeah let's blame them. Parents and Adults could do better. But so can EA. They can do a lot better. They could remove the whole loot box system and give you the players that you pay for. But they won't, and you know exactly why they won't do that.
Why do you think shark cards aren't in the news as much as UT points? Because you get what you pay for with shark cards.
My mind is made up from the very beginning: it is definitely gambling, so as many other childhood toys and games. If you think UT has to be banned, other entertainment of the same nature (e.g. Match Attax, capsule toys etc.) should also be banned or else it's a logical fallacy.
You clearly have no idea how gambling works as it is never about the amount of money you put in. Gambling $1 or $1000, it's still gambling. It's fine if you think gambling should be discouraged among kids, but let's not justify other forms of gambling just because their value is lower.
In case you don't realize, there is a thing called transfer market in Ultimate Team which exactly allows you to buy the player you want for a certain amount.
I spent €400-500 over the course of Fifa 16 (or 15, can't remember). So fecking grim looking back, what did it get me?
I see EA had an employee selling cards to accounts for €600-700 each or your could buy 3 for €1700. It's fecking bizarre.
I see EA had an employee selling cards to accounts for €600-700 each or your could buy 3 for €1700. It's fecking bizarre.
Oh, there's a transfer market. Tell me more? Can I just go in there without doing the lottery and buy Ronaldo? No, I can't. Because the company you keep defending prefer surprise mechanics. I have to open a million packs to have a chance to get a top player.
And for the last time, stop comparing to match Attax. Can you in a few years sell your UT team? No, you cannot. You can sell your physical attax cards, so that's where the comparison ends. Your UT team is worthless after 9 months. Even if you do get someone like Gullit and sell him. You can't exactly sell the coins you get for him unless you want to be banned. You can't even trade with a friend. You can trade the Attax card with a friend.
I see you are even using the EA defence by comparing it to Kinder surprise. Yeah, let's compare our loot box to something that's a chocolate first and I am not paying £50 for that chocolate and then £5 for each toy.
Not only that, they are giving YouTubers a crazy amount of FIFA points at the start of every fifa. They sat their opening packs all night long on stream and obviously, the kids that worship them want to emulate. It wouldn't surprise me if they plant good cards for these YouTubers considering this black market crap has come out.
Looking back it really is like throwing your money down a well.
They absolutely do. They're not called influencers for nothing after all.
Little Timmy sees XxFifaGodxX on Youtube getting Ronaldo in a pack and he's more likely to buy packs.
Do you even know how the transfer market works? It's pretty hard to debate if you can't get the basic fact right.
Erm, I do. I played UT from 09 and you keep ducking my questions for some bizarre reason. If EA said £300 for Ronaldo, can I go in there and buy him? No, I can't because that wouldn't be profitable as loot boxes. It's not rocket science. If they charged you for players that you want, it would make them less money. They will have to do that when more countries wise up and ban loot boxes. They will have to sell you what you pay for rather than surprise mechanics.
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Yes, you can go in and buy Ronaldo for 1M coins now.
And how many packs do I have to open to get 1 million coins? Where's the option for me to buy coins rather than wasting money on packs, so I can buy the player outright?
How do these feckers sleep at night? Probably on gold-encrusted super-king beds with 17k thread-count sheets, but it makes me sick seeing this shit, justifying a pathway / loophole they found to under-age gambling!
Never agreed with Bojan so much. All of this stuff should have been banned a long time ago, or at least much more regulated.
I enjoy Ultimate Team and it’s gambling loop. Sorry gaming loop. It’s fine for me as I’m an aul codger, and I know it’s gambling. What’s not okay, is kids whom don’t realise the potential downward spiral Ultimate Team could lead them to.
It needs to be heavily regulated, as gambling websites do. Something akin to providing a passport to prove that the person in over 18. I really cannot imagine many parents going along with this, creating an account with their information in order for their kid to play UT. And if they do, then that’s on them. But it is gambling and should be treated as such.
It needs to be heavily regulated, as gambling websites do. Something akin to providing a passport to prove that the person in over 18. I really cannot imagine many parents going along with this, creating an account with their information in order for their kid to play UT. And if they do, then that’s on them. But it is gambling and should be treated as such.
I used to play FIFA rather a lot & in my first FUT got some massive pack luck getting CR7 in a free pack which allowed me to build an impeccable Serie A In-Form side from his sale proceeds. . .
I then fell into thinking it should be this easy in every FIFA & ploughed about £50-£75 into packs the following year with no success so I just resorted to buying coins off one of those sites; probably spending £100+ in the process.
I have an addictive personality so I know when the slope is coming & hit the breaks but kids being targeted won’t always be so quick to understand the road they’re heading down so regulation of some for is necessary - I only play Seasons with 4.5* & below teams now & that suits me just fine.
If EA were more upfront & called it what it is [gambling] it’d be easier for parents to discern what their kids are playing to act accordingly but most kids are just asking for ‘a few quid’ every day or so as if it’s an add-on so parents likely don’t fully see the issue. That’s not to absolve parents of their responsibilities but it’s hard for non tech savvy types as is.
I then fell into thinking it should be this easy in every FIFA & ploughed about £50-£75 into packs the following year with no success so I just resorted to buying coins off one of those sites; probably spending £100+ in the process.
I have an addictive personality so I know when the slope is coming & hit the breaks but kids being targeted won’t always be so quick to understand the road they’re heading down so regulation of some for is necessary - I only play Seasons with 4.5* & below teams now & that suits me just fine.
If EA were more upfront & called it what it is [gambling] it’d be easier for parents to discern what their kids are playing to act accordingly but most kids are just asking for ‘a few quid’ every day or so as if it’s an add-on so parents likely don’t fully see the issue. That’s not to absolve parents of their responsibilities but it’s hard for non tech savvy types as is.