It seems that even the mighty behemoth that is Electronic Arts will receive no mercy from the swift hammer of the Belgian gambling authorities. The Belgian Kansspelautoriteit or ‘Gambling Commission’ has just decreed that the sale of the FIFA Ultimate Team card packs in FIFA 19 is now officially regarded as gambling, and will no longer be permitted to be sold in-game.
As we wrote in an article back in 2018, Belgium has been clamping down on several major publishers due to the fact that players can wager real money on randomised virtual items. The Kansspelautoriteit deemed this practice unacceptable after it was discovered that the age of players was not explicitly monitored, and thus made a online structure of gambling accessible to underage players (since the virtual items had tangible value).
As such, Valve had to withdraw loot boxes from CS:GO and DOTA 2, while Blizzard had to do the same for Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm. EA, however, took a stand against the commission and claimed to contest the ruling by the Belgian gambling authorities. Unfortunately for the publisher, the Gambling Commission made it public on the 29th of January that their FIFA Ultimate Team card packs is no exception to the law.
Much like Valve, EA expressed sentiments of disagreement in an official statement on their website. The publisher declared that it will continue to engage with the Kansspelautoriteit with the intention of finding an agreeable compromise to reintroduce the card packs into the game since they disagree with the ruling. Nonetheless, they also left no doubt that they wish to comply with the ruling issued by the commission, which means Belgian players will currently be unable to purchase them.
You can read EA’s full statement here.
Pieter hails all the way from the tip of southern Africa and suffers from serious PC technophilia. Therapists say it is incurable. Now he has to remind himself constantly that gaming doesn’t count as a religion even if DRM is the devil. Thankfully, writing reviews sometimes helps with the worst symptoms.
This comment section needs some “EA BAD” comments, so let me start:
EA BAD!
EA IS THE DEVIL.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/948c9743d7de677424d9083ccbf26d35e4cbe29effc931617b61cae9f3fd0f98.jpg
EA
It’s in the Scam
Serves them right.
At first i was like “there is no need for this the free market will fix it, government intervention is bad because at some point we may find ourselves under unwanted legislation in games….but then i was like THIS IS EA WE TALKING ABOUT AND MICROTRANSACTIONS ARE RUINING GAMING THESE DAYS SO…….in the worlds of Driver Nelphi GET FCKED
What free market? Markets of all nations are filled with regulations many of them positive, but too many of which have the sole purpose of crushing any competition to already established businesses.
imf and gatt exist specifically to eliminate these type of hurdles hurdles. are you russian?
EA should be banned from the universe.
Lmao. That’s savage
Belgium, you may have topped your waffles. Here’s to your main revenue stream, EA.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fad0183e4033b03d27b513ebef4c0227b7e9ca5d92d5833d1c58b94bd9c5b841.jpg
More nations should follow suit
All of them. Time to stop this madness.
God bless the Belgian legal system.
Good, and it should happen to every single other nation, these companies have stopped making games and are now making virtual casinos.
Anthem and flopout shttysix are getting there, fortinite is already there
Hope at least rest of Europe will take notice and does the same ruling. Can’t hope for America to do the right thing. They even elected Trump for President 😀 And Fifa is very popular in Europe so it will hit them quite hard.
MAGA baby
Greetings from the Finland and best support for mr Trump
Plenty of wrong with Trump but pretending like he’s the worst thing to happen to America when Bush and Obama were the previous presidents is just disingenuous and mostly propaganda.
You’re right I really have not studied what’s he has done, gets bashed in European media constantly though. But looking at USA-s healthcare and economics practices i doubt they ban lootboxes. Europe seems to tend more to people while US and A is all business.
“Belgian players will no longer be able to purchase them”
https://givemesport.azureedge.net/images/17/09/29/1d7a0885e3a4acfe176cebb7d404a349/960.jpg
Because that thing only bring “Hazard” to them 😀
EA is no Garden of Eden!
Of course!! they are a greed “Kompany”
Yo, where can I report games that have this gambling?
When I saw a while back that EA was refusing to cooperate with the Belgian Gaming Commission it wasn’t much of a surprise but then they went on to actively encourage FIFA players in Belgium to protest the commission’s ruling by putting pressure on government officials which further disrespected the commission’s decision. I guess EA thought they could get away with all of that childishness and get their way in the end but EA is an arrogant company so I guess it’s to be expected.
The thing that EA apparently can’t comprehend is that it doesn’t matter whether they agree with the commissions ruling. EA doesn’t rule the world. They have to abide by the laws in each country or move their gambling trash games elsewhere.
Good for them, bunch of PoS
EA be like: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c04abb873af361ead73a3779e6171cb94f7624784c67533fd507f9ab6cd78812.gif
A well deserved and overdue punch to EA’s gut.
I support the Belgian gambling authority!
Get rid of this cancerous business practices of selling stupid enhancement/add-on packs. Just add em as unlockables in game, that players can unlock by “playing”!