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"Ultimate Team is not gambling", claims the EA boss as its Canadian arm gears up for the release of FIFA 19.
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“We’re going to continue pushing forward [with Ultimate Team],” Andrew Wilson, CEO of the publishing giant, said in a conference call with industry analysts. “We’re always thinking about our players. We’re always thinking about how to deliver these types of experiences in a transparent, fun, fair, and balanced way for our players — and we’ll continue to work with regulators on that.”
The recent banning of loot boxes in Belgium and the Netherlands has caused the FIFA community to wonder whether changes could be coming to Ultimate Team next season, gamesradar.com writes.
“Many of [the regulators] we’ve been working with for a long time, and they have evaluated and established that programs like FIFA Ultimate Team are not gambling.”
How could it not be?
Wilson explains: “First, players always receive a specified number of items in every FUT pack. Second, we don’t provide or authorise any way to cash out digital items or virtual currency for real-world money. And there’s no real-world value assigned to in-game items.”
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From Gamesradar.com:
There was no official response to the threat of next year’s edition being banned in Belgium, after FIFA 18 was found to be one of three games that contravened the country’s gambling laws, along with Overwatch and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. In April, minister of justice Koen Geens threatened those who failed to remove loot boxes from their games with a fine of up to €800,000, and five years in prison.
It’ll be fascinating to see whether that means FIFA 19 emerges in Belgium with Ultimate Team removed, or indeed is taken off the country's release schedules. Expect this story to run well into next season.
- Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com
