Electronic Arts will release the last FIFA title with FIFA 23. After that, they will lose the rights to the name “FIFA”. FIFA 23 will again offer loot boxes, even though the system is now heavily criticized as “gambling”. In a statement, EA explains how they view loot boxes.
What role do loot boxes play in FIFA?
- Loot boxes are part of the “FIFA 23 Ultimate Team” (short: FUT) mode. Players can either buy loot boxes directly with money or earn them through gameplay in FIFA 23.
- In FUT, players build their own teams with player cards that represent real-world athletes.
- Loot boxes, called “packs”, contain such player cards: The loot box works like a lottery in gambling: The “wins”, strong players, are extremely rare. The “losers”, weak and average players, are frequently found in the boxes.
FIFA 23 will be the last FIFA from EA to carry the name:
What is the controversy? Loot boxes, such as these FUT packs, have increasingly been viewed critically in recent years. Some consider these boxes to ultimately be gambling and fear that children growing up with loot boxes could be led into gambling.
When EA overdid it with loot boxes in the Star Wars game “Battlefront II”, it caused a massive media and public uproar: EA was accused of “leading children to gambling” and exploiting them.
In some countries, there are efforts to curb loot boxes. Some new games with loot boxes are no longer released in Belgium and the Netherlands because the publishers do not want to comply with the regulations there.
EA says: Loot boxes are part of FIFA that players love
This is what EA says about loot boxes: In a statement to Eurogamer, EA now explains how it views loot boxes (via Eurogamer):
We wholeheartedly believe that Ultimate Team and FUT packs, which have been part of the game for over a decade, are a part of FIFA that players love – fans appreciate that the game reflects the excitement and strategy of the real world, building and managing a team. Giving players the opportunity to spend money on it is fair.
Furthermore, it must be said that spending money is completely optional in our game, and we do not encourage players to spend money instead of earning rewards in-game. The FUT packs work exactly the same, whether they are bought or earned. Most players do not spend any money. For example, of 10 FUT packs opened in FIFA 22, 9 were earned.
How important are loot boxes in FIFA for EA? The loot boxes in their sports games make up a considerable part of EA’s revenue, and they continue to grow.
In the 2021 financial year, EA earned $1.62 billion from loot boxes in their sports games (FIFA, NHL, Madden): And most of the money comes from FIFA.
29% of their overall revenue in 2020 came from loot boxes. What is striking is that revenues tripled within 6 years. The trend is still rising.
FIFA continues to bring more events and special cards
This is what’s behind it: EA financially benefits enormously from players buying loot boxes. Saying that they are not fueling purchases is likely to be viewed critically by FIFA fans, as EA has increasingly introduced more special packs, events, and limited editions in recent years.
This is generally a problem with loot boxes: While you can often “earn” loot boxes through gameplay,
- developers then increase the demand for loot boxes through “more new cards” or “new events”, so that players buy boxes to keep up
- or decrease the supply by making it harder to earn loot boxes: They skimp on events or distribute fewer rewards
Indirectly, the developer has many ways to boost the sale of loot boxes and thus increase its earnings over time. Looking at how revenues from loot boxes have changed, you can clearly see how the sales of loot boxes are increasing.
It is also interesting to note the statement:
- EA states that loot boxes are part of FUT
- EA states that players love FUT because they can build their own team like a real manager in this mode
- This implies: Players love loot boxes
However, EA does not elaborate on why loot boxes are part of FUT and whether FUT would not be just as good without loot boxes, using other systems to earn players.
The parallel to “real life” only works moderately because in real life, a football manager buys players directly from the transfer market and does not blindly buy 20 players hoping to get a star among them.
Especially in 2019, the topic of loot boxes became heated in the wake of the “Battlefront” controversy:
