It’s not highway robbery; it’s a surprise business transaction!
You know, we’ll be living in strange times when EA stops screwing the pooch. Because recently, they defended their loot box business model by calling them “surprise mechanics”.
Per PCGamesN’s report on a recent oral evidence session with the UK Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, EA’s VP of legal and government affairs, Kerry Hopkins, was the one to drop that little chestnut.
We do think the way that we have implemented these kinds of mechanics – and FIFA of course is our big one, our FIFA Ultimate Team and our packs – is actually quite ethical and quite fun, quite enjoyable to people.
EA’s VP of legal and government affairs, Kerry Hopkins
We do agree with the UK gambling commission, the Australian gambling commission, and many other gambling commissions that they aren’t gambling, and we also disagree that there’s evidence that shows it leads to gambling. Instead we think it’s like many other products that people enjoy in a healthy way, and like the element of surprise.
Most importantly, she likes these mechanics to toys such as Kinder Surprise or Hatchimals. I’d argue the difference is that both of those products not only give you a decent idea of what you could be getting beforehand, they have significantly fewer items per range that you can potentially get. Oh, and Kinder eggs are wrapped in chocolate. So, you know, you still get chocolate out of the deal.
But Christ; “surprise mechanics”. There’s some insistent terminology for you. If I didn’t now any better, I’d say the company was being run by Ferengi.
Source: IGN
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