Could FIFA 19 loot box controversy change video games forever?

Love them or hate them, loot boxes and in-game monetisation options are here to stay… or are they?

Beginning life as a way for mobile game devs to make some money from their titles, loot boxes are now the target of everything from gamer ire to governmental investigations. Is it all a little blown out of proportion, though?

That depends on who you ask. One of the biggest names in video gaming, period, is learning the hard way what it is like to be made an example out of in the marketplace. And that game is FIFA 19.

FIFA franchise prints money for EA

It might come as a surprise to many that EA would include heavy in-game monetisation options in one of its best-selling titles in the world. After all, FIFA is a global phenomenon and, unlike Madden, is ported to almost every console, dead or alive, and shipped to every country in the world. In short, the FIFA series prints money.

Yet there are also a slew of mobile games that EA helms, and some of them also share the FIFA branding. These tend to have a lot of in-game monetization, as mobile titles are wont to do. The fact that this practice spilled over into the main series might surprise some, and, for the more cynical among us, come as no surprise to others.

But unlike the hundreds of nameless games that attempt the same things every year, FIFA draws a lot of attention from everyone because of football. Europe, in particular, loves its football – and it also loves to regulate everything.

Do loot boxes constitute a form of gambling?

Reports emerged last year that FIFA 19’s in-game money generating mechanism got the attention of many national governments in Europe, Poland among them. Now, all kinds of countries across the EU are arguing that loot boxes are not only bad for gaming, but they’re also bad for consumers because they constitute a form of gambling.

Of course, to drive the point home, politicians across the EU are focusing on what this does to the vulnerable children that buy and play these games. FIFA, being so universal and, by association, accessible is only one of the bigger players. That doesn’t mean that gamers don’t hate loot boxes and the like, but publishers have largely ignored them.

Could legislation change monetisation in games forever?

It seems that Europe’s governments, though, have a different plan and, if they can reign in the FIFA franchise, it could have a big impact for the rest of us.

For some of us, anything that helps end the loot box scourge is a positive development, and that’s why FIFA 19’s use of them could help change video games forever. Arguments either way can be made, but there’s little doubt that FIFA, even in a bad year, makes money. It probably also doesn’t help that FIFA 19’s sales weren’t up to expectations. Again, though, that doesn’t help the publisher’s case that loot boxes are necessary because then they’re just guilty of milking a loyal (and shrinking) user base.