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Belgium: EA under criminal investigation for selling loot boxes in Fifa
Jim Raynor
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Today it became public that Belgium, which declared loot boxes as gambling earlier this year, started a criminal investigation against EA for selling loot boxes in Fifa. Unlike other Publishers (eg Valve, Blizzard, 2K Games) who disabled their sales in Belgium, EA didn't comply and kept them online. They are arguing that loot boxes are no gambling and that they comply with laws around the world.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-09-10-ea-reportedly-under-criminal-investigation-in-belgium-due-to-fifas-loot-boxes
This is going to be a very interesting legal battle about the future of loot boxes in the industry. But unlike other cases in the EU, this time only a single country - Belgium - is taking legal steps against loot boxes and this case doesn't seem to have effect on the other EU countries.
I'm not sure if this will affect Belgian players of STT - if DB is going to disable packs in Belgium as well (or if they even have the possibility to to it without pulling the whole game from the Belgium market with geo locks) - and how the industry will react. As for now, Belgium seems to only focus on the big publishers and not the thousands of smaller app developers who are selling loot boxes as well in their products. But I guess some lawyers will have to do some overtime.
I hope it won't affect STT players there in Belgium. I do think that loot boxes need to be regulated, but publishing the probablities was a huge step and probably the most imortant step into that direction and STT already did it and I don't think that it's a good development if some smaller countries start this fight on their own. I think - even form a players perspective - it would make way more sense if either the US as the biggest market or the EU as a whole would start this process on a political level and not on a criminal prosecution level.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-09-10-ea-reportedly-under-criminal-investigation-in-belgium-due-to-fifas-loot-boxes
This is going to be a very interesting legal battle about the future of loot boxes in the industry. But unlike other cases in the EU, this time only a single country - Belgium - is taking legal steps against loot boxes and this case doesn't seem to have effect on the other EU countries.
I'm not sure if this will affect Belgian players of STT - if DB is going to disable packs in Belgium as well (or if they even have the possibility to to it without pulling the whole game from the Belgium market with geo locks) - and how the industry will react. As for now, Belgium seems to only focus on the big publishers and not the thousands of smaller app developers who are selling loot boxes as well in their products. But I guess some lawyers will have to do some overtime.
I hope it won't affect STT players there in Belgium. I do think that loot boxes need to be regulated, but publishing the probablities was a huge step and probably the most imortant step into that direction and STT already did it and I don't think that it's a good development if some smaller countries start this fight on their own. I think - even form a players perspective - it would make way more sense if either the US as the biggest market or the EU as a whole would start this process on a political level and not on a criminal prosecution level.
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Comments
Why?
Cuz that’s just the kind of stuff this guy does
I just posted in on the bridge because this could have huge impacts for Belgian players.