FUT you!
Last year, theNetherlands declaredthat loot boxes in video games were a form of gambling. Any product containing them would be prohibited from sale without a proper license. Seemingly ready for a court battle, EA went aboutcontinuing to sell loot boxesinFIFA, thus breaking the law. Now, it looks like EA will be conceding defeat asFIFA‘s “Ultimate Team” will no longer be sellingFIFApoints in Belgium.
The current system hasn’t been removed fromFIFA, but players will no longer be able to purchase additional currency to buy new packs. Effectively, this has ended the sale of microtransactions for the sports title. In an official statement, EA wrote, “After further discussions with the Belgian authorities, we have decided to stop offering FIFA Points for sale in Belgium. We’re working to make these changes effective in ourFIFAconsole and PC games by June 26, 2025.”
EA then goes on to say some mumbo jumbo about “choice, fairness, value and fun” and how it doesn’t agree with the Belgian authorities’ ruling on loot boxes. Most damning, though, is the final sentence that reads, “The impact of this change toFIFA Ultimate Teamin Belgium is not material to our financial performance.” Then why were loot boxes there in the first place?
Whatever the real reason for the decision, at least loot boxes are out of another game. Now we just have about 1,000 other titles to strip the “feature” from.
