CBC News has agreed not to identify him, as he says he fears professional repercussions. He says he and others he knows who work on video games don't feel good about projects that include loot boxes. It's that backdrop that the insider says compelled him to leak the document. Several lawsuits underway - including a proposed class-action in Vancouver - allege EA is violating gambling legislation.
Indeed, online message boards and forums are flooded with people who admit they're trying to break free from loot-box addiction and experts such as Whyte say they're increasingly hearing from problem gamblers who are spending savings and even going into debt to experience the high of opening a loot box.Īround the world, countries are grappling with whether loot boxes constitute gambling and should be banned, as Belgium did in 2018. "Nothing is more attractive - and in some people, addictive - to the brain than intermittent, variable reward." "The features of a loot box are similar to a slot machine," said Keith Whyte, executive director of the U.S. Critics say that randomness - coupled with bells and whistles that go off when a box opens within the game - makes them addictive and akin to gambling.Ī gaming insider tells CBC’s Go Public that video game giant Electronic Arts is funnelling FIFA 21 players towards 'loot boxes', which have been the subject of lawsuits because of alleged links to gambling.
"We are doing everything we can to drive players there," a bullet point close to the top of the document says. It says the mode that allows loot box purchases, called FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT), is the "cornerstone" of the game.
It discusses a mode of play that lets players buy "loot boxes" within the game to improve play or increase their chances of winning, such as by adding a better player to their team. It appears to be a presentation, featuring numerous slides with bullet points, about the release of FIFA 21 and was shared internally. The leaked 54-page document comes from the company's sports division in Burnaby, B.C., where a team works on EA's hugely profitable FIFA soccer games. A gaming insider says an internal company document proves video game giant Electronic Arts is trying to drive players into a type of game play that encourages them to spend more money and which has come under fire for possible links to gambling.