The Franceloot box system in Star Wars Battlefront IIdoes not constitute as gambling, EA said in a statement today. This is in response to many people saying that it is, in fact, gambling by definition.
EA has been under fire for the loot box progression system in Star Wars Battlefront IIsince it was first revealed. Members of the gaming community have been adamantly against it, saying it encourages players to pay for loot boxes that give players random loot and upgrades to improve their multiplayer load outs.
SEE ALSO: YouTuber spends $90 in 'Star Wars: Battlefront 2' and proves that it's still basically pay-to-winStar Wars Battlefront II's loot box system sparked a larger loot box controversy across the industry, which led to the country of Belgium's gambling authority to investigate whether loot boxes in games like Battlefront IIand Overwatchshould be considered gambling, VTM Newsreported (via PC Gamer).
EA provided a statement via email saying that the system in Battlefront IIdoes not equate to gambling.
"The crate mechanics of Star Wars Battlefront II are not gambling," EA said. "A player’s ability to succeed in the game is not dependent on purchasing crates. Players can also earn crates through playing the game and not spending any money at all. Once obtained, players are always guaranteed to receive content that can be used in game."
While it is true that players can earn loot boxes through regular gameplay, someone calculated that it would take more than 4,500 hours of gameplay to actually unlock everything without paying a cent.
These unlockables are sometimes just cosmetic but some of them allow players to upgrade different weapons and abilities, and purchasing a bunch of loot boxes could give players an advantage over others. That pay-to-win kind of system doesn't sit well with many players, but that doesn't throw the game into any legal trouble like gambling might.
The fact that players don't know what they are going to get when they buy a loot box constitutes it as gambling to some, including the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Others have even spread around a PSA telling parents not to buy Star Wars Battlefront IIfor their children because of these elements that, at the very least, resemble gambling.
ESRB, the game-rating organization that puts advisories on game packaging in the U.S., has already expressly stated that it does not consider loot box systems like this as gambling.
Belgium's investigation could spur other countries to think about where to draw the line with the definition of gambling in video games, which would impose a ton of legal restrictions on things like loot boxes and potentially dissuade would-be buyers.
Topics Gaming Star Wars
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