The state of Hawaii announces action to address predatory practices at Electronic Arts and others

? EA dun goofed.

First Belgium and now Hawaii. The other publishers must be giving EA some wicked side eye right now.

So stupid. Not needed.

Love it. I hope they reign in the e-gambling bs.

The man in the Hawaiian shirt undermines the sombre tone.

Wow, this is getting interesting. I knew there was talk in Belgium, but I really didn't expect anything to come from it this year, or much at all. I'm also surprised to see this come from a state that isn't California.

ROFLMAO... That guy just said "It's a trap" HAHAHAHA!

holy shit nice, i hope rest of the states follow hawaii.

Bad joke.

I don't get it? If it's so bad wouldn't our wallets do the talking? I mean BF2 tanked hard in sales and already sent big waves through EA and their practices, what more do we need?

It was a nice start. This is like a warmup round. EA is feeling the consequences but it's pretty clear EA/Activision are going all in. They're not going to back off. This will have to be a sustained effort if we want them to really make changes. Although boycotts and noise will be the most powerful message, regulations will certainly help. It's good for us that what they do is illegal, it's a rare instance of the laws working in our favor.

Mind you, it's pretty rare for people to actually vote with their wallet en mass. The people who are most passionate about these things, are also the people for whom it's really tough to boycott games they've been waiting for, for years. So I'm very proud that we have gamers who manage to do that.

The issue you have is EA/activision etc. have been re-orienting their strategy to "recurrent player spending" that is they are trying to further monetize their products in order to create steady income streams rather than large injections followed by barren periods. The patent for matchmaking systems as evidenced by activision and the design philosophy of BF2 show you that the potential ROI on steady income streams is huge, they are not going to walk back these practices willingly, if regulators step in and say no you can't do this that's a clear message to the industry as a whole to drop pay to win models at least in full price software releases.

List of countries/states now looking into gambling in games

• Belgium
• Netherlands
• France
• Hawaii

And all because EA went too far and thought they could get away with it...

Damn, UK doing nothing.

The only thing that is predatory is people's foolishness in how to behave in free markets. I swear the whole world is a victim class now.

Protect me from myself .................please protect me.

@Xabiss said:

ROFLMAO... That guy just said "It's a trap" HAHAHAHA!

Yea, just noticed that.

Deliberate? Hmmm

I doubt governments will stop at regulating lootboxes, you have to be a dumbass to believe that.

@kuu2:

I think it more correlates to a mis marketed product. For $59.99 or $69.99 it has to be clear as to what you are getting--the description of goods has to be accurate. With a random loot box sale this does not exist--it is gambling. Minors can buy an E rated video game with loot boxes (gambling), but cannot enter a casino. The product being sold then ceases to be what it is labeled as. This is where the real problem is and why it is being noticed, I think.

You are getting said product though. Loot boxes are just another product. It's no different than buying a prize box/mystery figure pack that may or may not have something you want in it. You are for sure getting something in return for your money. Gambling promises zero product.

To categorize this as gambling is a stretch on many levels.

If you want to complain about having to pay for extras so be it but to tie it to gambling and begging for governments to regulate this is beyond dumb.

@kuu2:

To be fair I don't have the boxes of any games in front of me to see what the description of product is that contain these loot boxes. Does it say on the cases that x and y are add on content or give way to how further purchase may be necessary?

It can be considered gambling because it's very comparable to a quick thrill slot machine. When a product is labeled as E, that includes children. My point is that such a system in place could alter that rating. Think of it like this, you don't see R rated preview on G rated Disney films.

If this is gambling then buying a pack of cards is gambling.

Why do you people need this nanny shit?

@kuu2: " The only thing that is predatory is people's foolishness in how to behave in free markets. I swear the whole world is a victim class now."

Yuuuppp. Never agreed with you more about anything

There no one to blame but gamers for this crap. If you support this pay to win crap or pay for colors costumes and crap like that dont cry when companies want to bleed you dry. I remember a time where you finish the game multiple times and got everything now dlc cost many times more than the own game is pathetic.

@tormentos: I hope you man the barricades with us.

Sure, but intentionally locking content behind paywalls which force you to play the game for wayyyyyy too long to achieve minimal reward is slanted to make you buy microtransactions. They want you to buy it with money rather than play and they change the rules to make it as miserable as possible, its good not to incentive that type of design. I dont know who the suckers are who are buying into this and ruining it for everyone else, but its good that someone might be coming in to tell them to knock it off. Its all about greed, even EA said that their bottom line would not be effected due to turning of microtransactions in BF2

1.HOPE EA GETS FINED HEAVY

2.NO MORE MICROTRANSACTIONS OR LOOTBOXES FROM EA AND OTHER GREEDY AAA PUBLISHERS

3.VIDEO GAMES AND CONSOLES/PC COMPONENTS PRICES REDUCED FOR THE BACKLASH

= BLISS

I don't "need" nanny shit, I'd just like to see this crap out of video games...

... and it's not at all the same thing as "buying a pack of cards". A pack of cards is a physical item. When you buy a pack of cards that is all you are paying for. With that pack of cards you can do what you will.

This lootbox stuff sounds like it's getting more like online poker, or online slot machines wrapped in a video game skin. Some companies tried to start-up gambling internet sites years ago, despite gambling being broadly illegal, and of course the govt stepped in and shut them down. A bunch of people ended up charged with fraud. It's probably not in EA's long term interests to start looking like online gambling.

Jesus people stop buying EA products. That's how you force change. Legislating seems ridiculous.

The DLC didn't bother me, the first time I saw something that looked really wrong was the Fifa "Ultimate Team" crap, where you had to start buying random chances at "cards" - and a big part of the digital marketing is selling "coins" for $$$. None of that crap makes any sense at all to me as far as being part of a video game. It's like a totally separate thing, and seems to me like gambling. I'd rather they just delete it entirely and make it a separate entity (if it's even technically legal at all).

@2Chalupas:

It may sound odd but part of this connects with Apple and the app store, where people became accustomed to spending very little for an app, often complaining when a price was $4.99. This is where the practice really started and o ce it hit phones I'm sure game publishers start thinking, "jeez how do we I corporate that into this(game) business."

Ultimately the practice is the fault of the consumer.

There is no need for "legislating", Gambling is already illegal in many jurisdictions. If what EA is doing is tantamount to gambling, they (the company or individuals) can potentially be charged with fraud, racketeering, etc.

Who doesn't want to see an EA perp-walk? ;)

Make that a me too as well.

Wait, something's feels a bit off here. Lololol :P

Definitely.

I can't believe how mainstream mobile games got. Some of them have the same type of crap, and obviously they are making money hence the endless advertising for the next mobile game. What's crazy is I"m sure there are countless individuals dumping *WAYYYYYYY* more into some crappy mobile game then even an AAA console or PC game costs at full price. Hundred of dollars.

I know some people say, "who cares, it's the free market". But the reality is these people probably don't even know how much they are spending. They have no idea since it's done in small transactions and over the long term. The whole concept is designed around addiction and lack of transparency.

Apparantly there are numerous mobile games with an *average spend* over $100 - as of 2015 the highest is $400 - Game of War - Fire Age. https://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/03/the-shocking-truth-about-mobile-gaming.html. That is average spend per user. Admittedly I've never played that game, and barely dabbled in any mobile games. But my response to the idea of dropping $100 into a mobile game is LOLWUT. This is the crap EA is trying to bring over to consoles.

Good. I don't support random loot crates and stupid shit like that but I do get DLC's if they're worth it like The Witcher 3, Horizon Zero Dawn, and FFXV's DLC's. However I do see gaming as a whole trending in the wrong direction when it comes to microtransactions. And Battlefront II is reviews aren't even all that good. Like, if you're gonna be greedy and try to bleed everyone dry can you at least make a good core product..?

Exactly. The idea of a free market dies when corporations become either too powerful or manipulative. Because at that point there exists a big problem that can take several shapes and that leads to an undesirable endgame. Like: no more truthful reviews, consumers having no choice by law, or in this case effectively no voting with wallets anymore once they become too manipulative.

Why did Blizzard not disclose the odds when China stepped in against loot boxes in Overwatch? They went to great lengths to avoid disclosing those odds. I think it's because they are secretly tampering with the boxes behind the scenes, and if we found out it would have caused a shitstorm.

From a legal stand point, there are different laws regarding gambling in most states in the US. Some may just make it that a warning label will have to be put on the game like explicit lyrics on a cd. Gambling isn't completely illegal in the US and federal super cedes state law. This is interesting to see how this all will turn out.

That is my take.

Expansions should almost be like a standalone game. If a game is 5 hours, then maybe a 1 hour mini campaign with new missions - or maybe a co-op mode - all of that combined with new themed multiplayer maps based on the expansion.

I always viewed standalone "Map-Pack" DLC as a bit of a ripoff, slightly detrimental to games if they "held back" content only to sell as future map-packs.

With cosmetic DLC, I'm cool with that. It effects nothing,and it's a great way to squeeze an extra few dollars out of a game for zero additional investment. If you don't like it, don't buy it applies perfectly here.

"Loot Crates" are video games attempting to move full fledged into gambling. They dont' just want $60 for a game anymore. actually they don't even want us to know what we are paying. They want some crazy addicts to pay $600 for their game and they are fine with that. What's worse, is that these schemes create imbalances and otherwise ruins the game for everyone else that just wants to play. If we are looking at a leaderboard, how do we know who is winning straight up and who is just "paying" for wins? Especially as more and more content remains "locked".

It is Gambling, whether or not EA, Blizzard, or just about anyone ever admit it. There need to be checks and balances in place to protect vulnerable people, and at the *very least* the odds of winning any particular prize needs to be completely transparent and games centered around these mechanics need to be restricted to 18 or older, that's a legal buying age, not merely an ESRB suggestion.

Either way, its a shitty practice that is only hurting the gaming industry and gamers most of all. Yeah they may say that purchasing them is optional but when they are making the game grindy as Hell and trying to push you into buying them, it really destroys the game. Those shark cards killed GTAV online for me. After 20-30 hours of the online, I was like screw it this is just a waste of time to get me to buy shark cards by making me grind endlessly.

Yeah, that's how Obi-Wan, won the fight in the first place lol.

Hooray? Boo? I don't know. I tried to read up on Hawaii's gambling laws (mainly on taxation), but gave up pretty quickly. In reality, regulation's always a double-edged sword, and it's expecting a lot of us non-lawyers to have an informed and reasoned opinion on what the effects would be.

And you want it legislated out of video games? That's the definition of nanny shit (not saying you can't/don't take care of it yourself, just generally speaking).

I don't know what cards I'm getting when I buy a pack. I'm hoping it's cards that I want. It's the same concept. What I can do with the cards after that doesn't mean anything.

Good gambling should be restricted. These games should be rated 18 if they are gonna do that shit.

Then wait for in depth reviews and if the games has these type of structure don't buy them. These companies will get it if people stop buying the games.

It wouldn't cause a a storm, it is well know that Blizzard tinkers with the odds all the time. There are all kinds of factors that go into if/when you get legendary drops in games like Hearthstone and Overwatch, and you can find free to play guides that will break them down for you.

What Blizzard was trying to avoid is inevitable future complaints that will happen any time they lower odds in the future. Lower the pity timer by 2 for boxes/packs? Forums rejoice. Raise it by one because management feels you over corrected, massive backlash, even if they were happy with the higher pity timer from last week. It is kind of like taxes. It doesn't really matter what they are at, people will cheer when they go down and rabble when they go up.

@kittennose: Bet you're right.

there are too many stupid people out there for this to work.

I don't have a source beyond the Jimquisition but I believe Sweden and Australia can be added to this list

It's a Star Wars video game, it was bound to sell well.

But I don't see Battlefront II selling anywhere near Battlefront 2015 levels (which had its own issues, but nowhere near the catastrophe that is Battlefront II)

Also, I have noticed how these sleezy companies put gambling into games that were bound to sell well anyway...

Ubisoft hate EA right now. They have gone full retard and are ruin it for the rest. :D

The problem is there are stupid people in the world and I cant control everyone, please elect me supreme evil leader in the next election and I promise this will be the top priority

Buy used lol