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Is EA Ready to Go to Court in Belgium Over Lootboxes? - MMORPG.com News

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
edited September 2018 in News & Features Discussion

imageIs EA Ready to Go to Court in Belgium Over Lootboxes? - MMORPG.com News

A Belgian news outlet is reporting that EA may be being investigated by Belgian court officials as the company has yet to remove loot boxes from its games in the country. Earlier this year, the Belgian Gaming Commission found that loot boxes violate national regulations against gambling. While other companies have removed loot boxes from their games (i.e. Blizzard Valve and 2K Games), EA has yet to comply.

Read the full story here



¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


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Comments

  • XingbairongXingbairong Member RarePosts: 927
    Pretty sure Belgium will lose if this goes to court, no offense, but I'm confident that EA have better lawyers than Belgium(not the country as a whole, but those that work for the government) and they have already gone through all possible scenarios and are certain that they can win.
    craftseeker[Deleted User]Psym0nMensurdingleyz[Deleted User]TaneonSamhaelgastovski1rojoArcueid
  • JeffSpicoliJeffSpicoli Member EpicPosts: 2,849
    EA Has just gone full renegade lol 
    KylerankabitoshinScot[Deleted User]necrolock
    • Aloha Mr Hand ! 

  • KellerKeller Member UncommonPosts: 602
    @SBFord it's a belgian news agency, not dutch. It's a bit confusing as they write in Dutch. Belgium is a multilingualistic country. Majority of the population speaks French or (and) Dutch. Plus German is also an official language, however it's spoken by a very small portion of the population.
    SBFordcraftseeker[Deleted User][Deleted User]RolanStorm
  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 7,885
    Pretty sure Belgium will lose if this goes to court, no offense, but I'm confident that EA have better lawyers than Belgium(not the country as a whole, but those that work for the government) and they have already gone through all possible scenarios and are certain that they can win.
    That depends on how the legislation has been crafted. If it is done well it can be easy to fall foul of it and easier still to argue that EA has broken it.

  • Slapshot1188Slapshot1188 Member LegendaryPosts: 16,947
    Please do go to court. The more publicity the better!
    KellercraftseekerKyleran[Deleted User]laseritkjempff[Deleted User]Sabracgastovski1anemoand 1 other.

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  • NorseGodNorseGod Member EpicPosts: 2,654
    Hope they go bust.
    RPGenie
    To talk about games without the censorship, check out https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/
  • AeanderAeander Member LegendaryPosts: 7,820
    I hope this ends up with a Belgian-waffle shaped shoeprint in Andrew Wilson's colon.
    [Deleted User]IselinScot[Deleted User]kenguru23necrolockrojoArcueid
  • AlbatroesAlbatroes Member LegendaryPosts: 7,671
    edited September 2018
    Wasn't Activision-Blizzard crafty with overwatch in another region (I think it was China) regarding loot boxes? They gave the loot boxes away for free but sold the keys or something like that, didn't they?
  • gervaise1gervaise1 Member EpicPosts: 6,919
    Keller said:
    @SBFord it's a belgian news agency, not dutch. It's a bit confusing as they write in Dutch. Belgium is a multilingualistic country. Majority of the population speaks French or (and) Dutch. Plus German is also an official language, however it's spoken by a very small portion of the population.
    How do you say that in Flemish :)
    [Deleted User]Keller
  • gervaise1gervaise1 Member EpicPosts: 6,919
    Pretty sure Belgium will lose if this goes to court, no offense, but I'm confident that EA have better lawyers than Belgium(not the country as a whole, but those that work for the government) and they have already gone through all possible scenarios and are certain that they can win.
    Belgium is not the US - no jury to sway just judges who will apply the law. So - as @kitarad said it will come down to how the law is crafted.  
    craftseekerAlverant[Deleted User]laseritVrikaPsym0n[Deleted User]SabracrojoArcueid
  • DeadSpockDeadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 403
    EA is one of many companies doing this it feels like there’s a highway full of speeding cars but the cop only pulls me over.
  • laseritlaserit Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
    edited September 2018
    The honorable thing to do is to stop selling the things in Belgium and then challenge the law in court.

    Respect a countries laws

    Screw you EA
    Iselin[Deleted User]craftseeker[Deleted User]Samhael

    "Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855
    DeadSpock said:
    EA is one of many companies doing this it feels like there’s a highway full of speeding cars but the cop only pulls me over.
    But, you were speeding in the flashiest car purchased with funds obtained by exploiting others.
    rojoArcueid
  • El-HefeEl-Hefe Member UncommonPosts: 760
    Albatroes said:
    Wasn't Activision-Blizzard crafty with overwatch in another region (I think it was China) regarding loot boxes? They gave the loot boxes away for free but sold the keys or something like that, didn't they?
    I think blizzard just had to provide the odds for the boxes.  Like x box has 5% chance to contain x gear.  But I'm sure Belgium law is different than china.

    I've got the straight edge.

  • UngoodUngood Member LegendaryPosts: 7,517
    laserit said:
    The honorable thing to do is to stop selling the things in Belgium and then challenge the law in court.

    Respect a countries laws

    Screw you EA
    I agree, if I was in charge of EA, I'd suspend Service to any game that had Loot Boxes to anyone in Belgium until the issue was resolved, IE: Indefinitely until Belgium let us sell Loot Boxes.

    I would also withhold any future sales to that country until the issue was resolved.

    After all, there are about the same number of people in the entire country of Belgium as there are in the City of New York.

    I could afford to not do business there.
    Kyleran[Deleted User]
    Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.

  • evolgrinzevolgrinz Member UncommonPosts: 151

    Ungood said:


    laserit said:

    The honorable thing to do is to stop selling the things in Belgium and then challenge the law in court.



    Respect a countries laws



    Screw you EA


    I agree, if I was in charge of EA, I'd suspend Service to any game that had Loot Boxes to anyone in Belgium until the issue was resolved, IE: Indefinitely until Belgium let us sell Loot Boxes.

    I would also withhold any future sales to that country until the issue was resolved.

    After all, there are about the same number of people in the entire country of Belgium as there are in the City of New York.

    I could afford to not do business there.



    Yeah, Belgium isn't that big, but EA is looking further, like what if all of EU would ban lootboxes? That will be a huge market gone. So they start the fight now.
    But I think EA is making a big mistake. Even if they win the fight about lootboxes. Belgium could just ban their entire game to be sold in the country instead.
    LenoxrojoArcueid
  • VrikaVrika Member LegendaryPosts: 7,882
    edited September 2018
    I think the large questions here are how long the case takes and whether EA is allowed to continue selling lootboxes while it's being argued. If they can bog it down to court system for something like 5 years, then it doesn't really matter even if they eventually lose and are forbidden from selling lootboxes in Fifa 2018 from 2023 onwards.
     
  • XingbairongXingbairong Member RarePosts: 927
    edited September 2018

    gervaise1 said:



    Pretty sure Belgium will lose if this goes to court, no offense, but I'm confident that EA have better lawyers than Belgium(not the country as a whole, but those that work for the government) and they have already gone through all possible scenarios and are certain that they can win.


    Belgium is not the US - no jury to sway just judges who will apply the law. So - as @kitarad said it will come down to how the law is crafted.  



    Pretty sure that as things are now Belgium stands no chance. Making loot boxes count as gambling might've passed as a law in Belgium, but as EA have already responded with their twisted logic they don't count them as gambling and I'm pretty sure that no one will be able to win a case against EA saying that certain loot from lootboxes is worth more than other because the loot is not meant to be sold for real money.

    Also I'm not aware of the laws in the US, but pretty sure in this type of cases there is no jury, only both sides and the judge.

    P.S. Btw all the people that think it's the "right" thing to do to stop selling loot boxes there... From ethical stand point, YES it is, however if companies don't respond to this there are high chances that a lot of countries will follow and while only Belgium having this law might have almost no lasting effect on the overall income of the companies in the long run if more companies follow their steps... You can guess the end result... millions and possibly billions of potential income will disappear, so they really don't have a choice. I'm a Blizzard fan, but in my eyes they tried to play the "ethical" company and let other major companies do the fight for them, so that they don't ruin their image, because it was obvious that major companies won't take this laying down.

    craftseeker[Deleted User]
  • craftseekercraftseeker Member RarePosts: 1,740

    gervaise1 said:



    Pretty sure Belgium will lose if this goes to court, no offense, but I'm confident that EA have better lawyers than Belgium(not the country as a whole, but those that work for the government) and they have already gone through all possible scenarios and are certain that they can win.


    Belgium is not the US - no jury to sway just judges who will apply the law. So - as @kitarad said it will come down to how the law is crafted.  



    Pretty sure that as things are now Belgium stands no chance. Making loot boxes count as gambling might've passed as a law in Belgium, but as EA have already responded with their twisted logic they don't count them as gambling and I'm pretty sure that no one will be able to win a case against EA saying that certain loot from lootboxes is worth more than other because the loot is not meant to be sold for real money.

    Also I'm not aware of the laws in the US, but pretty sure in this type of cases there is no jury, only both sides and the judge.

    P.S. Btw all the people that think it's the "right" thing to do to stop selling loot boxes there... From ethical stand point, YES it is, however if companies don't respond to this there are high chances that a lot of countries will follow and while only Belgium having this law might have almost no lasting effect on the overall income of the companies in the long run if more companies follow their steps... You can guess the end result... millions and possibly billions of potential income will disappear, so they really don't have a choice. I'm a Blizzard fan, but in my eyes they tried to play the "ethical" company and let other major companies do the fight for them, so that they don't ruin their image, because it was obvious that major companies won't take this laying down.

    WTF are you saying?
    Belgian law applies in Belgium. A case in Belgium is going to be decided in a Belgian court.
    VrikaPsym0nMensur[Deleted User]SorillrojoArcueid
  • RenoakuRenoaku Member EpicPosts: 3,157
    I disagree it is gambling as welll regardless of Cash Payouts, anything that involves chance is "Gambling" maybe not in a Casino type which has Real World Payouts but any type of asset including digital assets such as clothing or cosmetics is gambling, llet alone if you can even resell those for in game currency.
    gastovski1
  • SplitStream13SplitStream13 Member UncommonPosts: 250
    They probably too busy managing Battlefield V's shitshow and sorta missed the new law :D
    dingleyz
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 22,824
    These guys lived through and eventually saw of the Nazi's, not even EA is that much of a big bad wolf. ;)
    [Deleted User]craftseeker
  • MaxBaconMaxBacon Member LegendaryPosts: 7,765
    Specific country regulations won't cause a dent on EA.

    What it needs is that for EU itself do pass a regulation on this that will be at place in all the member countries and that alone already sets it in stone.
  • MensurMensur Member EpicPosts: 1,507


    Pretty sure Belgium will lose if this goes to court, no offense, but I'm confident that EA have better lawyers than Belgium(not the country as a whole, but those that work for the government) and they have already gone through all possible scenarios and are certain that they can win.



    Dafuq you talking about?

    JeffSpicolicraftseeker

    mmorpg junkie since 1999



  • ConstantineMerusConstantineMerus Member EpicPosts: 3,338
    edited September 2018
    Renoaku said:
    I disagree it is gambling as welll regardless of Cash Payouts, anything that involves chance is "Gambling" maybe not in a Casino type which has Real World Payouts but any type of asset including digital assets such as clothing or cosmetics is gambling, llet alone if you can even resell those for in game currency.
    Is that your personal opinion or you got that definition from somewhere?

    Because by that definition loot drops from mobs and bosses would also be gambling.
    [Deleted User]
    Constantine, The Console Poster

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