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EA's vice president of legal and government affairs, Kerry Hopkins, recently spoke with the UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, and said that the publisher's games don't have loot boxes in them. They're actually called 'surprise mechanics,' dontchaknow?
As reported by PCGamesN, Hopkins was speaking on behalf of the Star Wars Battlefront and FIFA publisher at the committee's discussion on 'immersive and addictive technologies.'
The SNP's Brendan O' Hara asked Hopkins 'do you consider loot boxes to be an ethical feature of your games?' I don't think anyone could've anticipated Hopkins' reply.
'Well, first of all, we don't consider them loot boxes. What we look at them as [is] surprise mechanics,' the VP of legal and governtmental affairs said to a chuckling O' Hara.
'If you go to a — I don't know what your version of Target is — a store that sells a lot of toys, and you do a search for surprise toys, what you'll find is that this is something people enjoy. They enjoy surprises. And so it's something that's been part of toys for years, whether it's Kinder Eggs or Hatchimals or LOL Surprise.'
She acknowledged that FIFA's Ultimate Team is EA's 'big one,' before going onto say that it is 'quite ethical and quite fun.' Strange use of quite on both counts there.
Hopkins finished by saying that loot boxes 'aren’t gambling, and we also disagree that there’s evidence that shows it leads to gambling.' I guess that means she's not too keen on the Benelux region, then.
God, I feel like such a fool. Why didn't anyone tell me I was calling them by the wrong name for years. Well, at least I know now.
