It was also discovered that around 5% of FC 24 Coins loot box purchasers were spending around £70 per month, generating over half of the industry revenue from loot boxes. The report confirms that one-third of these spenders “fall into the ‘problem gambler’ category.”

 
In September of 2020, the UK Government asked for research into the effects of loot boxes, asking for anecdotal experience to be shared. The subsequently announced inquiry aims to “seek the experiences of players and their parents or guardians as well as rigorous, high quality data and research from video games companies, academia, civil society as well as any other organisations with an interest in this issue”.

EA made $1.49 billion in 2020 from sports game loot boxes alone. The insider speaking to CBC was recorded as saying 20You can play 30 without spending a dollar. But youll learn it takes a long time to earn coins and youll get frustrated pretty fast.

20For years … theyve been able to act with a layer of plausible deniability,21 the insider continued, 20Yet in their internal documents, theyre saying, 16This is our goal. We want people driven to the card pack mode.21

Earlier in the year, former EA Sports president Peter Moore said that he did not view loot boxes as a form of gambling. Moore, who had been president of EA Sports when the company introduced Ultimate Team to the FC franchise in 2008, compared the mode’s randomised packs to “collecting cigarette cards in the 1920s and ’30s” while pointing out that players always receive something in return for their purchase.

“People loved it. I think that sense of uncertainty and ‘What are you going to get?’ and then bang, Ronaldo or Messi would roll out and that’s a wonderful thing,” he said. “You’re always getting something. It’s not like you opened it and there’s no players in cheap FCUT 24 Coins there.”