Earlier this year, Belgium's Gambling Commission ruled that FIFA 18 was one of three games, along with Overwatch and CS:GO, with loot boxes that contravened the country's gambling regulations. Perhaps because of that ruling, Electronic Arts has told Eurogamer that it will disclose the odds of FIFA Ultimate Team packs in FIFA 19.
"For Ultimate Team, when you buy a pack you know what you are getting. You are getting a certain number of assets that are guaranteed—and we're going to start to do pack odds disclosures that'll show you the odds of what you might get," EA Sports vice president Daryl Holt said. "That'll be in our product year 19 titles. So, at least that aspect of understanding what the chances are of getting X, Y, and Z card."
Holt didn't say what X, Y, and Z might be, however, or how exactly the odds will be represented—whether it will indicate the likelihood of getting players vs consumables, for instance, or players of a particular rank. Under the current system there are different tiers of packs (Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc.) with different mixes of content, but it's very vague as to exactly what: Gold packs, as an example, contain "a mix of 12 items, including players and consumables, at least 10 Gold with 1 Rare," but that's the extent of the description.
Nonetheless, Holt said FIFA's Ultimate Team packs are different than games like Star Wars Battlefront 2, because Ultimate Team is a separate, optional, and more-skill-based mode: "You may have a higher-rated team than me in FIFA Ultimate Team and I can still beat you," he said. He also defended the loot boxes, as EA has many times previously, as not actually a form of gambling at all.
"We don't believe in the gambling aspect of some of the mechanics we're introducing, because there is no real-world currency value to the packs," he said. "And there is the aspect of you know what you're getting with the packs in terms of the assets you expect to get."
Despite that, it would seem that EA wants to err on the side of caution. We'll find out soon whether the odds disclosure is enough to satisfy Belgium: FIFA 19 is scheduled to come out on September 19.
