Leaked EA Doc: Sell More Loot Boxes

“Surprise mechanics,” remember “surprise mechanics?” Oh, they were nice days when we only assumed EA were heartless money-grabbing business lizards without a clue of what humans want. Those were nice days when we could forget there was a point where maybe they weren’t all bad. Well, goodbye to the good ol’ days where we could live in denial and think happy thoughts in dark, dark times. A period when we could laugh about that awkward interview about Jedi: Fallen Order and the dark times.

According to a source close to CBC (Canada’s BBC or PBS), EA had a two-page document/PowerPoint slides denoting how not only are Loot Boxes a plague, EA wants to sell more of the plague at a premium. The documents note that while football (I’ll have none of this soccer nonsense today) returned to the pitch following the COVID-19 hiatus, players would be returning to FIFA in greater numbers. With that EA wanted to not only gently push players towards FUT (FIFA Ultimate Team), they wanted to go hard.

In the second document, you can read the third point, “Players will be actively messaged + Incentivized to convert throughout the summer.” One would assume these slides are from late last summer, though CBC does not clarify this. The first document also states: “content teasers + targeted Aruba Messaging will drive excitement & funnel players towards FUT from other modes.” This is under the phrasing “All roads lead to FUT.”

According to the insider that spoke with CBC, the documents shown are part of a larger 54-page document from the Canadian developer of the FIFA games. The person is quoted as saying, “For years … They’ve been able to act with a layer of plausible deniability.” Going on to state, “Yet in their internal documents, they’re saying, ‘this is our goal. We want people driven to the card pack mode’.” This suggests that not only is the company acutely aware of what Loot boxes are doing, but they are preying upon that with a facade of innocence we’d all had assumed was the case anyway.

For those that aren’t caught up in the ongoing battle between EA (and others) against restrictions on loot boxes, governments across the world are seeking new and easily implementable laws restricting the sale of Loot Boxes for their similarity to that of gambling; specifically in regard to the random chance elements and the very real currency being the obvious comparison. Of course, companies such as EA (Activision, 2K, and the like) that see this as a revenue stream don’t want to let it go, often arguing that the items don’t hold a real monetary value or could be traded like a commodity, thus they are “not gambling.”

It should be said that while this more or less confirms the publisher mindset toward loot boxes, EA did pull an ad aimed at children to encourage them to spend real money on FUT. While it is also not surprising to know this is the mindset, the confirmation is no less aggravating seeing those that are described as “whales” are the target. There would be a good chance EA are not the only ones with this type of document sent to in-house development studios. The likes of Take-2 don’t want to “nickel and dime” but do want you playing GTA Online to buy Shark Cards, or Activision and their loot boxes.

When talking about this, CBC notes one example of a Reddit user pleading with those who are “addicted to packs” to get help, much like they themselves did. Health experts expressed how damaging continued free rein on this practice can be, calling for places such as the UK to implement laws/restrictions on things such as loot boxes.

CBC did contact the publisher for comments, though a spokesperson declined an interview or to comment on the leaked documents. They noted that they were “marked privileged and confidential” going on to say that they are “being viewed without context.” They then concluded the PR disaster that is their comments with a note that all interpretations on the documents “are misinformed.” Ok, what is the context? Set the story straight then, spokesperson for an international multi-million dollar company that makes money through these practices. The ball is metaphorically in your court. I want to see what the next “surprise mechanics” comment happens to be.

See, explaining the context and how any interpretation of exactly what is said is “misinformed” is like shooting yourself in the face. Yes, you could explain it, and yes you could give context. However, you aren’t going to come out the other end looking or sounding like a rational human. Explicitly stating that you want to drive people away from the modes that don’t include loot boxes seems self-evident of intent. Not only that, but the comments would suggest the validity of the documents themselves, showing exactly what the design brief seems to be when approaching things such as FIFA.

The insider that spoke with CBC notes, “We can’t really do anything about it because at the end of the day, [the] company is trying to make money and satisfy investors.” A sentiment I agree with, though I’d like to add to that with: by telling players who enjoy single-player offline modes they aren’t who they really want playing their games. With this mentality to satisfy investors, EA made $1.49 billion US dollars last year from sports games alone. Something tells me that investors want further growth throughout this year and those that will follow as well.

So I guess I’ll see you next time when EA has a design document that says, “send messages telling people to sell kidneys to buy loot boxes!”