The German Bundestag has passed a reform of the 20-year-old Youth Protection Act which, in order to protect children from predatory monetisation mechanics, would apply stricter age-ratings to games to video games, reports Der Spiegel.
This reform has yet to be approved by the Federal Council (Bundesrat). but could come in to effect as soon as spring 2021 if it passes.
FIFA is one of the games which could be affected. The game currently earns EA billions though the monetisation of Ultimate Team—packs of virtual cards with the chance of obtaining powerful players, sold in loot boxes.
EA has already faced some difficulties with this—in January 2019 it was forced to stop selling FIFE points in Belgium, after increased scrutiny on loot box mechanics. The Netherlands Gamblig Authority declared loot boxes illegal, and EA had to pay fines of up 10 million Euros for violating the Dutch Gambling Act.
The UK government, which does not consider loot boxes gambling, will be taking a closer at this—with headlines declaring "FIFA's ugly game lures teens to gamble".
Kerry Hopkins from EA said, "we don't call them loot boxes - we call them surprise mechanics."
Likening them Kinder Eggs, Hopkins went on to say. "Pople like surprises. We do think the way we've implemented these kinds of mechanics is quite ethical and quite fun. They aren't gambling and we disagree that there's evidence that shows they lead to gambling."
