It?s certainly not a stretch to say that the major crackdown on in-game microtransactions all started with EA. The oft-criticized publisher set off a storm of criticism due to its implementation of microtransactions in Star Wars Battlefront II. And the ball just kept rolling from there, like a Katamari of controversy, much of it levied at so-called ?loot boxes,? that contain a random assortment of items. But wait! EA doesn?t consider these things to be ?loot boxes? at all, preferring to call them ?surprise mechanics.? The publisher sees them as ?quite ethical,? comparing them to such toys as found at any toy store.
The very odd exchange took place at a session with the United Kingdom?s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports Committee. Scottish National Party MP Brendan O?Hara asked Kerry Hopkins, VP of legal and government affairs for EA, how the company viewed loot boxes. Hopkins responded by saying, ?We don?t call them loot boxes,? but rather ?surprise mechanics.? Whatever that means.
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