Video game firms luring the young with casino-like extras at a price

Call for change in law as creators pocket up to £1bn by selling addictive ‘loot boxes’ to online gamers

GAMING companies are making millions of pounds out of the “gamblinglike” features they insert into games played by children, it has been claimed.

Popular titles such as FIFA Ultimate Team sell items known as “loot boxes” that give out random rewards.

These take the form of new characters, skills or weapons that give users an advantage over competing gamers. EA, the company that creates the FIFA titles, admitted it made more than $800million (£560million) in one year from transactions in its Ultimate Team franchises.

The FIFA version makes money by selling packs of “random players” – and gamers buy them in the hope they contain world-class talents such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi for their own teams.

The Gambling Commission has said that under current legislation loot boxes are not classified as gambling because the “prizes” have no real-world value outside of the games.

However, Marc Etches, CEO of the charity Gamble Aware, told The Daily Telegraph that loot boxes risked “normalising gambling” for young people and that the law needed to “urgently catch up”.

He said: “Clearly this is an area that the industry is finding very lucrative, but there must be a responsibility on the part of these companies to recognise the potentially damaging effects on young people. It needs to be seen as gambling-like activity.”

Mr Etches’s call comes after Belgium’s counterpart launched an investigation into the practice.

Loot box features exist in numerous games and one game, Battlefront 2, was boycotted by some fans on its release in November for the way it pushed players towards buying loot boxes to unlock better weapons and powers.

At the time Battlefront 2 was described by Chris Lee, a member of Hawaii’s House of Representatives, as a “Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into spending money”. EA suspended the in-game purchases following the criticism.

Gamers who spoke to The Telegraph said they saw loot boxes as gambling and described getting “a rush” from them. Alex Källman, 28, said: “They follow the same mechanics as gambling where you risk something of value on an unknown outcome in the hope of gaining something. That’s exactly what loot boxes are. When you open a loot box there is a rush.”

The industry has defended loot boxes, arguing that, unlike gambling, players always get something from the loot boxes. EA said buying the packs was optional and users could earn them free of charge through gameplay.

In a statement, EA said: “Our goal is to ensure that our players enjoy a fun and fair experience. We do not believe that loot boxes are a form of gambling, and several government authorities have publicly said the same thing.”

It added: “EA is working globally to engage with, and educate, policymakers on our industry and different game mechanics.”