Leaked Document Shows how Aggressively EA Markets Loot Boxes

Its not much of a secret that EA is after your money theyre one of the last studios that continue to dip into the Loot Box well they themselves poisoned with Star Wars Battlefront 2, and have even gone to court several times defending the practice. Of course, they probably wouldnt be so stubbornly in love with the Loot Box if it didn't work, and by all measures, it very much does: especially in their sports titles, like FIFA 21, which makes EA billions of dollars each year in microtransactions and sales.

Literally, billions. Last year they raked in 4 billion USD in their live service market, which includes FIFA loot boxes.

Anyway, this has been a well-known fact of EAs business model, but those practices came back into light when an unknown EA employee decided to leak a document to the CBC that details just how aggressively EA pushes their loot boxes in FIFA 21. It includes slides that say things like this:

Players will be actively messaged [and] incentivized to convert throughout the summer. [FIFA Ultimate Team] is the cornerstone and were doing everything we can to drive players there,

ALL ROADS LEAD TO FUT (FIFA Ultimate Team) Content teasers + targeted Aruba messaging will drive excitement & funnel players towards FUT from other modes.

So basically, the document is saying the quiet part out loud.

Kotaku, who helped break the story, reached out to EA, who said this:

We do not push people to spend in our games. Where we provide that choice, we are very careful not to promote spending over earning in the game, and the majority of FIFA players never spend money on in-game items. Nothing in the leaked document contradicts this in any wayit shows how we are supporting engagement in our game during the summer period, not spending.

...right. Well. Heres the whole document, if you want to see how their statement checks out.