Two French gamers have been plowing hundreds of euros hoping to get soccer legends like Zinedine Zidane (pictured here on FIFA 20 cover artwork), but are ending up with a bunch of players they have never heard of. (Image: Electronic Arts)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThat was an \u201call-time high\u201d for the Redwood City, California-based video-games company, and a 27 percent increase on the previous year.<\/p>\n
Much of that growth can be attributed to the launch last September of FIFA 20, which EA said was the number-one most-engaged title in the company\u2019s subscription services.<\/p>\n
But two lawsuits recently filed with French prosecutors highlights just how much EA has to lose should lawmakers and regulators heed calls to ban the loot-box-style transactions.<\/p>\n
For the uninitiated, a loot box is a virtual item that can be redeemed to obtain a random selection of other virtual items. These include weapons, armor or customization of avatars. Players buy or gain the boxes during play, and then can buy keys to redeem them. The box contents are unknown at the time of purchase.<\/p>\n
French sports daily L\u2019Equipe<\/em> reports the new suits focus specifically on FIFA 20\u2019s Ultimate Team mode. Here, gamers can spend real money to buy a type of loot box known as FUT packs, which offer randomized chances to unlock rare and legendary players to assemble an ultimate soccer squad.<\/p>\n