Gambling, pay-to-win, or self-proclaimed “surprise mechanics” – the debate about Lootboxes in general and FIFA packs in particular is always heated. It has also long arrived at the political level and resulted in 2018 in Belgium declaring Lootboxes and thus also packs in FIFA to be gambling and banned them;

For FIFA eSports players, especially in FIFA 18 and FIFA 19, an immense disadvantage, as Belgian FIFAe World Cup participant Gilles ‘Gilles_1996’ Bernard tells us: “In FIFA 18 and 19, there were still no restrictions on tournaments, so it was even harder for us than it is today.”

Belgium remains disadvantaged

Accordingly, the Belgian government’s decision was badly received in the gaming community and pro scene, according to Bernard: “Especially at the beginning it was bad because we didn’t know how to react. FIFA is a pay-to-win game on a competitive level.” He said that the tournament participation restrictions introduced at the end of FIFA 19 mitigated this disadvantage, but did not fully eliminate it.

Namely, an account with no real money involved, called “Road-to-Glory” in the community, could basically keep up with a purchased team, but would be hard to earn in time for the first dates of the tournament – Season . “Currently, my Road-to-Glory team is as good as my Pay-to-Win team,” says ‘Gilles_1996’, “but we’re late in the game and we’re talking May or June at the earliest. For Global Series qualifications (through this one qualifies for the World CupThat’s too late.” Especially since the time-intensive trading on the in-game market is not an option for a professional during ongoing competitions.

Money rules the eSports world

The KRC Genk eSports player also sees another problem in a parallel to real sports: monetary differences. “Even with the amount of FIFA Points (ingame currency that can be purchased for real money., ed.) that we invest, the financial investment can make a difference to a really big player who spends a lot of money,” said the 26-year-old.

Equal preconditions therefore do not exist in FIFA-eSport. Proposals such as loan players or identical accounts for all professionals to create these prerequisites, EA SPORTS has not yet followed: “We ask for it every – Season , but it’s hard, because EA of course also wants to make money with the game.”

 

If I hadn’t made the final 64 players in the FeWC playoffs, I wouldn’t have recouped those expenses.

Gilles ‘Gilles_1996’ Bernard

 

Basically an economically understandable attitude, the prize money policy of the FIFA developer seems questionable against this background, however. For players like Bernard a problem: “On average, eSportsmen or their teams invest between 2000 and 3000 euros. If I hadn’t made it to the last 64 players in the FeWC play-offs, I wouldn’t have recouped these expenses.”

The fact that the Belgian and his team had these issues at all, despite the lootbox ban in his home country, is due to a simple trick that Belgian eSport players use: “There is a way we can do it: We create a PSN account (Profile on a PlayStation, ed.) in another country where packs are allowed. In the game, you have to have a separate EA account that remains Belgian. With this, you can connect multiple PSN accounts.”

Consequences one does not fear thereby in Belgium. “It’s feasible, we don’t know any rule that prohibits it and we’re not minors, so we could also go to the casino,” says Bernard, explaining why the Belgian eSports scene is sticking to the workaround it apparently needs to stay competitive.

Gaming fun instead of investments

Casuals, however, he advises against this approach. “Even casual players want to open packs sometimes. But even with weaker teams it’s possible to keep up if you learn the game,” explains the Genk pro, who “wouldn’t spend money on FIFA Points himself.”

There’s a simple reason for that: “It just feels better to know that you didn’t spend money on something like that. You play more relaxed and don’t get so upset when rewards are not so good again. Plus, it’s just fun to build teams without FIFA Points.” And that fun is what it’s all about in the end.