https://www.pcgamesn.com/ea-loot-boxes
EA: They’re not loot boxes, they’re “surprise mechanics,” and they’re “quite ethical”
EA’s implementation of loot boxes has come under plenty of fire, even relative to the general outcry against the mechanic. The pushback against Battlefront 2 loot boxes was so intense that EA reworked the entire system, and the wild popularity of FIFA Ultimate Team means that it has gotten scrutiny even from watchdog groups and governmental organisations.
Kerry Hopkins, EA’s VP of legal and government affairs, insists that the company’s randomised purchases aren’t loot boxes, but rather “surprise mechanics.” In an oral evidence session with the UK Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, Hopkins compares the mechanics to surprise toys, which have been around “for years, whether it’s Kinder Eggs, or Hatchimals, or LOL Surprise.”