FIFA 19 Loot Boxes Removed In Belgium After Controversy

Electronic Arts has finally come to terms with Belgium's laws and has announced that it will be removing the loot boxes from FIFA 19 after the Belgian gambling commission found this game, and other titles, in violation of current gambling laws.

According to ComicBook.com, Electronic Arts has walked back its once defiant attitude about not removing the loot boxes from FIFA 19 last year when Belgium required game publishers to relinquish support for loot boxes in various titles, including Overwatch and the 2K Sports games like NBA 2K after loot boxes were found to be in violation of regional gambling laws.

Companies would essentially need to comply with those regional laws and remove the loot boxes from their games, but not every company wanted to play ball. Electronic Arts was initially unfazed by the threat of legal prosecution by Belgian lawmakers, but after months of going back and forth with the country's authorities, Electronic Arts decided to finally relent.

In a letter to the community Electronic Arts stated that the changes would not be material in affecting its finances, but that players would still be able to participate in the Ultimate Team modes, just without the ability to purchase loot boxes with real money, stating...

So, just to clarify, what this means is that you'll still be able to access all of the standard features within FIFA 19, including the Ultimate Team packs, however, instead of using real world money to purchase the loot box packs, you'll only be able to purchase them using in-game virtual currency. No more real money purchases.

The gambling commission in Belgium and the Netherlands determined that loot boxes fueled by real-money purchases were the equivalent of playing roulette or gambling with a slot machine. In most countries, spending real money on a wager for a potential reward is oftentimes classified as gambling. In the United States this law has been in place since as far back as 1912. However, lawmakers leave it up to regional gambling commissions to determine what is and is not classified as “gambling.” If the offense is serious enough then it may end up in court where fines or requisitions are doled out.

In this case, Belgium required publishers such as Blizzard Entertainment, 2K Games, Valve, and Electronic Arts to remove loot boxes from games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2, along with sports games like FIFA 19. The other publishers complied rather quickly, but EA attempted to fight off the mandate for as long as possible. Even with all of its money and publishing power, though, EA still had to bow down to the regional authorities after loot boxes were prohibited in Belgium.

GameStop Is No Longer Selling The Company, Sending Stocks Plummeting

For years now there have been rumors that GameStop was going to sell the business, or that the company would eventually abandon the brick and mortar retail space in favor of digital distribution. These rumors never quite panned out, but last year it looked like a pretty good indicator that the company was finally going to follow through and sell the business. However, we're back to the point where the news didn't pan out and GameStop has announced that it won't be selling the company. Only this time, it came with a hefty cost.

CNBC is reporting that GameStop's original plan to sell the business came to a halt when the board members realized that there wouldn't be enough financing for a prospective buyer, so the sell was scuttled.

The decision to pull out of selling the the company actually caused the company's stock to plunge by 27.2%, with CNBC reporting a market capital loss of $430 million, with the stock now being valued at $11.28. This is down from the 52 week high of $17.04 from back in September of 2018.

The stock price fluctuated quite a bit throughout the previous year, with December nearly matching the figures in January, dropping all the way down to $11.67 on December 24th during the Christmas holiday.

However, even with the loss in market valuation coming from the abandonment of selling the company, GameStop is still a long ways away from cashing out and calling it quits. In fact, this comes during a time when the company just recently sold its Spring Mobile business for a hefty $735 million in immediate cash proceeds.

The board has yet to decide how it wants to spend that money, but the article notes that the funds could be used to pay down debt, or reinvest in the core business of video games and collectibles. This doesn't explicitly explain if that means the stocking of more/different video games or publishing video games and collectibles, the latter of which could prove to be very profitable if handled properly.

So, where did all the talk of selling the business even come from?

Well, in a letter from the board to the shareholders, it was mentioned that a discussion of selling the company came about during June of 2018, where the option was placed on the table. However, this was all just based on potentialities and there was nothing set in stone at the time nor thereafter.

In looking over the options, the board concluded that selling GameStop just wasn't in the cards at the moment, and after acquiring three-quarters of a billion dollars in the Spring Mobile sale, it just didn't seem prudent to sell the business at this time.

What does this mean for the future of GameStop? Will the company keep selling used games at marked up prices? Probably. Will the company keep selling brand new games at the suggested retail price, including hotly anticipated titles like Anthem and Far Cry: New Dawn? Probably. Will collectible Amiibos and hardware accessories for the major gaming platforms still be available? Probably. So, what exactly will change on the consumer end? Well, not much... for now. It's basically going to be business as usual just until the board of directors assigns a new permanent CEO and choose a proper direction for the brick and mortar retailer.

What's Changing With The Fallout 76 Update

While Fallout 76 may have gotten off to a rocky start, the team at Bethesda is clearly putting in the work to improve the game in many, many ways. Their latest patch notes, for instance, highlight a collection of quality of life changes as well as a massive list of bug fixes.

If you’re playing Fallout 76 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One or PC, then you can go ahead and download the latest patch as of this writing. And, while it might not add any major new features, it certainly covers a laundry list of issues that needed addressing within the multiplayer survival game.

Once you get rolling post-patch, it might take you a while to notice what, exactly, Bethesda has changed. They’ve released a rather sizable set of patch notes you can peruse, but we’ll touch on some highlights here in case you just want the basics before diving back into the game. As a quick note, Bethesda says they were able to make this many adjustments thanks to community feedback, so be sure to keep sharing your thoughts through the usual channels.

Under the “General” heading, Bethesda simply states that several improvements have been made to in-game performance for Fallout 76 and that servers have received additional stability upgrades.

While you can read up on the various adjustments made to things like weapon and perk stats, the real meat of the update that will affect the player experience is under “Design and Gameplay.” Carry weight, for instance, has been capped at an absolute 1,500 pounds over the character’s maximum carry weight. Some folks were using the uncapped carry weight as a super slow but reliable way to stock up on items. Unfortunately, having that many items in the game world can cause things to chug. This cap should help remedy the issue.

Another change is to the recipe menu, where players will now be notified if they already “Know” a particular schematic. Vendor recipes and plans will no longer be randomized, meaning you’ll finally have a reliable source for those items you need. More plans are also being added to the vendor list.

For those of you who enjoy confrontation while cruising through the wastelands of Fallout, you’ll now receive a message when someone has joined the hunter/hunted queue. Another message will pop up when the round is ready to begin, just in case folks missed the first alert and still want to join in on the action.

While a handful of quests and events have been adjusted, the real bulk of this week’s update is under the “Bug Fixes” tag. Bethesda has tackled a ton of issues with this update, so, hopefully, that’ll result in a smoother experience for all players.

Speaking of which, we’d be interested in hearing if any of our readers are still plugging away at Fallout 76. How has your experience been in these months following launch? Has the support helped improve the game in noticeable ways? Let us know in the comments below.

Kingdom Hearts Reviews Are In, Here's What Critics Are Saying

Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura's Kingdom Hearts III has finally launched for the Xbox One and PS4, and gamers and critics alike are pouring out their opinions of love, hate, and everything else in between for the recently released Japanese RPG that finally concludes the long and winding story of Sora.

Most of the big sites are doling out a lot of high praise for the game. IGN, for instance, proclaimed that the game was everything that they had hoped for, scoring the latest entry an 8.7 out of 10, and noting that the ending – while mildly weird – did bring everything to a close in a satisfying manner.

This kind of lauded fawning carried over across several outlets, many of whom thought that the game did just about everything right, from the mini-games to the character development, and especially the combat.

PlayStation Lifestyle in particular had more than a thousand words to share about many of the game's different aspects, worlds, characters, and story elements. But even with whatever small flaws that they encountered during the playthrough, it was still hailed as the best that Square Enix has delivered in the series since its debut back in the early aughts on the PlayStation 2, writing...

Several other outlets also shared a similar measure of enthusiasm for the high-fantasy adventure that Tetsuya Nomura and the crew at Square Enix crafted around Sora's big finale against the Heartless in the latest game.

However, the story of good and evil didn't entirely sit well with all reviewers. While it may be a classic tale of light attempting to triumph over darkness with a few noteworthy characters from popular Disney properties like Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Hero 6 tossed in, the execution of it left some reviewers feeling as if the story was convoluted and overwrought.

Eurogamer criticized the storytelling mechanics as being more complex than they needed to be, and felt a more simplified approach to bringing closure to the character arcs could have been handled with more expository restraint...

Eurogamer's critic wasn't the only one who had problems with the crossover game's story structure. Metro also took shots at the game's pacing and inclusion of characters from worlds like Monsters Inc., and Tangled who only had the most flimsy of excuses to even be included in the game. Metro ended up scoring Kingdom Hearts III a rather unflattering 6 out of 10, but with ample reasons to back it up. The outfit wrote...

The key takeaway here is that even for the critics who didn't like the game's pacing and overabundance of cinematics, they still recommended the game for diehard fans who have been following the series and its overtly complex story for nearly 20 years.

As noted by Gamespot, even with the complicated lore it was still a fun “frolic” through a crossover that only comes once in a lifetime.

If you're the kind of gamer who thoroughly enjoys the Disney-branded licenses and the characters (and Hollywood voice actors) that come along with them (even if their placement in the story doesn't always make sense) it seems as if Kingdom Hearts III is the big-budget JRPG event of the generation, even more-so than Square's own Final Fantasy XV.

You can nab a copy of the game right now for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Unfortunately, the game isn't available on PC, but maybe if enough PC gamers politely ask Nomura for a port he might open his heart and oblige?

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Metro: Exodus Is The Latest Game To Ditch Steam For the Epic Games Store

Another shot has been fired in the PC platform war, as Deep Silver has announced that the upcoming first-person shooter, Metro: Exodus, will now launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store. This announcement is coming in pretty close to the wire, as Exodus is set to launch on PC and game consoles on February 15.

As noted in an update via Polygon, though, this doesn’t mean these types of exclusivity deals are permanent. Similar to what we’ve seen on games consoles for years now, it looks like Metro’s deal with Epic is simply a timed exclusivity. Come February 14 of next year, it looks like Exodus will finally arrive on Steam.

Moving forward, we wouldn’t be surprised to see even more publishers flirting with Epic Games Store exclusivity. The storefront is actually curated, which means you won’t be finding a bunch of shovelware choking the library of games (for now, at least). Also, since the storefront only launched like a month ago, visibility for any new game is going to be super high.

Finally, and clearly the most enticing to publishers and developers, there's the earnings split being offered. Game creators get 88 percent of their earnings on the Epic storefront, compared to the 70 percent being offered by Steam. Folks were upset about the earnings split on Steam well before the Epic store appeared, so it’s no wonder some big-name publishers and games are so eager to take this new option for a spin.

According to their own statement, Steam’s parent company, Valve, isn’t too pleased with this sudden shift for Metro: Exodus, saying it’s “unfair” to folks who already saw the game advertised on the Steam marketplace. According to Deep Silver, customers with outstanding pre-orders for Metro: Exodus through other digital retailers will be honored, but anyone looking to pre-order the game now or purchase it following launch will only be able to do so through the Epic Games Store. That seems like a pretty reasonable compromise, especially since Exodus doesn’t offer cooperative or multiplayer options. In other words, a smaller “audience” on Steam won’t have an impact on the game post-launch.

According to the initial report, both Epic and Deep Silver are excited about this partnership, highlighting the revenue split as a major factor that will allow developers to invest more earnings into their various projects or even pass the savings on to the players. That second scenario seems like a bit of a stretch, but I’m all for developers/publishers earning a bigger cut on their own products.

At this point, the battle between Epic and Valve seems pretty serious. If more games abandon Steam, Valve might be forced to reevaluate its own practices in order to make its storefront more attractive.

Two Assassin's Creed Titles May Be Getting Ported To The Nintendo Switch

An unexpected listing on several Czech retail sites seems to point to a possible Assassin’s Creed compilation heading to the Nintendo Switch. According to the listing, fans may expect to play Assassin’s Creed 3 and Liberation Remaster in just a couple of weeks.

Am I the only one who finds it kind of funny that a game about sneaky assassins might have been outed prematurely thanks to an online listing? Well, that seems to be the case, as highlighted by a recent reddit post by user Nightmare666xD. It's wisely been tagged as a rumor for now, as nothing has been confirmed by the teams at Ubisoft or Nintendo. Still, there's some pretty compelling evidence, assuming everything checks out.

According to the post, several Czech retailers posted a listing for Assassin’s Creed 3 Liberation Collection. If the name didn’t give it away, the compilation appears to include remasters of both Assassin’s Creed 3 and the Vita spinoff, Liberation. The listings have the game set to launch on Feb. 15 for about $35.

Just in case this needs reiterating, everything here should be considered a rumor at this point. It wouldn’t be that difficult to whip up a fake sales listing and post it online to get rumors going. I’m not saying that the original poster did that, just that someone could have. Then again, if you’re going to start a rumor about an unannounced Switch game, this would certainly be an odd one to hitch your mischievous wagon to. If you really wanted to cause some chaos, you’d probably claim either Assassin’s Creed: Origins or, more believably, Black Flag, were heading to the Switch.

As one of the commentors points out, there was a supposed listing for an “Assassin’s Creed compilation” for Switch on a German website last year, but since nothing ever came of that, folks just assumed it was yet another rumor. Also, it’s worth noting that Assassin’s Creed 3 launched for the Wii U, so it’s not like the game doesn’t have some history on a Nintendo platform. Combine that with the fact that both AC3 and Liberation received the remaster treatment on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, it seems reasonable that the team would just keep that train rolling and make the games available on the Switch, too.

Assassin’s Creed 3 is set during the American Revolution while Liberation is set during the French and Indian War, both pretty big turning points on the roadmap of American history. If you’re going to pair a couple of series entries for a Switch release, these two at least have some connective tissue.

So what do you think, folks? Are we going to be playing a couple remastered Assassin’s Creed games on the Switch in a couple of weeks? If you’ve already played them, are these two worth checking out on Nintendo’s new console? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Montana Is Using Far Cry 5 To Promote Tourism

The partnership with Ubisoft, however, was still opportunity enough for the state to take advantage of the exposure brought on by Far Cry 5, and the website offers a number of resources for vacation lodging, ranging from cabins and camping to chalets and condominiums, along with a list of activities available in Montana such as hunting, fishing, hiking, and off-road vehicular adventures.

Destiny 2 Crimson Days Reschedules Start Date

When Bungie and Activision split apart, the former announced that it would still support Destiny 2 even without the publishing support of the latter. Bungie is holding true to that. And even though there have been some hiccups with the Crimson Days event, the developer has made sure to keep the ball rolling by rescheduling when the Crimson Days event will get underway.

Over on the official Bungie website, there's a breakdown of the rescheduling efforts for the Crimson Days event, which appeared on the 2019 roadmap. There's a small section in the update that rolls out the details for the Crimson Days, which states...

For whatever reason, the event was moved back by a week, but you'll still be able to get in on the Crimson Days, which originally made its appearance in Destiny back on Valentine's Day in 2016. This was originally supposed to take place directly after the Mayhem! event, which is scheduled to take place between January 29th and February 5th between the end of the month and the start of the new one.

Even still, Bungie is not only keeping to its promise of supporting Destiny 2, but doing so with regular events that nearly start and stop one week after the next. The Mayhem! Event is for gamers who want to test their mettle in the Crucible, while the Crimson Days will be a cooperative event for those who like teaming up with friends and taking the fight to the enemy.

Following Crimson Days, there will be some cleaning up and fixing up of certain features heading into the launch of the Season of the Drifter. According to the update, bounties that were acquired in the previous seasons will have a maximum possible power reward. The idea is to lessen the need for players to hoard the keys, and instead cash them in for the maximum power reward even for events and bounties from many seasons ago.

Bungie seems resolute on fixing up Destiny 2 as much as possible now that the company is free from being under the wing of Activision. Some gamers felt that perhaps the publisher was restricting the developer to focus more on monetization methods rather than gameplay mechanisms and fun-factors. Given the fact that Activision lamented the lack of revenue that the game was generating, and the eventual termination of the partnership between the two companies, it's likely that the suspicion from gamers was true.

We'll see how well Bungie can maintain the growth and updates for the sci-fi first-person shooter in the coming months. However, in the short term, gamers will be able to dive into the Crimson Days event starting in mid-February on home consoles and PC.

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