Electronic Arts prepares to block FIFA loot boxes in some jurisdictions

Electronic Arts (EA) is finally giving in, and will make moves to remove loot boxes from some jurisdictions. A new patch to FIFA games will allow Ultimate Team to be removed from some regions, as their card packs have been alleged to be a form of gambling.

The FIFA patch will add code, allowing developers to disable Ultimate Team in some countries. FUT Watch, a dataminer that probes FIFA code for unreleased updates on Twitter, first found the code.

At the moment, the code appears to be dormant. When activated, it could turn off the mode entirely, likely upsetting some gamers but protecting others from the mandatory loot box mechanics the mode brings.