Belgium, yes. But they're also lobbying to get this ruling expanded through the whole EU. That would be pretty much a killing blow for EA and their Fifa series, as it's by leaps and bounds the primary market of Fifa (about 80%, though this includes UK, which probably wouldn't be covered by such a ruling if it would come due to Brexit).

E.A....can't think that the risk is worth it, can they?

I mean if they lose...the precedent alone should be getting Activision and other companies insisting they drop it before the closest to microtransactions they can do in many European nations and American states are Amiibo.

To me this is a pointless interference on a game, mostly gamers shouldn't even buy EA products.

The only sad thing is that just fictional countries like Belgium can be so great!

Belgium is european union and I that has a connected market. Meaning that a company should not be able to forbid re-selling anything sold in another EU-country. I'm not sure though, if in that case EA can be made responsible for the version sold outside Belgium.

It's really interesting to follow this. Let's wait and see how this will turn out for EA and their future.

Belgium is the main HQ for the EU and are already passing the proposal to the rest of EU where the bulk of Fifa's sales are so unless EA want to lose out on sales from a whole region that isn't really an option, I know Netherlands have already accepted Belgium's stance.

If they want to lobby this as much as possible through the EU then they can try by all means but if the EU as whole wants to express their backwardness towards software development just like they have for the semiconductors market then there's not much reasons for game publishers to continue their operations anymore in the EU ... 

I don't know about that. Half of EA's profits probably comes just from their Ultimate Team program alone if platform holders take 30% of the cut for all digital content sold. Belgium unconditionally banning loot boxes which goes farther than just EA's Ultimate Team program kills a lot of the motivation to distribute their games in the market. This move is definitely going to cut EA's profits from Belgium by at least a factor of 2 ... 

Just because Belgium is a part of the EU does not mean that no other member states are not allowed to individually ban services or goods entering in their own domestic market ... 

Actually, the EU isn't giving EA much of an option if it ever decides to go that route but you're sorely mistaken if EA pulling out of the EU market isn't an option ...

And no the Netherlands did not accept Belgium's stance regarding loot boxes. Belgium outright bans the concept of monetizing loot boxes whereas the Netherlands only does so under the condition where the prizes can be traded so there's already no consensus among EU member countries regarding how loot boxes should be regulated ... (there needs to be a consensus among EU members to pass any motions) 

You and Bofferbraurer's dream of an intercontinental wide trading bloc ban of loot boxes is really far away. At best, some EU member states will just heavily regulate loot boxes and a couple will be extreme enough like in Belgium's case to unilaterally ban the practice ... (the UK doesn't regard loot boxes as gambling and even when they leave, there will be others like France where they have a vested interest in profiting off of the game industry considering how much value the likes of Ubisoft provides to their nation so they'll probably end up being lax about the issue like they are now) 

Lol.

Honestly, I don't mind if games do add microtransactions as long as it doesn't affect progression and are used to pay for extra content that can be provided for free later on (halo 5 as an example). But this sort of thing is just bs. Hopefully EA gets to eat dick for what they are doing.

So protecting their citizens from predatory practices and enforcing laws is backwards now?

@bolded: Don't be so sure about that. Companies have much less of a grip over politics in Europe compared to the US, for instance. Also, why would Ubisoft go against the ruling? As far as i know they don't have any lootbox system in their games. A ban could actually be beneficial for them if it pushes out some pesky competitors.

Also, EA pulling out of Europe would mean for them to lose the Fifa license, which is by far and large their biggest income generator (60% just from Fifa Ultimate team iirc) and losing that is not an option for EA or their shareholders.