We usually don’t follow the gaming industry news too closely, but this one we just couldn’t skip. The latest Electronic Arts video game - Star Wars Battlefront II - is all the rage these days. Not for the reasons the developers would like though.
Here’s a tricky question: how do you call spending money on an event with a random outcome, that can potentially give you a valuable prize (or no prize at all)? We’ll give you a moment to mull over it. That must be gambling, right? Nope, that’s buying loot boxes in a video game to get yourself a Darth Vader to choke or electrocute your enemies.
Alright, you don’t get anything monetary, just things to boost your hero or unlock new ones, but come on, it’s pretty close. Several Hawaiian state Representatives agree that the line is thin. One of them, Chris Lee, said in a press statement:
This game is basically a Star-Wars themed online casino designed to lure kids into an addictive cycle of spending money gambling for upgrades. It’s a Trap.
Such an uproar forced (see what we did there?) EA to remove the microtransactions from the game, so the issue looks resolved. However, we are now positively captivated by the idea of a branded Star Wars casino with X-wings, “forge your lightsaber” gamification elements, C3PO as an informational center, and master Yoda for a support operator. We can only hope that EA will stop pushing gambling elements into their games and open a genuinely licensed online casino one day.
In the meantime, here are some casinos that you can check out while you’re waiting for EA to make its move. These are the closest to the Star Wars theme you can currently get.
- Slots Force Casino - not exactly a perfect online casino, this one gives you enough Star Wars references to get a cringy nerdgasm.
- Mars Casino - considerably closer than the galaxy far, far away, but it still counts, right? “The first martian casino”, it is actually a pretty good one.
- Kaboo Casino - another sci-fi themed casino with excellent gamification elements. Gather alien relics, complete missions, get rewards. Just the way you like it.
