Ethical Issues in Electronic Arts Games: Loot Boxes, FIFA, and 'Whales'

Programme Title BSc Business Management
Module Title Business Ethics and Responsible Management
Module Code (listed on
Moodle and in LTAFP)
Coursework Title Part 1
Word Count 3136

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1...........................................................................................................................................3
Section A....................................................................................................................................4
Section B....................................................................................................................................9
PART 2.........................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................17

PART 1
THE LOOT BOX, FIFA AND ‘WHALES’ REPORT
EA Games
INTRODUCTION
Business ethics means practicing appropriate business regarding enterprise
policies and style of business when it comes to subjects which could be in a grey zone
or controversial. These topics can include insider trading, discrimination, fiduciary
responsibilities, corporate governance, bribery and corporate social responsibility
(CSR). The role of a business in the society is participation and practice of such
initiatives that benefit the community and other stakeholders like employees, investors
and shareholders, government, consumers, suppliers etc. A good ethical behaviour in
the case of electronic gaming industry would involve a written code of ethics and
standards in the company, inculcating an ethical culture by training employees,
executives and managers, and having systems of confidential reporting. Bad ethics in
the company resemble situations like non-adherence to legalities such as regulatory EU
frameworks, treatment of employees, environmental pollution, and dishonesty in
business dealings.
To begin with, the aim of the following report is to outline the ethical issues and
duties within Electronic Arts Games regarding Loot Boxes, Fifa and ‘Whales’. This
report will be written from the perspective of a middle manager, writing a statement to
the senior executives and higher management of EA Games regarding ethics within the
company. The first part will be about analysing and outlining the Loot box system and
whales that are a massive part of the EA industry, these being major problems for the
company, the public and other stakeholders which will be defined by the different
hypotheses and notions that will ultimately answer the question “Should Loot boxes be
considered as gambling and should children be allowed to spend money on them?”
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The second part will be about how the company can improve in the ethics department
and how a leader that follows strict ethic rules can have a major positive impact on EA
Games. The Loot Box scandal surrounded EA Games with a lot of controversy, mainly
regarding Fifa Ultimate Team and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. This report will show the
negative effects that unethical management has on a company, its clients and the public
in general.
Section A
To begin with, Electronic Arts Inc. is a company which is recognised as a
giant in the global digital interactive entertainment sector; the company delivers and
develops content, online services for personal computers, mobile devices and internet-
connected consoles (CNN,2020). Furthermore, EA has more than 300 million players
around the world registered to their services. Moreover, in the 2019 fiscal year, EA
reached a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net revenue of $5.15 billion
(£3.89 billion). The enterprise is renowned for the development and release of The
Sims, FIFA, Battlefield, Need for Speed and many more. Lastly, the company was
founded in 1982 and its global headquarters are located in Redwood City, California,
USA (Annual Report, 2019).
Moving on, the discussion will be over an important subject that can have a major
impact upon a company, the ethical issues. According to Crane and Matten (2015) in
the business world, business ethics is targeting issues of right and wrong. Ethics forces
the business to address ethical questions like: is there any law violated? It will be a win
-win situation for the business but for the customer as well? (Blanchard and
Peale,2000). Stepping forward ethical problems, that surround EA Games have been
identified to be very grave, especially since it surrounds minors. The company has been
accused of creating ways for children to effectively gamble on their services and games,
such as FIFA. Gambling has a massive negative impact on adults, with more than
420,000 people suffering from compulsive gambling in the UK. Over the years, this
number has drastically increased, due to things such as increased number of gambling
shops, economic downturn and more accessibility to the internet.
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