EA to reportedly keep loot boxes and preview packs in FIFA 22 Ultimate Team

FIFA 22 Ultimate Team will have its longtime feature called packs, a loot box that you can open to add cards to your club, according to Eurogamer.

These packs have been associated with online gambling for many years and some European countries, like the Netherlands and Belgium, have banned them. Ultimate Team packs can be acquired via FUT coins, one of the game mode’s virtual currencies, or with FIFA points, which you add to your account with real money.

Due to the increasing pressure from governments and gambling charities, EA introduced a new feature in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team called preview packs, which let you see what’s inside of a loot box first before having to decide whether you want to buy it. These preview packs were praised by a large part of the FIFA community and EA will keep them for FIFA 22, according to Eurogamer.

Preview packs will be available in FIFA 22 on PlayStation, Xbox, Google Stadia, and PC, but not on Nintendo Switch, a platform that EA seemingly has no interest in investing in given that it will once again receive a version of the game that runs with an older engine.

You can use the preview pack in specific loot boxes that will be for sale in FIFA 22 Ultimate Team store. But it can’t be used in squad-building challenges (SBC) packs, for example. If you use the preview feature and don’t buy the pack, you’ll have to wait 24 hours to use it again on the same type of loot box.

FIFA 22 will launch worldwide on Oct. 1 and those who pre-ordered the Ultimate Edition will get early access on Sept. 27. If you have the Ultimate Edition and want to play even earlier than that, all you have to do is sign up for EA Play and you’ll have a 10-hour trial starting on Sept. 22.