Wednesday, October 21st 2026
EA Sports FC 27 Rated PEGI 16 in Europe as Loot Box Rules Kick In
EA Sports FC 27 carries a PEGI 16 rating in Europe, a big jump for a series that has sat at PEGI 3 for years. The reason behind the change is Ultimate Team. PEGI's breakdown for the game lists its purchase options, including FC Points, a season pass, and player packs, and those packs count as paid random items under PEGI's updated rules. Announced in March and applied to newly submitted games since June, the rules make PEGI 16 the default for any game with loot boxes, with PEGI 18 possible in some cases. Of course, EA has a long history with this topic, having once defended loot boxes as "surprise mechanics".
FC 27 isn't the only game affected, either. PEGI is now rerating existing digital-only games rated 3, 7, or 12 that sell paid random items, with changes rolling out through the rest of October. Pokémon Go, Pokémon TCG Pocket, Mario Kart Tour, and Zenless Zone Zero have reportedly been bumped up already. The new criteria also cover time-limited offers (PEGI 12), daily quests and similar return rewards (PEGI 7), and NFTs or chat that can't be restricted (PEGI 18). PEGI says it followed the lead of Germany's USK, which made similar changes in 2023.Players in North America won't see any of this, as the ESRB rates FC 27 E for Everyone and said back in March that adding non-content criteria could confuse parents. The higher rating doesn't remove packs from the game, though. It mainly gives parents a clearer warning, and how strictly retailers enforce it can vary by country.
Sources:
PEGI, via PC Gamer
FC 27 isn't the only game affected, either. PEGI is now rerating existing digital-only games rated 3, 7, or 12 that sell paid random items, with changes rolling out through the rest of October. Pokémon Go, Pokémon TCG Pocket, Mario Kart Tour, and Zenless Zone Zero have reportedly been bumped up already. The new criteria also cover time-limited offers (PEGI 12), daily quests and similar return rewards (PEGI 7), and NFTs or chat that can't be restricted (PEGI 18). PEGI says it followed the lead of Germany's USK, which made similar changes in 2023.Players in North America won't see any of this, as the ESRB rates FC 27 E for Everyone and said back in March that adding non-content criteria could confuse parents. The higher rating doesn't remove packs from the game, though. It mainly gives parents a clearer warning, and how strictly retailers enforce it can vary by country.


4 Comments on EA Sports FC 27 Rated PEGI 16 in Europe as Loot Box Rules Kick In
personally i find them even more dangerous than casinos because they give u few cheated cards of players and make u play against players who have paid and already have all the best cards of players of the moment when u play to push u to buy other ones, the carrot that makes the donkey move forward...
its cheating and conditioning of minor/young, at 16 years old, u are only just discovering life and u think u know everything, and that depends on the awakening of the person because we dont all have the same experiances, lifestyle ect, i would be curious to know how these people who decide all of that raise their children...
its not even a good football/soccer game this EA FC, its just the best game of this kind currently, sadly
the adults who vote and choose who governs...
to whom it may concern cheers
A large percentage of parents is either oblivious, too dumb to get this psychology in the first place, or just lazy as fuck themselves, already caught by big tech and a lost case to begin with. Those are often the same people (esp the latter group) you can't really get into a good conversation with. The pattern and the movement is clear. And unironically, these are the exact people that think voting for destruction and chaos and a world that's long gone, is going to help them. After all when you're a lost case, you know it, you feel it, and you act like it. Someone called this group 'deplorables' at some point, need I say more.
There is another group in society falling prey to it just the same, with a much higher education and awareness level by the way. But they have more and better means to fix problems, and better social status, so they can flex with it instead, being an 'influencer' or somehow making money off all those other slaves to the screen that don't understand this. They think they play a system, while the system is playing them.