https://twitter.com/JimSterling/status/1039151596351832064?s=19
https://twitter.com/MagicJukebox_V/status/1039156314407149568?s=19

In summation from these two tweets: EA refuses to comply with Belgian law, Belgian minister is considering dropping the hammer.

Keep digging, EA. This kind of an idiotic move could set a legal precedent that backfires horribly for them.

Perhaps they think their lawyers, lobbyists and loyal customers will win the case for them.

*Grabs popcorn* I hope they crash and burn on this. I'm tired of the gambling in my video games not called "Hoyle Casino" or "Juicy Slots"

They indeed challenge everything.

As megacorporations get bigger, they get increasingly arrogant, more crooked, and more belligerent.

Last week in America we saw something similar where social media tech executives were called on to testify in Congress over various shenanigans including handling of users' data, ties to China, oversized market dominance, biased censorship, and failure to stop foreign election interference.

Google drew ire from both sides of the political aisle for refusing to send an executive. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) famously speculated that Google didn't attend either "because they're arrogant" or didn't want to talk about their business ties to China.

I expect EA are raising their legions from the fourth circle of hell in preparation for an invasion of Belgium (well its as realistic as battlefield).

Hellgate Brussels confirmed? ;)

what does (minor) mean? minor issue? minor thread?

Minor thread. I don't expect this to snowball.

I'm with team Belgium and I hope more countries will follow suit, if we don't make a stand, these corporations will do whatever they want.

@Grargar: That made me chuckle, been a while since I saw that logo :-)

What's the worst that will happen? Sure, they could be sued in Belgian courts for a trillion dollars - EA could simply refuse to pay it. Their games get banned from sale there - EA probably says 'so what?'

The only thing I can hope for is that a judgement in a Belgian court can somehow be enforced throughout the EU. That might cause EA some pause - otherwise I just don't see EA giving a damn being the arrogant pricks that they are.

Well, I wonder if it could lead to the blockade of the Origin.
If yes, than EA is going to be hurt a lot.

In every generation one is chosen...
Precisely. These giant American companies couldn't care less what governments say. There is another thread on here where someone is telling us to support google and Facebook against ip laws, those being two of the biggest tax avoidance, fake news distributing data capture machines ever invented. It's about time they were all cutoff. China has done it to some degree, maybe Europe should follow suite and ban these companies!

Or probably they consider that they can drag said lawsuit for years and years and that, even if at the end they end up losing, the money they would have gotten in the mean time will be more than the eventual fine.

I hope EA's dumb moves escalates this, by bringing it to the attention of all the EU nations. If publishers can't regulate themselves, then they deserve the extreme measures enforced by a governmental body.