UPDATE: Belgian Minister Wants EU Ban on Loot Boxes, Speaks Before Committee Ruling

SBFord

UPDATE: Belgian Minister Wants EU Ban on Loot Boxes, Speaks Before Committee Ruling

UPDATE: 

In our original story, it was said that the Belgian Gaming Commission had ruled that loot boxes such as those found in Star Wars: Battlefront II and Overwatch are considered a form of gambling. However, the story has been updated that the committee has not issued a final ruling, though they are investigating. It appears a Belgian Justice Minister spoke ahead of the ruling stating that he wished to see loot boxes banned altogether in the EU.

According to Gamespot:

A report linked by the site acknowledges in its conclusion both the spread of loot boxes in videogames, and the difficulty in regulating them using current laws. As always, online translation is rough, but the report indicates that game operators can be "aggressive" with in-game sales and often target "young people." It also calls for "closer cooperation between governments, software developers, and rating agencies," and says that "with the right rules and consistent enforcement," it should be possible to "protect players from the harmful effects of gambling without compromising" the games themselves."

ORIGINAL STORY:

Belgium's Gaming Commission has concluded its investigation into loot boxes in games including Star Wars: Battlefront II and Overwatch. The committee reached consensus that loot boxes are indeed a form of gambling. As a result, the Belgian government will seek to have them banned throughout the European Union.

Read the full story here

MaxBacon

It's good news, loot boxes unregulated extravaganza is going to end.

I posted in the other thread, there's also news in the US side against loot boxes:


Who would have imagined, politicians and gamers on the same page. Expect Gdemami cause reasons.

DeadSpock

That's what I'm talking about.

TheDarkrayne

Pretty surprised tbh. Things are moving very quickly.

Slapshot1188

I suspected it would go this way when EA pulled their loot boxes.  I'm sure they had a feeling for what would happen before it was announced.

Now we will see how it's negotiated and what stays/goes.

TheDarkrayne

MaxBacon said:

Expect Gdemami cause reasons.

  

Gdemami LOLs every post against it. Grown rather fond of seeing it.

MaxBacon

Slapshot1188 said:

I suspected it would go this way when EA pulled their loot boxes.  I'm sure they had a feeling for what would happen before it was announced.

Now we will see how it's negotiated and what stays/goes.

Like the vid I linked the guy mentions as well, this has been a long pratice in mobile gaming but it took one AAA title to push them in such a way to get reactions and things moving.

Regulations on this might just take a huge jab at many mobile game companies, not just at the EA, Blizzard, Valve, etc...

Shodanas

Yeah well, a EU member ruling that loot boxes are gambling is one thing. The EU implementing a ban on said boxes is another. A whole different ballgame.

So, hold your horses.

ScotchUp

Great news to hear, our Government actually doing something good. Wonder how many riders will be in it.

rodarin

now if they only made it illegal to sell jpegs.....

Asm0deus

I said it before that eventually this would get looked in to, now to see how it all goes down.

Gdemami

TheDarkrayne said:

Pretty surprised tbh. Things are moving very quickly.

Nah, this is pretty standard.

Whenever some "cause" pops up, there is always some poor sob trying to drag attention. Unless it is supported by some lobby, it rarely gets enough traction to make a change...

But then, useless regulations is a justificaction for existence of EU so who knows.

Tiamat64

About time.  It's been well-known by the companies implementing these things that they prey on the exact same addictions that gambling does, which is why they make so much money in the first place.  It was akin to profiting off of the same psychosis that gambling profits off of but with none of the regulations!  Talk about loophole abuse.

As for how it personally benefits me and presumably most other gamers, paying money and not getting what you wanted for it is one of the most infuriating things ever.  ...and is one of the reasons why I and many others hate gambling in the first place too.

Sure, a lot of games might die because they can no longer abuse peoples' addictions for the money they need to stay afloat, but on the bright side at least it'll weed out the weak and get companies back to focusing on making good games instead of spending so much time trying to figure out how to abuse human psychology for their money.

OldKingLog

"Let all the poison that lurks in the mud, hatch out"

TheDarkrayne

Gdemami said:

TheDarkrayne said:

Pretty surprised tbh. Things are moving very quickly.

Nah, this is pretty standard.

Whenever some "cause" pops up, there is always some poor sob trying to drag attention. Unless it is supported by some lobby, it rarely gets enough traction to make a change...

But then, useless regulations is a justificaction for existence of EU so who knows.

I think it's simply more people are against loot boxes than those who are for it. At least vocally. Governments attempt to listen to the majority verdict. UK leaving the EU is a good example. What was it? 52-48 split? Something like that. I was in the 48... If those wanting loot boxes to stay aren't loud enough, they won't get heard.

hyllyh

they study the question in france too, so there's a move and i'm totally on!
now just stop giving streamer $$ and maybe, maybe some game can become less cancer (oh, i'm a streamer, you've banged me, i'll report you for that... etc)

Gdemami

TheDarkrayne said:

At least vocally. 

And that is the thing.

It makes headlines today but changing a law takes a while. If there will be no headlines about lootboxes months later...

Like I said, it usually needs some bigger, lasting commotion or pressure from lobbying party.

TheDarkrayne

hyllyh said:

they study the question in france too, so there's a move and i'm totally on!

now just stop giving streamer $$ and maybe, maybe some game can become less cancer (oh, i'm a streamer, you've banged me, i'll report you for that... etc)

Eh? What's wrong with streamers? They exploit the money of the companies who pay for advertisement, not us. Lots of useful free info is provided by them from our point of view.

TheDarkrayne

Gdemami said:

TheDarkrayne said:

At least vocally. 

And that is the thing.

It makes headlines today but changing a law takes a while. If there will be no headlines about lootboxes months later...


Like I said, it usually needs some bigger, lasting commotion or pressure from lobbying party.

To be honest I don't think we've even hit the height of being vocally against it yet. This is a bandwagon now and the next company that attempts a similar thing will cause a similar or worse uproar in the community.

joewolf79

I know this is just about the EU, but even as a 38 year old US gamer this fills me with hope. For too long these companies have shifted away from the concept of just making a decent profit, to trying to figure out how they can squeeze 14% more profit out of consumers than they did last quarter. All to feed the ever growing colony of parasites who suck real money out of the hands of average citizens and convert it into imaginary ones and zeros on servers so that they can crap out another yacht or a bigger summer home.

I'm tired of the coolest or sexiest appearances or most convenient travel items in games being locked behind .06% chance games just because someone who makes more in a year than I'll ever make my entire life thinks that $60 for a game and possibly a $15 a month subscription isn't enough for him to roll around in.

btdt

MaxBacon said:

It's good news, loot boxes unregulated extravaganza is going to end.

I posted in the other thread, there's also news in the US side against loot boxes:


Who would have imagined, politicians and gamers on the same page. Expect Gdemami cause reasons.

Our tax dollars at work... legislation to ban loot boxes in video games passes while legislation on gun control sits in a filibuster for all eternity.

Laugh at that... 

Gdemami

TheDarkrayne said:

To be honest I don't think we've even hit the height of being vocally against it yet. This is a bandwagon now and the next company that attempts a similar thing will cause a similar or worse uproar in the community.

Dunno....given how wide spread and successfull lootboxes are, I doubt there is truly that many people against it...

Dauzqul

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slapshot1188

btdt said:

MaxBacon said:

It's good news, loot boxes unregulated extravaganza is going to end.

I posted in the other thread, there's also news in the US side against loot boxes:


Who would have imagined, politicians and gamers on the same page. Expect Gdemami cause reasons.

Our tax dollars at work... legislation to ban loot boxes in video games passes while legislation on gun control sits in a filibuster for all eternity.

Laugh at that... 

Funny how hard it is to take away an explicit constitutional right ehh?
Not sure lootboxes marketed to kids is constitutionally protected... 

MaxBacon

btdt said:

Our tax dollars at work... legislation to ban loot boxes in video games passes while legislation on gun control sits in a filibuster for all eternity.

Laugh at that... 

You can't even do that argument, the guns is a game of a huge influence, divided public opinion, and fall under the constitution factor.

Tiamat64

Gdemami said:

TheDarkrayne said:

To be honest I don't think we've even hit the height of being vocally against it yet. This is a bandwagon now and the next company that attempts a similar thing will cause a similar or worse uproar in the community.

Dunno....given how wide spread and successfull lootboxes are, I doubt there is truly that many people against it...

Loot boxes are primarily purchased by whales and are created to appeal to the whale market (which is to be expected, as the term "whale" already existed for casinos and again, loot boxes and casinos are exploiting the same human psychosis)

It is also well known from multiple developer statements that whales only consist of 5% of the consumer population (or rather, that 95% of the revenues are provided by 5% of the player base)

Thus, it can be extrapolated that the "wide spread success" of loot boxes that you mentioned are generally supported by only 5% of the consumer base at best (and even then, as a whale myself who often parties up and guilds up with other whales because we like to travel in pods for the sake of whale power, I can say from personal experience that many whales hate loot boxes.  They just buy them anyways cause there isn't any alternative to getting what's inside those loot boxes in many cases).

Of course, it is highly unlikely that ALL of the remaining 95% of the player base are "against" loot boxes.  But it only takes a small portion of that 95% to be greater than the puny 5% of the population that whales consist of.

For the most part, given how vocal most people are against loot boxes (including even most whales that I know of and met), I imagine there's a lot more than just a small portion that are against loot boxes, too.

In the end, the "wide spread success" of loot boxes is only because of greedy companies exploiting a small minority, of which the majority of that minority doesn't like loot boxes either anyways and just buy them because there's no other option.  The only difference between them and casinos is that casinos have laws to regulate that type of psycological exploitation (in large part BECAUSE it's a psychological exploitation), which those greedy immoral companies are knowingly (again, they KNOW they're appealing to the same addiction as gambling.  I've seen ex-developers talk about it quite a few times) circumventing.