Sweden is the latest territory to announce that they will be investigating loot boxes and and alleged gambling within video games, following recent announcements by Belgium, Australia, and Germany. Sweden will be reviewing their current gaming legislation with a view to any new legislation coming into force by January 2019.
“We are working to regain control of the gaming market as soon as possible and ensure that Swedish consumer protection rules apply to all actors involved in gaming,” explained Sweden’s minister of civil affairs, Ardalan Shekarab. “I am ready to ask our authorities to take a closer look at the phenomenon of loot boxes in the next step and see if there is a need to change legislation in order to strengthen consumer protection.”
The British Gambling Commission has said it is “concerned” about loot boxes, whist the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a U.S. association representing companies that publish computer and video games, has, as you might expect, categorically denied loot boxes are gambling.
Apple have recently revised their rules and any game that does include loot boxes “must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to purchase.”
Source: P3 via GI.Biz
ron_mcphatty
It’d be great if the European Commission could weird it’s big, boring, bureaucratic, Belgian, un-bent banana of a ban-hammer on loot crates and tie the publishers up in a years long consultation that ruins their appetite for this particular flavour of micro transaction. I’m sure they’ll get around to it eventually.
A surprisingly sensible reaction from Apple, it’ll be interesting to see some rage inducing odds when they get published!