Loot boxes and the like are the hot topic at the moment with Star Wars Battlefront 2 being the latest game being accused of ‘pay to win’ tactics. A petition has been set up to ask the UK government to review the practise, arguing that when you are paying real money for loot boxes then practise is essentially gambling.
Current UK laws state that you have to be eighteen or over to gamble, but many younger players will be playing Battlefront II as it has a teen rating so if loot boxes were classed as gambling EA (and others) would be in trouble.
It’s debatable if loot boxes could be classed as gambling as traditional gambling, such as the lottery or horse racing, runs on the premise that you either win something or you don’t and you lose your money. With loot boxes you always win something so they are more akin to a lucky dip than a lottery bet.
However, there’s just another 2,000 signatures to go before the Government has to respond to the petition so it will be interesting to see what they have to say.
Source: UK ParlimentÂ
Gareth Chadwick
Can we wait until we have another administration? If there is anything I’ve learnt over the last year or two, it’s that anything Theresa May so much as looks at sideways immediately turns into a nine foot tall pile of shit.
gazzagb
I think in China Valve have to state the % chance of getting rare loot for their CS:GO items which I think is a fair and a sensible way of doing it.
Starman
Yeah knowing the odds would be a good start. It seems like they’re here to stay but with all the controversy and poor excuses we’ve heard from developers I think they’ll try to do something to get people to accept them.
cam_manutd
I don’t mind loot boxes in Overwatch, free to play games, CSGO when the content is purely cosmetic junk, skins etc. Loot boxes that contain gameplay enhancements seen in Battlefront 2 is wrong. Even Fifa points to buy packs which itself is a form of loot box is wrong. And microtransactions in a single player game? I thought selling multiplayer mode that was on disc separately was bad (Resident Evil 5) and we learned from that to do better….
tonyyeb
Whilst I agree that Loot Boxes suck, especially when you can get an advantage depending on what randomly is given to you – if this does get classified as gambling then what about trading card packs, sticker book packs etc? They are a random selection and it may or may not contain what you want.