Culture Loot Box Microtransactions in Video Games Made Illegal in Belgium - News guaranteed not to make you punch a wall

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Now Belgium declares loot boxes gambling and therefore illegal
Hazard warning.

By Wesley Yin-Poole. 25/04/2018

Hot on the heels of the Netherlands declaring loot boxes are gambling and therefore illegal, Belgium has had its say.

The Belgian Gaming Commission looked at Star Wars Battlefront 2, FIFA 18, Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and found only Star Wars was not in violation of the country's gambling legislation - and that's only because EA stripped out the game's loot boxes after its launch debacle.

It determined FIFA 18, Overwatch and CS:GO's loot boxes are a game of chance and so are subject to Belgian gambling law. Battlefront 2, at the time the investigation was conducted, did not have loot boxes, so escapes unscathed.

A statement from Minister of Justice Koen Geens said FIFA 18, Overwatch and CS:GO were therefore illegal and demanded their loot boxes removed. If they're not, the publishers "risk a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to 800,000 euros". When minors are involved, those punishments can be doubled, Greens added.

Belgium expressed a particular concern about the impact loot boxes have on young people. "It is often children who come into contact with such systems and we cannot allow that," Geens warned.

In fact, Geens requested the Belgian Gaming Commission investigated video game loot boxes after the Star Wars blow up. "Given the importance of the protection of minors and vulnerable players, this was very worrying," he said.

So, what happens next? Geens wants a dialogue with video game publishers and developers to work out who's responsible for the removal of the loot boxes. Whatever the outcome of those talks, it's clear Geens means business.

"We have already taken numerous measures to protect both minors and adults against the influence of, among other things, gambling advertising," he said.

"That is why we must also ensure that children and adults are not confronted with games of chance when they are looking for fun in a video game."

This is yet another dramatic turn for the video game loot box issue, and a sign that in Europe at least, publishers may be forced to change the way their games work. Like with the Dutch situation, it'll be interesting to see whether publishers play ball with Belgium. But unlike the Dutch situation, Belgium has yet to impose a deadline by which publishers much change their games.

Meanwhile, the UK's Gambling Commission still doesn't think loot boxes are gambling or illegal in any way.

Here you go, EU nations are taking a stand against predatory microtransactions. With any luck, more nations will adopt this measure and we'll all be free from this nonsense.

 

[frozenrunner]

Imagine a future wasteland where all games are F2P.

I like free markets, but I can't get mad about this.

 

[Bassomatic]

People are wIlling to feed the beast let them.

I'm all for microtransactions being A it's free market B I'm a not a gamer. If people had self control the market would adapt but it's the consumers fault and they cried hard enough to cause laws to be passed.

 

[Unseemly and Feral]

to Belgium for striking a blow to the EA tyranny.

 

[Desire Lines]

Fuck, I really wanted to post "good", but that's against the rules
I'd say that's a good counter-measure to all the recent bullshit in modern games. If I buy a 60$ game, I want to have all the content already available, not gated behind grinds that last for months, or just straight up money.

 

[_Wice]

I never understood why people would pay a shit ton of money for randomized crap that in most cases don’t have much impact on the game. I got one for free and it was completely pointless.

 

[Francis York Morgan]

It seems like the biggest targets for microtransactions are kids, the mentally ill, and lolcows like Brianna Wu. So no real loss in calling lootboxes what they really are.

 

[Unseemly and Feral]

Fuck, I really wanted to post "good", but that's against the rules
I'd say that's a good counter-measure to all the recent bullshit in modern games. If I buy a 60$ game, I want to have all the content already available, not gated behind grinds that last for months, or just straight up money.

Imagine it this way: Videogames are entertainment/artistic in nature, a class of media related to but distinct from Tv shows, movies, etc. How ridiculous would it be for theaters to charge you by the minute to watch a movie? Or letting people pay half price for a movie ticket to watch only one half of the screen? The point is that yeah, you could do that, but then you wouldn't get the full package, and you wouldn't have standing to review it objectively and say if it was a good or bad product.

In addition, paying real money for lootboxes that could have random stuff in them is basically gambling, except you have no way to calculate/know the odds, and you're getting something that is not even redeemable for cash.

 

[Bassomatic]

It seems like the biggest targets for microtransactions are kids, the mentally ill, and lolcows like Brianna Wu. So no real loss in calling lootboxes what they really are.

Much like the tobacco and booze industry, it survives and thrives off a very small amount of the consumer base. In gaming terms these are called "whales"

 

[Audit]

It seems like the biggest targets for microtransactions are kids, the mentally ill, and lolcows like Brianna Wu. So no real loss in calling lootboxes what they really are.

Don't forget lonely, vapid single women who play Candy Crush and other mobile games. They're supposedly the largest "gaming" demographic there is.

 

[LocalFireDept]

Just "good" isn't enough for this. These things really should be considered gambling and pretty insidious at that because the true rates are never revealed. These are predatory and a fool being seperated from his money isn't justification for these things.

 

[Bassomatic]

Just "good" isn't enough for this. These things really should be considered gambling and pretty insidious at that because the true rates are never revealed. These are predatory and a fool being seperated from his money isn't justification for these things.

Cavet Emptor has been replaced with WAHHHHHHHHHHH.

I don't like that.

 

[RG 448]

Good, charge a fucking subscription fee or one-time payment like a non-psychopath.

 

[POWER IN MISERY]

it's good and all but they failed to mention that parents are letting their shitty kids play games like CSGO that are specifically rated for an older audience. as if the rating system doesn't even exist.

 

[Bassomatic]

it's good and all but they failed to mention that parents are letting their shitty kids play games like CSGO that are specifically rated for an older audience. as if the rating system doesn't even exist.

I wish they just passed it to Mature rated games to watch parents have to try to explain how it still is a problem, but self awareness and personal responsibility aren't a thing, hence we "have" to pass laws so you can't spend your rent money on the golden sabre of Kabdul or what not.

While I don't deny there are games that are open age range that have these systems, and some games are down right predatory (SWBF had a big stink that made first page news for weeks) it's still control yourself control your kids. If DLC over all gets nixed later on you'll know who to blame.. oh wait the people who rallied for this didn't own up to it at the start.

 

[LocalFireDept]

Cavet Empor has been replaced with WAHHHHHHHHHHH.

I don't like that.

That's still not a good enough reason to let Bignose Goldstein to line his pockets even more. If people are going to be exceptional someone shouldnt get big bucks as a result.

 

[Unseemly and Feral]

Cavet Empor has been replaced with WAHHHHHHHHHHH.

I don't like that.

It's "caveat emptor", actually. But you're correct about personal responsibility and parents having to actually pay attention so that they don't max out their credit cards on skins and decorations.

 

[Bassomatic]

That's still not a good enough reason to let Bignose Goldstein to line his pockets even more. If people are going to be exceptional someone shouldnt get big bucks as a result.

That's far from true, if it was no good it wouldn't exist. People see a worth to them and have buyers regret, like any gambling or risk. If you want to sell me a dog turd for 8 bucks. I won't buy it, you'll be hard up for customers, if you find a lot of people buying it, it ain't your fault you are raking in cash.

Your argument could be expanded to literally anything where profit is given and there could/would be a negative effect, tobacco, cars, even basic food items.

It's your fault if you choose to buy into the scheme. I don't gamble in my personal life, the lottery doesn't make a dollar off me. Yet some how it always has enough money for big pay outs.

 

[LocalFireDept]

That's far from true, if it was no good it wouldn't exist. People see a worth to them and have buyers regret, like any gambling or risk. If you want to sell me a dog turd for 8 bucks. I won't buy it, you'll be hard up for customers, if you find a lot of people buying it, it ain't your fault you are raking in cash.

Your argument could be expanded to literally anything where profit is given and there could/would be a negative effect, tobacco, cars, even basic food items.

It's your fault if you choose to buy into the scheme. I don't gamble in my personal life, the lottery doesn't make a dollar off me. Yet some how it always has enough money for big pay outs.

The problem lies in trying to cast these as digital goods instead of gambling. Gambling isn't a product. Caveat emptor doesn't apply. Typically legal forms of gambling must disclose the odds of winning, like your example of the lottery.

I won't buy a dog turd either, but a loot box is like playing the lottery to win a dog turd. It's retarded and if people want to sink money into it that's their perogative, but calling them anything but gambling is disingenuous and predatory.

I do respect your stance, just trying to communicate mine more clearly.

 

[Bassomatic]

The problem lies in trying to cast these as digital goods instead of gambling. Gambling isn't a product. Caveat emptor doesn't apply. Typically legal forms of gambling must disclose the odds of winning, like your example of the lottery.

I won't buy a dog turd either, but a loot box is like playing the lottery to win a dog turd. It's exceptional and if people want to sink money into it that's their perogative, but calling them anything but gambling is disingenuous and predatory.

I do respect your stance, just trying to communicate mine more clearly.

Word and no harm no foul.

From any issue I've seen, it's also not really gambling as I don't know of (and maybe someone can share) one where you get nada. They have shitty pulls that are hugely worthless and wasteful but in the end of the day it's a digital good exchanged for cash even if not the good you are hoping for. 3 real world dollars might be an awful deal for 1 game gold for example, but people really want that chance to hit the space ship upgrade or what have you.