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UPDATED: Belgium investigating loot boxes as gambling, will seek to have them banned in Europe

Deleted member 888

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,361
This is what happens when you're greedy fuckers around self-regulation. You could have displayed drop rates of your own choosing and made them reasonable, but no, you wanted to fleece every last coin under the illusion that just another $20-50 will get someone the skin they want.

Enjoy the mess you've created gaming industry. It didn't have to blow up like this. Not 100% on outright banning but I'll take it over nothing. Can't wait to see hundreds of gamers rush in to tell us this means COD, BF and others simply cannot be made anymore.

Ubisoft, Blizzard and Valve simply cannot afford to make games now? Yeah, sure, okay. Go make pachinko machines with Konami then.
 
benzopil

benzopil

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,150
signal said:
Wonder how the people who think "its fine if they are just for cosmetics" or "Overwatch is an example done right" feel about this.

Also wonder if this will only be for paid games or f2p as well.
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Terrible? Still don't understand why they are mixing OW and pay-to-win Battlefront.
 
Animal Liberation Ⓥ

Animal Liberation Ⓥ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,767
1098.gif


Whoa! I did not see this one coming.

Activision and company pissed at EA for 'poisoning the well'.
 
BrassDragon

BrassDragon

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,154
The Netherlands
The Belgian Minister of Justice is taking this to the European Union - that's a step beyond a single country's advisory commission taking a stand.

Momentum is building. Something's gotta give.
 
DontBlink

DontBlink

Member
Oct 25, 2017
171
Geens said:
Geens, according to the report, wants to ban in-game purchases outright, and not just in Belgium
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Banning any in-game purchases will most likely never happen but random-reward drops getting the axe would be an excellent step.
 
Suzushiiro

Suzushiiro

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
515
Brooklyn, NY
The most glorious end possible to all of this would be if EA pushing it too hard with BF2 wound up fucking over the entire industry's loot box profits forever.
 
Dirtyshubb

Dirtyshubb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,555
UK
Great news, I hope they have luck getting it to pass in Europe too.

Then that means the UK will get the law passed too....... Oh, yeah. Maybe not.
 
Mochi

Mochi

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,704
Seattle
well that was fast. good for them! enterprises that take advantage of addiction through any medium or any substance should be restricted by the same rules as gambling, smoking, alcohol, etc.

Gets murky of you think about the addictive nature of loot games like Diablo, and also curious to know how they will define in game purchases, like could publishers just sell "expansions" that amount to roughly the same thing..
 
mentallyinept

mentallyinept

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,403
Goodness, if this spreads to other EU countries EA (and other publishers) will be scrambling.
 
RoboPlato

RoboPlato

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,808
Holy crap. I did not expect this outcome.

Imagine how pissed execs at other companies are at EA right now for getting this much attention on loot boxes.
 
MrBobHarris

MrBobHarris

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5
FAN-WAFFLE-TASTIC! Best news this year. Hopefully a clear enough message to EA and the big wigs there. Now lets get the snowball rolling and turn it into an avalanche.
 
lowhighkang_LHK

lowhighkang_LHK

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,884
Las Vegas
KoolAid said:
Outright banning them might be too much, but they gotta control them.

(also, games will still have loot boxes as devs will go through loopholes like overwatch already does in china)
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It's a shame these developers are so adamant with their loot box shit.

Whatever happened to pay X amount for content Y DLC. Fuck me man I miss the horse armor days.

Now it's pay ultimately a shit more on a slot machine box that may or may not get you horse armor.
 
MatrixMan.exe

MatrixMan.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,499
This is ludicrous. Regulate them, sure. Banning them is silly though. A legitimate case can be made for their inclusion in games. The problem is that companies like EA implement them poorly.

Honestly, I don't think you really want this shit to be banned anyway. Another form of monetisation will end up taking its place and may end up being worse. I'd rather we have loot boxes than EA, for example, monetising ammo packs in Battlefield or something.
 
Monodrone

Monodrone

Member
Nov 1, 2017
184
Amazing! But surely the publishers will find a loophole or make slight adjustments to pass the laws.
 
Oliver James

Oliver James

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
7,772
Yung Coconut said:
I think this is a good thing. But game prices are also going to jump if this goes through.

How do we feel about $80 games? Haven't spent that much on a videogame since the SNES/Genesis days.

Edit: And all of the major publishers can thank EA for this. Thanks, EA!
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But why? There are AAA titles without lootboxes that are firmly $60.
 
subpar spatula

subpar spatula

Refuses to Wash his Ass
Member
Oct 26, 2017
22,128
He says it damages the mental health of young people. Where is his evidence that loot boxes create gamblers? At this point, it's like saying weed creates heroin addicts.
 

Deleted member 1041

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,725
if this law passes

can they ban any sort of 'grab bag' item that is for sell. There will be precedent

Belgium is not thinking this through lol.
 
Nirolak

Nirolak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,660
I imagine most publishers will just pull their games from Belgium and then petition at the EU level to stop a European action, given other countries have found them not problematic.

It's like the German market and notably violent games.

Curious to see when things like the Pokémon TCG and LEGO blind boxes get banned there too given this.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 1378

User requested account closure
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,741
Musubi said:
I don't know how they define their definition of gambling but... its not gambling.
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I was defending it was not being gambling the other day, but the thing is - this is the first legal decision, and people who know a lot more about... Laws and shit, have decided they are.

Legally, they are gambling
 
RoninStrife

RoninStrife

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,002
ABOUT TIME. And I must say, Belgium, perfectly said!
Gambling= gaming,money,addiction. straight foward really.
 
CypherSignal

CypherSignal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,072
ApeEscape4Knack said:
Would this affect FIFA in anyway I wonder
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If they're talking about any kind of random reward from a monetary transaction, you're looking at FIFA, SWBF, NBA 2K, BF1, CoD WWII, Overwatch, Destiny 2, HotS, Hearthstone, Halo 5, Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2, PUBG, Puzzle & Dragons, Fire Emblem Heroes, Monster Strike, Granblue Fantasy, and on and on and on.
 
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