In Europe, the randomized item containing boxes are getting more and more disapproving voices.

The Netherlands Gaming Authority mentioned four games that they consider to do improper gambling. They are FIFA 18, DotA 2, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Rocket League. Marja Appelman, the director of the authority, commented: „They are designed as gambling games are designed, with the feeling that you have almost won. There are all sorts of sound effects and visual effects when you open such a loot box, so you have a tendency to play through and through. I call on all game companies not to make loot boxes accessible to children anymore and to remove addictive elements.”

Their issue is that some items found in the loot boxes can be sold for real money, and the law says if players are spending cash to have a chance to obtain an item which can be sold for money, that is considered gambling. They have eight weeks to change their business model.

However, without this type of monetization, the developers/publishers will have to get money in other ways to cover the costs like marketing or the voice acting (not to mention the developers’ payroll – a game’s budget can quickly be in the millions of dollars) with DLCs and the such… or they’d have to raise the game’s prices.

The story is far from over…

Source: WCCFTech