News Lords call for urgent regulation of loot boxes in UK

I'm usually wary of baby/bath water situations but can't see much of an issue with getting rid of loot boxes, other than perhaps hampering access to the GTA: Online casino.

 

They are only asking for regulation, not a ban.
They want that regulation to be under the Gambling Act of 2005, so most likely they will want to slap an 18+ on any game containing lootboxes.
Doing that would have no impact on any part of GTA as it is 18+ rated to begin with.

 

Would heavily affect EA sports FIFA games though which is the biggest offender of loot boxes

 

Rocket League does it better. They got rid of loot boxes and now you buy what you want. Collectors can buy everything - the rest of us can spend on what we like the look of. The ‘special’ looking stuff.

When Rocket League did do loot boxes, I spent ~£15 and received crap in return. Would never have invested any more money after that. But now I do on a regular basis because they offer some good stuff.

Likewise I once or twice got suckered into CSGO loot boxes - never again. Everything good I own in CSGO I bought on the Steam Market.

 

Oh OK. I hate it.

 

If the regulation comes it is effectively a ban.

FIFA for example do not want their official licensed product to have an 18 rating and Gamble Aware stickers all over the box, they're supposed to be marketing football to everyone.
Same goes for the battle royale and MOBA games that are marketed towards children. If they get that 18 rating they'll be obliged to start enforcing it, moreover those stories you see of little Timy spending thousands on lootboxes without anyone knowing suddenly become criminal cases.

I dislike micro transactions in paid for games on principal, but a move away from lootboxes to a fixed price store would at least add some transparency to the actual cost of the games being sold.

 

In the UK at least FIFA would have to be sold without loot boxes been buyable for them to have any customers.

same for Disney mobile games that contain these sort of micro transactions

honestly think this is a good thing

 

And right on cue.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53272411

 

It gets worse, sports games (like Fifa or NBA2K) are so far down the rabbit hole on predatory behaviour that there is basically nothing left once you rip out the mobile game style garbage.
So they'd have to make an *shock horror* actual effort to make the games have a real appeal rather than just exploiting people with addiction problems.

 

It doesn't directly affect me as I don't buy extras for games (if it isn't in the game of the year / final edition then i won't be getting it) but it does seem like a good move to protect children and people who can't manage their money