For the past few years, legislators have occasionally brought up the question of monetization and loot boxes in gaming, with a goal of determining if some game companies’ money-making practices can be equated with gambling. Mostly, these attempts at regulation failed to get off the ground outside of Asia. Then one country surprised almost everyone — and gave many gamers a momentary surge of hope — when Belgium made loot boxes in video games illegal.
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Specifically, the Belgian Gaming Commission declared that loot boxes in video games were akin to gambling and therefore subject to the country’s applicable laws. The Commission stated that the loot box systems in FIFA 18, Overwatch, and CS:GO must be removed or the game publishers could face criminal charges and fines. Belgium’s Minister of Justice Koen Geens called for a ban on loot boxes throughout the European Union and, for a time, it seemed like the anti-loot box movement was picking up steam. However, a study recently released by researcher Leon Y. Xiao has found that the loot box ban in Belgium has not been “effectively enforced.”
According to Xiao, many companies outright ignore the loot box ban and yet face no consequences from Belgian authorities. Furthermore, Xiao believes that enforcing the ban and eliminating loot boxes entirely is not “practically achievable.” Banning the lucrative monetization practice has a number of disadvantages that make it unlikely to take hold in any meaningful way. One of these is what Xiao calls the “forbidden fruit effect.” But an effective ban would also negatively impact the overall gameplay experience, unfairly disadvantage Belgian gamers, and hurt the country’s esports industry.
Perhaps more importantly for lawmakers, a loot box ban that was strictly enforced would hurt video game companies. Those that didn’t adhere to the law and got away with it would profit, while compliant companies would suffer financial loss. Furthermore, any steps companies took to curtail access to certain players would inevitably be bypassed by anybody who tried hard enough. Xiao concludes that Belgium should “re-evaluate its regulatory position” and other countries should not follow the Belgian approach to banning loot boxes.
Nevertheless, whether Belgium ultimately amends its laws on loot boxes or other countries continue to decide that they are not gambling, the controversial situation at least drew the attention of game companies. Blizzard confirmed that Overwatch 2 won’t have loot boxes, and even EA now lets players look inside the loot boxes in FIFA 21 and 22 before buying. And as recently as June 2022, US Senator Ted Cruz mentioned that he would be happy to discuss video game monetization schemes with Twitch streamer Asmongold.
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Source: OSFPreprints
