Last week, two different authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands have launched investigations on whether or not loot boxes, the much talk-about feature of games in 2017, is considered gambling or not. The results of Belguim’s Gaming Commission says yes, VTM News reported.
“Mixing gambling and gaming, especially at a young age, is dangerous for the mental health of the child,” Belgium’s Minister of Justice Koen Geens said of the investigation result, according to Google Translate for the article.
He wishes such purchases- where you are not entirely sure the content of what is purchased- to be banned in Europe. “But that takes time, because we have to go to Europe,” he added. “We will certainly try to ban it.”
The investigation is conducted after the progression and loot box system implemented in Star Wars Battlefront II was badly received.
This has surely started a precedent on where we draw the line on loot boxes. It will surely catch on as more investigations from authorities are conducted.
Let’s just hope should the authorities in countries like Malaysia caught wind of the controversy, the knee-jerk reaction is not to ban video games distributors again.
Source: PC Gamer