Germany is considering a ban on loot boxes in video games sold to minors.
The world is divided when it comes to loot boxes, those gifts given in games (but normally paid for via real-world money) that gives you a random chance to get certain kinds of loot. In most games, the loot is limited to cosmetic items.
EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront II famously tried to lock much of the game’s content behind loot boxes until a player backlash eventually caused them to step down. Since then, the issue of loot boxes has gotten the attention of governments around the world, and the biggest question on all their minds is whether or not loot boxes constitute a form of gambling.
Opinions vary widely depending on where you live. If you’re in sunny New Zealand, the country recently decided that loot boxes are not gambling, so Kiwis are free to buy as many Overwatch loot boxes as they want.
In Europe, things are more complicated. Belgium is considering a ban, recently coming down on the side of loot boxes are gambling, but they’ve yet to issue an official decree telling games like Overwatch to get out.
Germany is the latest European country to consider the issue, with the German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag reporting that the Commission for Youth Media Protection of the State Media Authorities is currently debating whether or not to consider loot boxes as vehicles for gambling.
And if you were wondering which direction the commission is leaning, then chairman Wolfgang Kreißig provides a pretty good indicator: “I think that it’s imaginable that loot boxes violate the ban on gambling for children and minors.”
The commission is set to issue their decision in March with the German government likely to enact legislation based on their recommendations. So far the options are fine publishers and developers that sell loot boxes in games intended for minors or to outright ban the sale of loot boxes in those same games.
They could do both, but Welt seems to think that the commission will recommend a ban on loot boxes to minors.
What do you think about loot boxes? Great for monetizing games or a great way to wind up remortgaging your house? Let us know in the comments!
