I fully agree with Kansspelautoriteit. ANY form of gambling should not be part of video-games ! Burn all loot-boxes and any similar "chance based" gains with fire and brimstone ! Video-games should be about experience, skill, reaction time, coordination, team effort... etc. NOT about chance ! (Even worse... paid chance)

But what has the KSA achieved really? Nothing, because people with a gambling addiction can still buy Lootboxes. This is simply a failed attempt at banning Lootboxes.

^^I assume this is just the beginning, and i expect more mesures to be added and more countries to step in and follow suit as there becomes more open debut on the whole gambling mechanics that the gaming industry as a whole has just shoehorned into almost every aspect of gaming, a insidous practice that the games industry got away with for far too long.

They will have to close Casino's and ban Lottery Tickets as well then, cuz those are no different. Infact they're even worse as there is a chance you win nothing. A Lootbox always contains items. Easy for me to say though, as i have no gambling addiction. And if Lootboxes are going to be banned in the future, they will be replaced with an item store. They will find a way to make more money. Nothing is going to change to the base of the game, even though that's what people expect.

The difference is, casinos and lottery tickets have some form of age verification, limiting it to a "mature" audience. Games most of the time haven't gotten those, everybody can download Overwatch, for instance, and get loot boxes in there. My personal opinion is, that any form of lootboxing to actually gain iG advantages is stupid and should not be done, any cosmetics are people's own problem. If I want to spend 5 bucks on Overwatch loot boxes and not get the cosmetic item I want, I don't think anybody's to blame but me. But these days games are marketed to an age that goes way below 18 years (or more, depending on the country as the limit for maturity), so that's an issue. We all know though why this system exists? So the publishers can make more money off of games. And as long as they won't find any other way to do that, they'll milk this system for as long as it's possible. And if it's forbidden, they will find another way.

It's terrifying that the government can decide what can and cannot be in a game, but at the same time I would be glad to see this kind of change in the rest of Europa.

Sadly till America does something and maybe even China too, other smaller countries doing this won’t matter.... maybe if the whole of Europe banned them... sadly just don’t see it happening...due to well money Can’t wait for them to go, terrible terrible business practice

wavetrex:

I fully agree with Kansspelautoriteit. ANY form of gambling should not be part of video-games ! Burn all loot-boxes and any similar "chance based" gains with fire and brimstone ! Video-games should be about experience, skill, reaction time, coordination, team effort... etc. NOT about chance ! (Even worse... paid chance)

Man, you just defeated Raid Boss. Here is same reward as everyone else gets. Man, you just defeated regular monster. Here is exactly same coin amount as everyone gets. I agree that gambling should not be part of games. But gambling =/= chance based rewards. Gambling means you put a risk (money) for chance to have gain. If you get direct random item drop from World Boss or it just drops chest which you open later and have random item from same pool, it makes no difference. Therefore loot boxes are not inherently evil. Paying for them or for opening is.

The games are endless, PUBG especially when you get a loot box but then need to purchase a key for it, only to find you get something really crappy. Chinese law states you have to show % of getting items, which I think is a good idea. But I also agree with The Netherlands, this is gambling and this should be stopped.

Fox2232:

I agree that gambling should not be part of games. But gambling =/= chance based rewards. Gambling means you put a risk (money) for chance to have gain.

That's exactly what these items are. At least for these games. For example, I just sold 2 Dota items on the Steam market for $300. 2 ultra rare skins I got in "lootboxes" during last years International. In total they maybe cost me $30 to get since I paid for the Compendium and a few level boosts during the tournament. If people weren't so dumb to pay that much money for them I probably would have just kept them because they were cool looking. But $300 will get me a lot during the upcoming Steam sale.

fantaskarsef:

The difference is, casinos and lottery tickets have some form of age verification, limiting it to a "mature" audience. Games most of the time haven't gotten those, everybody can download Overwatch, for instance, and get loot boxes in there. My personal opinion is, that any form of lootboxing to actually gain iG advantages is stupid and should not be done, any cosmetics are people's own problem. If I want to spend 5 bucks on Overwatch loot boxes and not get the cosmetic item I want, I don't think anybody's to blame but me. But these days games are marketed to an age that goes way below 18 years (or more, depending on the country as the limit for maturity), so that's an issue. We all know though why this system exists? So the publishers can make more money off of games. And as long as they won't find any other way to do that, they'll milk this system for as long as it's possible. And if it's forbidden, they will find another way.

BINGO!, normalizing gambling towards children, this is how far the gaming industry has sunk.:(

I've got nothing to add to the loot box discussion that hasn't already been said. However, a glimpse of the future replacement "system" is already here in Fortnite, which boils down to season passes and in-game items sold for virtual money (that's bought with real money of-course). This method ups the ante by listing items for sale that are only available for a limited period of time that pressures players to buy asap before they're gone from the shop. Taking a lesson learnt from the mobile/tablet apps; free-to-play to entice people to download and try it out. Then, we're actually dealing with two addictions running concurrently; 1) addiction to the game itself. 2) addiction to buying more stuff for the game. Both addictions fuelling each other. Fortnite's battle-royale mode is making Epic so much money that soon they will be making their previously retail "Save the World" (what is now considered a "mode" of Fortnite) free-to-play as well. And you know that that decision will only further create a "positive" mindset in the players, who will only feel even more attached to Fortnite and likely buy (more) v-bucks to spend as it was all "free"... So, what we'll end-up having are virtual shops that are very good at pretending to be games. I have to give them credit from a business stand-point, it's genius. Err, 5 teams of 20 action, anyone? 😀

TheDeeGee:

But what has the KSA achieved really? Nothing, because people with a gambling addiction can still buy Lootboxes. This is simply a failed attempt at banning Lootboxes.

Missing the big picture, back when I was in high school ( 3 years back) there were kids aged 15-16 already addicted to CSGO gambling. Its basically gambling for kids with real potential to launder money. OT: Does anybody else despise how Valve worded this? They are pitting the dutch costumers against the government. This is actually disgusting, this kind of reminds me of the situation when paid mods were introduced. Gabe Newell made some vague post saying he was away for the weekend and didn't knew what happened and was "very mad that this happened". So greasy, so underhanded.

TheDeeGee:

They will have to close Casino's and ban Lottery Tickets as well then, cuz those are no different. Infact they're even worse as there is a chance you win nothing. A Lootbox always contains items.

and THEY are all regulated which lootboxes currently are not, in any way shape or form. This isn't the first step to banning lootboxes but it is the very first step to some form of regulation. So in Valves case yeah first step to the out right removal since just looking at Steam's Early Access system we know fine well Valve would rather do nothing, not a damn thing, than actually lift a finger to regulate something. Also lets remember that CSGO was one of the first games to introduce this scummy lootbox system and somehow Valve has managed to avoid most of the fall out from this. Weird isn't it EA are the ones that brought lootboxes to the attention of authorities by being.. well greedy f*cks... so by being EA but it's Valve that is now having to take action to stop getting their wrists slapped.

The Laughing Ma:

and THEY are all regulated which lootboxes currently are not, in any way shape or form. This isn't the first step to banning lootboxes but it is the very first step to some form of regulation. So in Valves case yeah first step to the out right removal since just looking at Steam's Early Access system we know fine well Valve would rather do nothing, not a damn thing, than actually lift a finger to regulate something. Also lets remember that CSGO was one of the first games to introduce this scummy lootbox system and somehow Valve has managed to avoid most of the fall out from this. Weird isn't it EA are the ones that brought lootboxes to the attention of authorities by being.. well greedy f*cks... so by being EA but it's Valve that is now having to take action to stop getting their wrists slapped.

Valve's lootboxes don't actually do anything in the games other than give you new skins or hats though. EAs were unlocking new weapons/characters that actually change how the game is played by the user.

nhlkoho:

Valve's lootboxes don't actually do anything in the games other than give you new skins or hats though. EAs were unlocking new weapons/characters that actually change how the game is played by the user.

Oh I get that but end of the day people are still paying for something that gives a random chance of a 'payout' so it's still a form of gambling and it still has all the hall mark addictive hooks that prey on individuals with addictive personalities. It's just strange that as the whole lootbox sh*t was starting to blow up last year Valve some how managed to fly under the radar of most folk talking about the whole lootbox issue, when to be honest they were one of the first and have always been one of the biggest winners from the entire process. Just look at the number of reseller sites, the number of Youtube lootbox opening videos and the actual price of some of their so called Special Edition boxes and the fact that they also split the boxes and keys requiring people to potentially pay twice just to open a single box.