18 European Countries Call for Loot Box Regulations - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 June 2022 / 1,385 Views
20 consumer groups in 18 European countries have backed a report from the Norwegian Consumer Council on the ongoing impact of loot boxes on the video games industry that has been titled "INSERT COIN: How the gaming industry exploits consumers using loot boxes."
The report describes loot boxes as "mystery packages" of digital content in a video game that consumers use real money to purchase. The content in loot boxes are randomized with no way of knowing what they contain until they have paid for them.
Loot boxes are described as exploiting consumers through predatory mechanisms, fostering addiction, targeting vulnerable consumer groups and more, according to the director of digital policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council Finn Myrstad.
Myrstad added, "Games manipulate consumers to spend large sums of money through aggressive marketing, exploitation of cognitive biases, and misleading probabilities."
The report highlights problems with loot boxes, including "exploiting cognitive biases and vulnerabilities through deceptive design and marketing, using layers of virtual currencies to mask or distort real-world monetary costs, [and] targeting loot boxes and manipulative practices towards minors."
The Norwegian Consumer Council is calling for regulation on loot boxes in video games.
"Due to the sheer size of the market and the number of affected consumers, national and EU authorities should prioritize regulatory investigations and interventions. We call for a number of measures, including a ban on deceptive design, extra protections for minors, and transactional transparency. Authorities and industry must take responsibility to ensure a safe environment for gamers," said Myrstad.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Hopefully if enough countries discourage their use, studios will stop implementing them. Big hope, though.
The title of this article is misleading. These are groups within countries, the title makes it sound like it's the governments of these countries.
They need to start creating psychological abuse regulations and psychological manipulation tax in computer games, to cramp down on game companies using unethical tactics to steal from vulnerable peoples wallets.
Loot boxes need to go.
