The controversial loot boxes in video games have just received another heavy blow, this time from Google
Tech blog Android Police reported earlier this week that Google’s Play Store has updated its policies on publishing games that feature loot boxes. The move comes shortly after a US Senator introduced a bill that aims to crack down on the controversial virtual items.
As noticed by Android Police, Play Store’s new policy on loot boxes now reads that “apps offering mechanisms to receive randomized virtual items from a purchase (i.e. ‘loot boxes’) must clearly disclose the odds of receiving those items in advance of purchase.”
Play Store’s updated policy on loot boxes is being introduced as the debate on whether loot boxes nurture gambling habits and addiction among children is becoming more and more intense.
Generally speaking, loot boxes are virtual containers that can be purchased within a game and that award players with random items and modifications. Some of the items can boost players’ performance in a game, but many of them do not possess such qualities. The purchase of loot boxes is considered to be a microtransaction.
US Senator Seeks Ban on Loot Boxes
Republican Senator Josh Hawley officially introduced last week the Protecting Children from Abusive Games bill that calls for a ban on “pay-to-win microtransactions and sales of loot boxes in minor-oriented games.” The bill has gained a bipartisan support from Democrats, which improves its chances to survive through the pending legislative hurdles.
Sen. Hawley applauded the Play Store’s new policy on loot boxes, saying that Google should take further measures and force video game publishers to “keep slot machines out of the hands of children.”
This is a step in the right direction, but Google should force video game companies to keep slot machines out of the hands of children altogether https://t.co/DtvbsOQPQ9
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) May 30, 2019
The new bill is facing massive backlash from the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association has said that the legislative proposal is “flawed and riddled with inaccuracies” and that a number of countries have already determined that “loot boxes do not constitute gambling.” In addition, the trade body has pointed out that it looks forward to “sharing with [Sen. Hawley] the tools and information the industry already provides that keeps the control of in-game spending in parent’s hands.”
Sweden Orders Research on Loot Boxes
As the debate on whether loot boxes do or do not constitute gambling is gaining momentum globally, Sweden’s Minister for Public Administration Ardalan Shekarabi tasked the Swedish Consumer Agency with conducting an investigation into the nature of the controversial items. As part of its investigation, the agency will have to present Swedish lawmakers with various approaches toward the regulation of loot boxes in the country.
Of his view on loot boxes, Minister Shekarabi said that the fact virtual items in loot boxes can be traded within the game or on secondary markets “arguably gives rise to supply and demand and therefore an objective monetary real-world value.” He added given this, loot boxes are “very close to what is normally regulated by the legislation for paid gambling.”
Loot boxes have been a hot topic over the past several years. In 2018, Belgium ruled that the items were equivalent to gambling and should thus follow the country’s gambling regulations.
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