The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into “loot boxes” in video games. Loot boxes permit players to spend for the possibility to win digital goods inside the game, and many critics from the $30 billion industry have equated the practice with gambling.
At a congressional oversight committee hearing earlier this week, FTC chairman Joe Simons has said the commission will launch an investigation into loot boxes after Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire sent a letter to the Entertainment and Software Ratings Board asking that the practice be looked into.
In the letter, Hassan wrote, “The prevalence of in-game micro-transactions, frequently referred to as ‘loot boxes,’ raises a number of issues surrounding the use of psychological principles and enticing mechanics that closely mirror those frequently discovered in casinos and games of opportunity,” as reported by NBC news.
The practice, which consultancy Juniper Study estimates generates the video game industry some $30 billion per year has been in comparison to gambling by many anti-gambling activists who argue that the unregulated practice may be highly addictive.
Discovered in most significant video games these days, such as popular blockbusters the likes of Star Wars: Battlefront II, Overwatch and Counter Strike, loot boxes ask players to spend genuine currency in exchange for different types of in-game packages that can consist of everything from new weapons and armour to new characters, costumes as well as dance moves.
1 believe that separates loot boxes from other in game purchasing options and that makes the practice similar to gambling is that players don’t really know what they will get in the box until after they’ve paid. Most loot box items are pretty generic, albethey coveted player accoutrements, but some are very rare, much like hitting the jackpot inside a slots game, and can be sold on other secondary markets on the web for substantial sums of real-world currency. For example, particular skins, products that change a gun’s look and really feel akin to giving it a digital paint job, found in loot boxes in Counter Strike are presently up for sale for thousands of dollars.
Recent study performed by PLoS One has linked loot boxes to problem gambling. Inside a survey of over 7,000 gamers concluded that “buying loot boxes may consequently lead to issue gambling amongst gamers”.
The FTC and anti-gambling advocacy groups haven’t been the only ones to cry foul with regards to loot boxes, even gamers themselves are raising their voices. After Star Wars Battlefront II integrated loot boxes that occasionally had products that would make players stronger, numerous within the gaming neighborhood said that such a move was the equivalent of a “pay to win” system. In fact, the negative response was so strong that the game maker Electronic Arts totally removed loot boxes from its games.
In light from the criticism, more politicians started to take notice, including some in Hawaii who have compared the Star Wars Battlefront II method to an internet casino and known as it a “predatory practice” along with a trap developed to lure children into spending cash. Hawaii State Representative Sean Quinlan even went so far as to state that “we shouldn’t allow Star Wars to encourage your children to gamble”.
Actually the backlash has been wide spread and is growing. An Australian senate committee earlier this week suggested a “comprehensive review” of loot boxes, in light of the fact that the games are squarely marketed at children.
Viewed as tempting kids to gamble and exploitative, both the Netherlands and Belgium have banned the practice entirely, labeling it as a type of gambling.