The Belgian Gambling Commission has opened an investigation into in-game “loot boxes”

Over the past 24 hours, both the Belgian Gaming Commission and the Dutch Gaming Authority have reportedly opened investigations into in-game “loot boxes”. 

In Belgium, the investigation is focused on Star Wars: Battlefront II and Overwatch and aims to settle the matter of whether or not the loot systems in both games can be considered as a form of gambling. The Dutch investigation will be looking into games with loot boxes n a more general sense to see whether or not they can be classified as “games of chance”, which are required to be licensed under Dutch Law. At this time there is no licensing system for online games of chance. 

Both investigations are in early research phases, though the results of both of these investigations can have global consequences, as other foreign governments will react to the findings of each study and the results could also result in banning each game from sale in the Netherlands and/or Belgium.  

If “loot box” systems are classified as gambling by either regulating body, other national regulators will be prompted to start investigations of their own, potentially leading to a domino effect that could spell disaster for games using these systems. This could in-turn prompt publishers to avoid such systems to avoid a gambling classification, especially if fines are issued to EA or Activision/Blizzard and further regulations are put in place. 

 

Loot systems are becoming more and more common in modern AAA games, from their inclusion in Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Call of Duty: WWII, Star Wars: Battlefront II and Forza: Motorsport 7, all of which are games that have been released since September with these controversial monetisation systems.

With loot boxes being such a profitable addition to modern games it is unlikely that the system will be abandoned anytime soon without the intervention of regulators. China has recently tried to regulate such systems with little success, though the results of these investigations have the potential to send ripples that prompt reaction on an international scale. 

Over the past 24 hours, both the Belgian Gaming Commission and the Dutch Gaming Authority have reportedly opened investigations into in-game “loot boxes”. 

In Belgium, the investigation is focused on Star Wars: Battlefront II and Overwatch and aims to settle the matter of whether or not the loot systems in both games can be considered as a form of gambling. The Dutch investigation will be looking into games with loot boxes n a more general sense to see whether or not they can be classified as “games of chance”, which are required to be licensed under Dutch Law. At this time there is no licensing system for online games of chance. 

Both investigations are in early research phases, though the results of both of these investigations can have global consequences, as other foreign governments will react to the findings of each study and the results could also result in banning each game from sale in the Netherlands and/or Belgium.  

If “loot box” systems are classified as gambling by either regulating body, other national regulators will be prompted to start investigations of their own, potentially leading to a domino effect that could spell disaster for games using these systems. This could in-turn prompt publishers to avoid such systems to avoid a gambling classification, especially if fines are issued to EA or Activision/Blizzard and further regulations are put in place. 

 

Loot systems are becoming more and more common in modern AAA games, from their inclusion in Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Call of Duty: WWII, Star Wars: Battlefront II and Forza: Motorsport 7, all of which are games that have been released since September with these controversial monetisation systems.

With loot boxes being such a profitable addition to modern games it is unlikely that the system will be abandoned anytime soon without the intervention of regulators. China has recently tried to regulate such systems with little success, though the results of these investigations have the potential to send ripples that prompt reaction on an international scale.