The Belgian Commission for Gambling opens an investigation for the new Star Wars Battlefront II game. In this game you are able to pay to improve your character or vehicle. This mechanism is based on chance, since you don't know what you will get, also another popular game, Overwatch, will be investigated.
The game Star Wars Battlefront II will be available in stores this Friday and is seen as one of the biggest games this year. In this game you will be able to grow as a player and improve your character. So can you as an example get new weapons or upgrade your vehicle.
But if you don't want to do this, or don't have time to improve your character while playing, you can buy improvements in the so called 'Loot Crates'. These are virtual boxes which you can purchase without knowing what you will get.
And that's where lies the problem, says the Commission for Gambling. Because you want certain things but you don't know what you will get, this is essentially gambling. "It's all dependent on coincidence how well you will be able to play the game. And in that case it falls under the rules of gambling" says Peter Naessens, Director of the Commision of Gambling.
Investigation started
According to the Commission of Gambling holds this game a risk for minors, whom under social pressure spend a lot of money. That's why they start an investigation on the game. "If there is talk of gambling, then it cannot be done without a permission from the Commission of Gambling" says Naessens.
The investigation of the Commission of Gambling can in the worst case scenario lead to EA paying hundreds of thousands euro as a fine, or that the game will be removed from store shelves. Electronic Arts, the creator of 'Battlefront 2" has not given a reaction.
I wouldn't hold my breath on this.
Their material complaints seems to be that you don't know what you can expect to get and that mixing of gambling and gaming is especially dangerous to children. Not going to eat crow on this yet.
Is a gigantic step, dude.This sounds ridiculous, but I would contradict this with: Kinder Surprise exists.
This sounds ridiculous, but I would contradict this with: Kinder Surprise exists.Not in the United States, they're banned and illegal to import due to their danger :american
According to IGN, Hawaii State Representative Chris Lee is “looking at legislation” that could prohibit the sale of games to players that are under 21 years of age, and possibly restrict the inclusion of gambling elements. The gambling elements seem to refer to what Lee believes are present in Star Wars Battlefront II’s loot boxes.
In his press announcement, Lee specifically mentioned EA and Star Wars Battlefront and claimed that he and his team had also been in conversation with other U.S. state legislators who were examining similar options to curb what he described as ‘predatory behaviour’ by game publishers.
He also said that he was concerned about the impact these games had on players under 21 in terms of gambling addiction and claimed “This game is a Star Wars-themed online casino designed to lure kids into spending money.”
If Shadow of War hadn't come out 5 weeks ago and primed the community's outrage (mostly on youtube), would EA have gotten away with their shitty progression system in Battlefront II? It feels like it took a several of these full priced AAA exploitive loot box games in a short span of time to really get the ball rolling. Overwatch always could fall back on "it's just cosmetics" but that isn't the case for some of these new games.
The fact EA had to temporarily back down seems like a huge win, hopefully we get more government oversight on these type of things.
What are the chances a presidential candidate in 2020 has a twitch channel ??? I'd watch Bernie Sanders go through Dark Souls and rant about lootboxesNot entirely implausible, maybe
You need to open lootboxes to get that advantage.
HOW DO YOU HAVE A MULTIPLAYER-FOCUSED GAME WITH BAD NETCODE IN 2017
You need to open lootboxes to get that advantage.