Video Game Industry Must Address The Loot Box Controversy, IGDA Boss Says

While you all are crying about lootboxes, no one wants to talk about SWTOR's Nar Shaddaa's actual gambling. A casino where you use in game tokens too play a slot machine... Yes, this is very real, and yes it would absolutely be considered gambling, and yes, kids were involved.

These people are greedy. It will take governmental regulations because they cannot help themselves. As long as people are willing to spend money on and in games that use these methods, companies are going to keep using them until forced to stop.

I just believe that if a game is $60 there shouldn't be any microtransactions/loot boxes

at all. $60 is already to much now.

If game developers want to make a lot of money then actually make a good game and word will spread out.

Well, governments will get involved when the industry doesn't self regulate. You reap what you sow.

Loot boxes make games actively worse. They often cut content out of the game to sell as microtransactions, but what is worse is that they remove customer choice. Rather than letting people buy what they want, they implement a gambling system. They exploit "whales" who are weak to these tactics, while making the game more grindy for everyone else.

There is literally nothing good about loot boxes unless you're a shareholder who doesn't care who you exploit to keep making more profits than the last quarter.

I absolutely hate loot boxes. Especially after playing a lot of Fortnite and seeing how they implement unlocking loot through the battle pass. I love Overwatch but barely play it ever, other than special events, because I'm not competitive and the loot system sucks so bad. I dusted it off over Halloween so me and my kids could play the event and unlock some special skins. I played a TON of games over that whole period and unlock a couple basic skins and one more legendary skin. My youngest son barely played at all and his two loot boxes both had legendary skins in them. My older boy played a fair bit and I think he got one common skin and then a crap-ton of sprays.

This isn't fun. It is frustrating and discouraging to feel like no amount of playing or winning will make much difference. One person can play a couple games and get a couple legendary skins, and someone else can play much longer and try much harder and only end up with crap. And that is just through playing and earning loot. I can't imagine why anyone who bother spending massive money on lootboxes when the odds aren't any better. At least with fortnite you know up front how much things cost and how hard you will have to work to earn rewards in game. As much as I love Overwatch, as long as the game is using lootboxes for rewards, it will remain a game I only dust off during special events.

politicians should implement legislation to ban loot boxes. good day.

I think in the eyes of politicians they are simply seeing it as a gamble when one is purchased with real world money. You are spending $$$ on a random element where the outcome is unknown. Don't get me wrong I could care less either way, its the unknown element that is more or less the target. If you look at the definition of gambling it kind of falls in line with that,

1. the activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.

2. the act or practice of risking the loss of something important by taking a chance or acting recklessly

In the end it is up to the individual, its more aiming at the age related issue to someone under the age of majority being able to do it.

Either way it does not matter in the end, you can simply no buy loot box's as its pretty much just cosmetics anyway. Everyone to their own.

Think how rotten our world would be without any governments. For all of their faults, they're the only thing standing between the consumer and these lying rotten thieves. And the threat of government regulation is the only thing that ever compels the entertainment industry to put in place policies for the benefit of the consumer, which they could easily afford but choose not to as they would rather wring every ounce of blood from us. European and Australian governments are why Steam offers refunds now.

At this point they cant self regulate. Key word, growth. They are already at critical growth levels. If they do anything to their looties, it will be a huge hit to shares.

Well gov's getting involved is good news for everyone no matter what you think about this whole lootbox thing. More interference = less loot boxes which equals less loot box nonsense talk. Win win for everyone, well maybe not for the people who like loot boxes of course.

There is a reason why Blizzard uses lootboxes to "sell" their skins instead of selling them for individual prices and let the customer choose what to buy like Riot does in League of Legends. If you cannot see why this is disingenuous, you probably should stay out of the conversation.

But there is also a reason why blizzard makes way more money out of their lootboxes for much much less quality skins than league (IE: no new sounds, no new particle effects, just repaints for the most part).....addiction manipulation.

Which is why i have and will continue to boycott blizzard.

feelsbad. I guess devs are going to have to start working for their money again...

All VideoGames Rating Boards need Created New Rating only for Games with LootBox aka Gambling (Fifa 2008-)

ESRB (North America) LA aka Legal Age Rating: 21+

There's a real simple solution that no one wants to consider... Just don't sell loot boxes. Let people choose exactly what they spend their money on instead. Really simple solution, but it's never going to happen. Not unless a whole lot of people stop trying to exploit their customers and start treating them with a small amount of respect.

I was having a discussion about this on another Youtube video and one guy said this :

"ESRB = ESA, and the members of the ESA are literally EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc. They don't have to bribe themselves, lol. They already have full conflict of interest here. It's always been a joke attempt at them claiming they are "self-regulating" aka regulating themselves, but failing spectacularly to do so due to their own greed."

"and perhaps create significantly restrictive laws that could impact any random reward elements in games,"

Not likely. Games never had issues with random rewards. Once upon a time you worked for those cool extras and felt accomplished when you got them. Maybe showed them off a bit and either kept playing said game or moved on to something else. Once they got sniff of the crazy profits to be made off of selling people that which was once free, they just couldn't help themselves and got greedy. Honestly it's all a spill over from the garbage free to play mobile model. Never liked it, don't play, and sure won't catch me spending my money on it.

Here's looking at you EA. Thanks for getting the ball rolling with Battlefront II. The absolute greed and attempt to push pay to win mechanics in a full price game pushed gamers too far.

Also, let's not cry for the developers of these big companies. Activision-Blizzard made 4 billion on microtransactions last year and you know where that money went. Not the developers but CEO, stakeholder, etc pockets. The hard working folks don't get much or anything out of it. The ones making good games, make more than enough to pay for them and start the next project.

Anybody else find it ironic that MacLean played a significant role in the bankruptcy shenanigans of 38 Studios and yet has the audacity to tell game developers they should regulate themselves? I don't buy it. Lot of these higher ups are just in it for the money and it is about time that developers like myself get to watch the executives get their comeuppance.

Governments should, as unrelenting greed has taken hold, bypassing any semblance of morality or responsibility.

It can't regulate itself. They deserve the government on their backs.

""By not taking significant action as an industry and global game developer community to self-regulate how loot boxes are used, we run the very real risk that governments around the world will take that action for us, and perhaps create significantly restrictive laws that could impact any random reward elements in games,"

He's not even judging it on right or wrong. "Our moneyz might capped".

Boo-hoo you.

Fully agree. The last thing the gaming industry needs is government shoving it's nose in and regulating anything because once they start they will use that as a base board to try to take more an more control. First it will be loot boxes and microtransactions but, then it will be violence and content they deem as inappropriate. The industry has avoided this kind of issue in the past through self regulation with the ESRB rating system and and the like but that will change if the government gets a foothold to start regulating.

How about you just sell in-game items? Pay a price and get what you want? Of course the answer is that they don't drive as much profit as a gambling model.

I am sure EA is listening to the IGDA. LOL companies like EA could care less, they are in it for the short term cash cow, in fact they would welcome a government 'take over' of gaming so that all game companies produced 'cardboard' games and EA wouldn't have to compete with real game companies.

Just let them die! There is not a single instance of loot boxes or microtransactions making a gameplay experience better for the gamers. It's just a cash grab by greedy suits. let the games be games and make money from selling good ones. Not by implementing gambling and blackmail tactics.

lol "self-regulation" if the idustury was capable of that it would not have gotten this far. Instead they squeezed and squeezed till the little piggies started to squeal. But lets be real here the "industry(ies)" have no desire to regulate themselves all they will do is lip service/bare minimum.

Are you telling me there is a chance that all games will be microtransaction-free?

*giggling gladly*

Doubt this will accomplish anything. At most, the ESRB will automatically rate any game with loot box mechanics "M", which, of course, won't accomplish anything.

The problem with the entire argument is that it assumes "kids" are the only audience for video games. Since that's bull, you can't in turn declare gambling practices are unfit for adults as well.

A commendable attitude on the situation but will the industry be wise enough to take heed? If current greed is anything to go by then probably not and government intervention will be the only way that this traversty can be addressed and, eventually, overturned. Chances are though that we are still a long way off seeing this though.