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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Belgian & Dutch gambling commissions are investigating Battlefront II, Overwatch and loot boxes in general

poklane on 16 November 2017
Birimbau said:
poklane said:
The Dutch gambling authorities are also investigating loot boxes in general: https://www.nu.nl/games/5009924/nederlandse-kansspelautoriteit-onderzoekt-lootboxen-in-games.html
We also don't have any laws allowing online gambling here. If the authorities find loot boxes to be online gambling the publishers have simply broken Dutch law. They might have to pull the games (or the microtransactions themselves) from the various online stores permanently if that's the case.

Or they simply give the middle finger and stop supporting their game and shut down the servers for the country. Which is not a problem at all, with VPN, I currently play a bunch of games via VPN because they are not supported in my country.

VPN isn't exactly a thing on consoles. I'm Dutch, if publishers would shut down their servers here because of this I and all other Dutch players would be fucked.



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Birimbau on 16 November 2017
Ka-pi96 said:
Birimbau said:

Brazil, there are some MMOs I like but they are IP blocked in my country, so I simply use VPN to overcome this and play with no problems.

huh, didn't realise anybody did IP blocking except for the Chinese government to censor stuff they don't like. Must be pretty annoying actually to find you literally can't play a game just because of the country you live in.

It is not about censorship, but the service itself is not meant to work in my country, like as I said, Lineage 2 classic EU, which is Europe only, I simply use my VPN, pay via paypal and play.



Birimbau on 16 November 2017

The outcome of ruling agains it may result very well in the suspension of the services of several online games in the region. It is just a matter of whether a company is earning or losing money to mantain their servers. In this case, VPN will always be your friend as it is mine.

Last edited by Birimbau - on 16 November 2017

fory77 on 16 November 2017

What's the problem with this?



Nem on 16 November 2017

Good! Time to reel in these greedy heartless bastards.



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Birimbau on 16 November 2017
poklane said:
Birimbau said:

Or they simply give the middle finger and stop supporting their game and shut down the servers for the country. Which is not a problem at all, with VPN, I currently play a bunch of games via VPN because they are not supported in my country.

VPN isn't exactly a thing on consoles. I'm Dutch, if publishers would shut down their servers here because of this I and all other Dutch players would be fucked.

Well, I don't play online on consoles. I basically only have a PS4 for the 1st party single player games. All my online gaming history have been on PC since the early 2000s, and VPN is essential if your region gets cockblocked or the servers get shut down. (Lineage 1 was another game I liked but their servers were shut down in america due to low popularity, and I have played it via VPN for quite some time).



Nem on 16 November 2017
Birimbau said:
Ka-pi96 said:

You live in China? :O

Oh and if they were to do that I'd expect their paying customers who can no longer play the game would give the finger right back to them in the form of a lawsuit.

Brazil, there are some MMOs I like but they are IP blocked in my country (Like Lineage 2 Classic Eu which only works in Europe), so I simply use VPN to overcome this and play with no problems.

Don't be ridiculous. The whole EU will be subject to the ruling. They would have to give up the whole market. It would be insane to do so.

Don't mean to diss, but Brazil is an insignificant market. It has the potencial to be huge, but we know it's not there for obvious reasons. It's not the same.



WolfpackN64 on 16 November 2017

Time to smash these stupid practices with the banhammer of justice!



Birimbau on 16 November 2017
Nem said:
Birimbau said:

Brazil, there are some MMOs I like but they are IP blocked in my country (Like Lineage 2 Classic Eu which only works in Europe), so I simply use VPN to overcome this and play with no problems.

Don't be ridiculous. The whole EU will be subject to the ruling. They would have to give up the whole market. It would be insane to do so.

Don't mean to diss, but Brazil is an insignificant market. It has the potencial to be huge, but we know it's not there for obvious reasons. It's not the same.

If an online gaming company is losing money in a regon, it simply will axe it and shut down the servers for this region. 



Nem on 16 November 2017
Birimbau said:
Nem said:

Don't be ridiculous. The whole EU will be subject to the ruling. They would have to give up the whole market. It would be insane to do so.

Don't mean to diss, but Brazil is an insignificant market. It has the potencial to be huge, but we know it's not there for obvious reasons. It's not the same.

If an online gaming company is losing money in a regon, it simply will axe it and shut down the servers for this region. 

If they think they will make more money milking the american's, and assuming the american's don't turn around aswell. Still, it's giving up your second biggest market and millions on sales. I doubt that ends up as being worth it.

 

Their hands are tied here. If the EU commision gives the ruling we all expect, publishers are gonna have to pay the piper. They will have no choice. Will either face gambling taxation and regulation or will change their game design. Both of wich are good resolutions for consumers.

Last edited by Nem - on 16 November 2017