Belgium says loot boxes are gambling, wants them banned in Europe

[RJ_Sizzle]

GribbleGrunger said:

SecondWar said:

Because it's passable when the initial game is free - people get that the developer has to get their money from somewhere. But most people take issue when its tacked onto full-priced console games, as its a sneaky way to boost margins.

Naa, you're thinking about your own motives for disliking it. I'm talking about their motives for disliking it because they apply to phone games too:

 "The mixing of money and addiction is gambling," the Gaming Commission declared. Belgium's Minister of Justice Koen Geens also weighed in, saying, "Mixing gambling and gaming, especially at a young age, is dangerous for the mental health of the child." 

And there have been numerous stories over the years of children costing parents hundreds of dollars/pounds because of mobile game transactions. So why now? 

Because console gamers seem to have been making bigger noise about this. Mobile is more casual so it tends to fly under their nose, or gets shrugged off. Now? It's too many major players getting their hands caught in the cookie jar. Microsoft, Warner Bros, Take Two, EA... it can't be ignored anymore.