Do you think this is the government just randomly taking notice of lootboxes now by coincedence?

No, this is gamers calling on legislation as an instrument to defend against predatory business practices. It's part of the backlash and it's probably the only thing that is actually going to have a lasting effect.

Yes, EA removed the lootbox system from battlefront II FOR NOW. They've already said that it is temporary. And they didn't give a shit about gamer backlash until it reached Disney. If you don't think they have every intention to put the lootboxes back in just as predatory a fashion and as p2w as it already was, then you're naive. Between this and Activisions patent to encurage spending by breaking matchmaking and them putting the lootunboxing circle jerk into COD, these predatory tactics are spiraling out of control quickly.

Man, I hope this causes EA to lose their Star Wars license. The talentless bastards at Dice never should have had their hands on the IP to begin with

there is no way in hell they are keeping the SW license until 2023 with this tornado of a shitstorm all around EA an the SW brand.

As long as this backlash doesn't start affecting games with lootboxes that don't suck. Overwatch for example.

Well people are idiots if they want government to step in. Government has a tendency to make things worse with over regulation.

Gamers should be critical of when these practices are abusive and simply not buy in. I know that's a crazy concept unless you have no faith in the average gamer.

Gamers shouldn't get the government involved in this. They should just ignore buying or supporting lootboxes and let publishers know they don't want lootboxes. The thing is that the vocal minority are the ones opposed to loot boxes. Even if they get banned publishers will find other ways to monetize their games, VIP passes, more paid dlc etc.

The solution for publishers is simple, instead of buying lootboxes you'll earn points ingame to spend on lootboxes. Then they'll sell boosters so you gain points faster. The objection the governments have is paying for something, and not knowing what you get, this changes it so you're indirectly paying for lootboxes.

How are publishers going to make money from lootboxes that way?

By people buying boosters so they can actually "earn" lootboxes in a reasonable amount of time.

"These kinds of lootboxes and microtransactions are explicitly designed to prey upon and exploit human psychology in the same way casino games are so designed. This is especially true for young adults who child psychologists and other experts explain are particularly vulnerable. These exploitive mechanisms and the deceptive marketing promoting them have no place in games being marketed to minors, and perhaps no place in games at all."

This is the reasoning I want to see about loot boxes. This is absolutely what they're about, and this is exactly why they shouldn't be available to minors.