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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Loot boxes to be investigated by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission)

KManX89 on 30 November 2018

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-11-28-loot-boxes-to-be-investigated-by-us-federal-trade-commission

It's been just over a year since the furore over Star Wars Battlefront 2's loot boxes began, and in that time, gambling regulators have started paying more attention to the controversial microtransactions. The latest government to get involved is a big'un, as the United States Federal Trade Commission has indicated it will investigate loot boxes and how they impact children. Oh - and the Australian Senate has something to say on the topic too.

EA, Activi$ion, Take Two, Ubisoft, etc. are on suicide watch.

Something NEEDS to be done about this. It IS gambling no matter what kind of BS puritanical spin greedy game publishers and the ESA/ESRB (whom they back) want to throw at us. 



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S.Peelman on 30 November 2018

Yep following in Belgium’s footsteps.



DroidKnight on 30 November 2018

This is good. But be ready for the end of 59.99 dollar games.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

Dulfite on 30 November 2018

If these were to be ruled illegal someday on a grand scale, I wonder what gaming companies will have to do/change to make up for all that lost revenue?



KManX89 on 30 November 2018
DroidKnight said:
This is good. But be ready for the end of 59.99 dollar games.

If you seriously think companies like EA, Activi$ion, Take Two, Ubisoft, etc. would stop selling DLC, MTXs, season passes, etc. if they raised game prices, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell to you.

Hell, lots of games already come with SEs and they still try to milk you for more. 



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Wyrdness on 30 November 2018

Remember when Belgium moved to tackle loot boxes and the were a few people here saying it's not going to matter because the publishers will still have loot boxes else where? Now here we are with not only this but also in Australia the Government has been recommended to look into loot boxes and in the UK a report has suggested a correlation to loot boxes and the rise of child gambling with a government recommendation for regulation of them.



DroidKnight on 30 November 2018
KManX89 said:
DroidKnight said:
This is good. But be ready for the end of 59.99 dollar games.

If you seriously think companies like EA, Activi$ion, Take Two, Ubisoft, etc. would stop selling DLC, MTXs, season passes, etc. if they raised game prices, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell to you.

Hell, lots of games already come with SEs and they still try to milk you for more. 

I'm saying the bare bones price will be higher.  I never mentioned DLC, or season passes.  The cost of DLC and season passes are also going to go up.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

DroidKnight on 30 November 2018
RolStoppable said:
DroidKnight said:
This is good. But be ready for the end of 59.99 dollar games.

Aren't things already moving into that direction anyway? AAA third party games seem to commonly have at least three editions at launch now, so it should only be a matter of time until the edition in the middle becomes standard, the low one becomes barebones and the high one obviously remains premium as it has always been perceived.

Yep.  But I still expect bare-bones to go up in price, or become more bare-boned.



...to avoid getting banned for inactivity, I may have to resort to comments that are of a lower overall quality and or beneath my moral standards.

CuCabeludo on 30 November 2018

They could just sell the cosmetics individually but at a higer price, so instead of bying dozens of lootboxes for a skin, you could just buy the skin directly at a higher cost.



CuCabeludo on 30 November 2018
shikamaru317 said:
CuCabeludo said:
They could just sell the cosmetics individually but at a higer price, so instead of bying dozens of lootboxes for a skin, you could just buy the skin directly at a higher cost.

That is what I expect to happen if lootboxes are made illegal. DICE already did this when they removed the lootboxes from Star Wars Batttlefront 2 after the backlash, they started selling individual skins at prices ranging from $5 each to a whopping $20 a piece for Legendary skins, with voice lines and victory poses costing 50 cents each. Thankfully you can also buy them with in-game credits because $20 for a single skin is pretty steep, though still alot less steep than buying 20 lootboxes in the hopes of getting the skins you want and possibly still not getting it if you're unlucky. 

It is indeed a much better deal, at least you have 100% guarantee of getting the skin you want.