Loot Box State of Play 2024: Another trip around the world of regulation

gamesindustry.biz:

We are back for another look at how different countries are regulating loot boxes. There is certainly less preoccupation with the legal question of whether loot boxes are banned as a form of gambling. Unless your paid loot boxes offer random rewards that can subsequently be transferred between players, I generally wouldn't worry (except in Belgium where all paid loot boxes are banned).

However, several countries have imposed various requirements that must be separately complied with, mostly focused on:

These rules stem from either consumer protection law or newly created dedicated regulations.

You can catch up with previously imposed rules by reading the 2022 and 2023 editions of this series. Unless mentioned again, the rules remain as they were.

Unless your paid loot boxes offer random rewards that can be transferred between players, I generally wouldn't worry

For those more legally and technically minded, further details are available in Section 2.2 of my PhD thesis on loot box regulation. Source materials in their original language (which is what should ultimately be relied upon) have been compiled in a repository for review.

As before, when I speak of ‘loot boxes,' I very broadly mean any in-game purchases with randomised elements that are bought with real-world money, or with premium in-game currency that is bought with real-world money (so-called ‘paid loot boxes'). Basically, the player does not know exactly what they will randomly get as part of a purchase involving real-world money. This includes gacha mechanics and social casino games, for example.

Some companies remain non-compliant with the Belgian gambling law requirement that loot boxes are prohibited. Very recently, Pokémon Unite decided to comply by disallowing in-game purchases by Belgian players and will eventually entirely withdraw services from the country.

We know the Belgian gambling regulator is struggling to actively enforce the ban and even recently admitted that a ban is disproportionate, but it