The problem might be getting the licence, I really don't know what that involves and maybe Anet will decide it's not worth it. (Unlike in the USA and some other countries 18 rated games are widely available, it's pretty much unheard of for a retailer to refuse to stock them.)

So the end result might just be that games like GW2 go from a 12+ rating to an 18+, which would reduce the pool of potential new players but otherwise wouldn't make any difference. You have to be over 18 and I think the companies running it have to have a licence. I definitely wouldn't want to get my hopes up that we're going to see the end of black lion chests and all similar RNG boxes in games.įor a start gambling isn't illegal in Europe, even online gambling for real money, it's just restricted. The problems for publishers are innumerable if this keeps going and it might be best for them to volunteer for a solution before regulation really squeezes them.I think it's too early to say what the effect might be. The speed in which this happened is surprising, but momentum has been building for some time. It remains to be seen how the industry will react to this. Redefining the games as gambling throughout all of Europe could, in theory, cost publishers millions of euros in fines, cause the games to be pulled from normal retail shelves, and generally strain their ability to sell in the region. 'Mixing gambling and gaming, especially at a young age, is dangerous for the mental health of the child.'īelgium has said they wish to take this to Europe as a whole, which could be a big problem for game publishers who have been making lootboxes and microtransactions a core part of games. 'The mixing of money and addiction is gambling,' Belgium's gaming commission stated.īelgium's Minister of Justice Koen Geens also took part in the announcement. The Google translation isn't perfect, but the spirit comes through. VTM News, the source for the original story, reported the news today.

This week, the commission has declared that, within the borders of Belgium, lootboxes count as games of chance, and they hope to have them declared as such throughout Europe. Last week, the country of Belgium used their gaming commission to l ook into whether games like Overwatch and Star Wars: Battlefront II should be classified as gambling.

Belgium says loot boxes are gambling