German government considers banning Loot Box

Over the past few months, there has been a lot of debate about whether loot boxes in the game are gambling. While gaming bodies such as the ESA do not consider them to be gambling, regulators in many countries such as Belgium and the United States have already begun to put this business model into law.

Another country is considering the problem of lootbox gambling, according to a report from Germany’s Welt Am Sonntag. The publisher says the German Media Agency’s Youth Communications Protection Committee is discussing the best solution to the Loot Box issue. Wolfgang Kreißig, chairman of the Committee to Protect Youth, said: “I think loot boxes violate the ban on gambling for children and adolescents.”

The German government is expected to make a decision on the matter in March, when it will decide whether to impose penalties on developers and publishers of games that use the loot box system in their games. . The government can also ban game makers from adding loot boxes to their games when deciding to ban loot boxes. With comments from Kreißig, any ban will affect the amount of games that are sold to minors, rather than those rated for adults.

The report from Welt Am Sonntag points to research from the University of Hamburg: they know that loot box revenue comes mainly from underage players and that this is “a form of gambling that is on the market.” It remains unclear whether members of the Youth Protection Committee will consider the research from the University of Hamburg when making their decision.

Germany isn’t the only country considering banning lootboxes or penalizing companies that adopt this business model into games. For example, a ban on loot boxes is being considered in the Netherlands.

However, Germany has a large economy and not only has a GDP higher than any other European country, it also has a $4 billion a year gaming industry. This is also the venue for major gaming events like Gamescom. Any ban in Germany will certainly have a huge impact on the revenue of released games.

In addition, at least one gaming industry body is looking for ways to self-regulate to find ways to fix the loot box problem without government intervention, such as banning loot boxes. But it remains unclear how far progress has been made on this and whether organizations such as the German Youth Protection Committee see this as a solution.

Source: Welt Am Sonntag