The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) stated that Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are currently creating policies which require the disclosure of loot box odds for their consoles.
A statement from the ESA reads,
“The major console makers – Sony Interactive Entertainment, operator of the PlayStation platform, Microsoft, operator of Xbox and Windows, and Nintendo, operator of the Nintendo Switch gaming platform – are committing to new platform policies that will require paid loot boxes in games developed for their platforms to disclose information on the relative rarity or probability of obtaining randomized virtual items. These required disclosures will also apply to game updates, if the update adds new loot box features. The precise timing of this disclosure requirement is still being worked out, but the console makers are targeting 2020 for the implementation of the policy.”
The detrimental effects loot boxes have on players have increasingly become more of an issue and discussion topic around the industry. In fact, Belgium and the Netherlands last year both stated that they consider loot boxes to be gambling, and are thus illegal.
This prompted the removal of loot boxes from games like FIFA, CS: GO, and more.
You can read the full statement from the ESA here.
Thanks GamesIndustry.biz.
