Microtransactions continue to be notoriously unpopular and yet, they also make a ton of money. Many have likened the risks involved with microtransactions to those experienced in gambling, and the European Parliament has finally decided to take definitive action against loot boxes.
We may all bemoan microtransactions but you only need to look at Diablo Immortal to see why they continue to appear in games. Diablo Immortal raked in $24 million in its first two weeks of release alone. Fortnite and Epic Games actually landed themselves in hot water recently after they were found guilty of tricking players into making unintentional purchases.
The European Parliament has now decided that it’s time to protect consumers, particularly young gamers, from commodities like loot boxes. As reported by GamesIndustry.Biz, the European Parliament has voted to adopt a report calling for the European Commission to address several issues in the gaming industry including “a call for harmonised rules across the European Union's single market when providing clear information about games content,” in addition to mechanisms that help parents monitor how much time and money their children are spending on games.
Members voted to further analyse the impact of loot boxes on both consumers and the industry, particularly focusing on in-game prompts relating to loot boxes. The European Parliament will investigate whether gold-farming can be linked to financial crimes and human rights abuse. Developers were told to “avoid designing games that feed addition,” while concerns surrounding data protection and gender workforce imbalance were also raised.
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Two industry bodies, the Interactive Software Federation of Europe and the European Game Developers Federation, told GamesIndustry.Biz they were “concerned by calls for stricter regulation of all in-game purchases,” particularly because this could affect funding for smaller studios. Actions to be taken by the European Parliament will likely come to light in the coming months.
Topics: World News