A new report on GIbiz suggests that most gamers are pretty darn clueless about lootboxes, which probably won’t surprise anyone reading here. Researchers for the publication surveyed gamers in Western Europe and found that barely more than a quarter of gamers even know what they are. More than half (we assume) of those who seem to have no opinion on whether lootboxes are a plus for the gaming experience (a quarter think they suck). But the reaction differs depending on the way the question is phrased.
“We also asked gamers if they thought loot boxes made them think more positively about game companies, 54% had no opinion, 10% agreed with the statement, whereas 37% disagreed. In fact 20% ‘strongly disagreed’ that loot boxes made them feel positively about the companies that used them, which suggests that loot boxes create some negative feeling among some consumers.”
That said, almost half of those familiar with lockboxes suggested that lootboxes make them less likely to buy games with them, so there’s that.
In other lockbox news, Valve has re-enabled CSGO 2 and Dota 2 trading for Dutch and Belgian players who’d been blocked from the system earlier this summer following the Dutch Gaming Authority’s threat to prosecute companies like Valve for vending and trading lockboxes it considered in clear violation of Dutch law. Valve turned off all trading for Dutch players initially, but now it’s managed to simply make it impossible for Dutch players to open the boxes, so at least they can continue trading other items.
