Google Play is now requiring mobile games with loot boxes display the probability of getting items

May 30, 2019 12:30 PM

Many can agree that loot boxes are a problem to varying degrees in gaming today, but does knowing the odds of getting something you want lessen the sting or perhaps give you pause in buying up multiples? We’re about to find out in the Android mobile gaming space as Google Play has drawn a pretty clear delineation about mobile games making their loot boxes “transparent,” letting you see the chances of getting the kind of items you want before you even crack into it.

The verbiage outlined by the Google Play store is cut and dried:

“Apps offering mechanisms to receive randomized virtual items from a purchase (i.e. ‘loot boxes’) must clearly disclose the odds of receiving those items in advance of purchase.”

A number of mobile games have already begun making their loot boxes transparent ahead of this policy adjustment, such as Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and Godzilla Defense Force. Games on other platforms like PUBG have also offered a look beneath the loot box lid, so these adjustments aren’t generally new. This would mark the first time, however, that Google Play has outright demanded the feature be included, so now we’re all going to understand just how garbage the odds of getting those rares really are.

For further reading on the tire fire that is gaming lootboxes, specifically transparent lockboxes, check the links below.