gamblebox
EA insists it’s focused on ‘engagement,’ not monetizing FIFA players into gambleboxes
Yesterday, Canadian outlet CBC published a massive Electronic Arts document leaked by a supposed "gaming insider" that seemingly confirms what you already thought about...
New UK research finds opening lootboxes is ‘structurally and psychologically akin’ to gambling
The mountain of research-based evidence against lootboxes has had another leaflet added to the pile. A recent report from researchers at the universities of...
Niantic begins testing transparent Pokemon Go egg odds
Regular players of Pokemon Go know all about eggs; they're kind of a crap shoot in terms of what could possibly hatch and the...
MMO Business Roundup: Stadia’s and Bethsoft’s class-actions, Epic’s lockbox settlement, and CDPR’s DMCA takedowns
Welcome back to another roundup of MMO and MMO-adjacent industry news - in this case, all happy fun lawsuits.
Stadia: Consumers are waging a new...
UK study says over 1 in 10 young gamers go into debt due to lootbox spending habits
The pushback against lockboxes in gaming in the UK continues in spite of the matter not exactly making non-stop headlines. A new study from...
The Daily Grind: Does gacha have a place in MMO business models?
Just so, so many of my friends are playing Genshin Impact these days -- and not just playing, but gushing over the fun, the...
EA’s advertisement of FIFA lockboxes in a children’s toy catalogue draws mounting criticism
It would appear that Electronic Arts didn't learn from the last time it pulled this kind of nonsense, but apparently there was still fuel...
New UK parliament report recommends regulation of lockboxes as gambling
Remember last month when UK lawmakers started making fresh noise about classifying lockboxes/lootboxes as gambling to protect children following multiple reports and surveys on...
APB Reloaded is changing gun rentals, getting rid of lootboxes, and hosting an open beta of its new engine
The lootbox is soon to be officially dead in APB Reloaded. According to a recent dev blog, Joker Mystery Boxes are being removed and...
Class action lawsuit alleges Apple promotes gambling via lootboxes through its storefront
Legal moves are being made against the practice of lootbox monetization against one of the largest targets possible. A class action complaint filed with...
The Daily Grind: Does ESRB’s and PEGI’s new lockbox label go far enough?
Last week, ESRB in the US and PEGI in the EU announced they would both be amending their video game rating systems to use...
ESRB starts putting warnings about lockboxes on its game ratings
You have to imagine that a lot of video game marketers have developed facial twitches today upon the news that they will no longer...
Player who claims a mobile RPG’s gacha mechanics were falsely advertised loses court case
Fair game monetization and gamer spending are topics that are on the minds of many right now, and one of the more slippery monetization...
Lootbox regulation recommended by Australian parliamentary committee
While words and recommendations can certainly be considered equal to vapor, the fact that Australia's parliament appears poised to make moves against lockbox monetization...
Lawful Neutral: Examining the infamous MMO lockbox, 2020 edition
I have a soft spot for paranormal horror. I love movies about demons, ghosts, hauntings, possessions. There's one particular movie from the early aughts...
UK’s children’s commissioner calls for tighter legislation on lootboxes
A report from UK children's commissioner Anne Longfield is calling for stricter laws on lootboxes and to amend current gambling laws to include lootboxes,...
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare eschews lockbox monetization for a battle pass
Arguably one of the bigger online multiplayer shooters coming down the pike is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, just by mere dint of its...
Predictably, the ESA rebuffs UK call to ban lockboxes, citing nebulous transparent lockbox plan
Yesterday, we covered the UK government’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee panel report on addictive technologies: Readers will recall that the lengthy...
Gaming psychologist Jamie Madigan explains what ‘surprise mechanics’ actually are
We're all familiar with the "surprise mechanics" incident, the absurdist argument in defense of lootboxes from EA's VP of legal and government affairs Kerry...
Leaderboard: Does the ESA’s new transparent lockbox policy go far enough?
Last week, just as the FTC's video games monetization abuse investigation got underway, the ESA announced that many of the major and minor games...
