lootbox
Canadian court rules lockboxes aren’t illegal gambling, ‘deceptive acts’ suit continues
Back in October 2020, we reported on a class action lawsuit filed in Canada against EA that covered over 70 different titles that used...
Austrian court finds FIFA lockboxes violate the country’s gambling laws, orders Sony to issue refunds
The question of whether the lockboxes in the recent run of FIFA soccer titles constitute gambling has been one that many nations around the...
EU Parliament adopts resolution to regulate games industry harms from lockboxes to manipulative design
Call them lockboxes, lootboxes, gambleboxes, or gachapon: The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution "ensuring a safe online environment for online...
Germany’s games ratings board creates new labels with warnings about lootboxes, MTX, and online chat
The physical and digital packaging of video games in Germany is going to have a lot more granular detail thanks to updates being applied...
Australian lawmaker proposes bill that would classify games with lockboxes for adults only
There is at least one lawmaker in Australia who feels very strongly about the matter of gaming lockboxes, apparently. Andrew Wilkie, an independent member...
Singapore creates a government body to regulate lootboxes, citing a blurred line between gambling and gaming
The government of Singapore is becoming another country that's less friendly to the monetization practice of lootboxes thanks to the formation of a new...
UK government will ‘consider legislation’ unless game companies add parental controls to lootboxes
The UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has seen enough evidence related to the harm that lootboxes have on children and...
US advocacy groups call upon Federal Trade Commission to investigate EA over FIFA lockboxes
Hot on the heels of Norway's call for lootbox oversight, a non-profit org in the US is now trying to drum up support for...
18 European countries back a Norwegian government body’s assertion that lootboxes are ‘manipulative’
Clearly, pushback against the lootbox monetization model is not going away, a fact that is once more being brought to light thanks to a...
Belgium and Netherlands reject Diablo Immortal over lockbox gambling concerns
This week's "global launch" of Diablo Immortal already wasn't going to be that global considering that several southeast Asia countries will have to wait...
Neverwinter makes lockboxes ‘transparent’ starting with June’s Dragon Cult box
By this point, players of what are now Gearbox's MMOs are well aware that they're loaded with lockboxes, a state implemented by Perfect World...
Dutch court says EA lockboxes didn’t violate region’s gambling law, reels back €10M fine from 2019
It's been some time since the furor over lockboxes and international gambling laws came to light, so let's review: Gambling authorities from the Netherlands...
Congress asks publishers to self-regulate lootboxes via a UK regulation that has nothing to do with lootboxes
There are some Democrats in the US Congress that are hoping to do something about lootboxes in the country. That's good. They even went...
Australian MP plans to introduce a bill banning lockbox sales to minors
You may remember back last year that there was some noise made in Australia about banning the sale of video game lootboxes to people...
EA is testing transparent lockboxes in a FIFA game
Remember two years ago when the ESA announced an optional new policy for the US games industry that would theoretically encourage games companies to...
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...
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...
Judge enforces a Dutch government order for EA to remove FIFA lockboxes or face over $11M in fines
This has been a long and drawn-out battle, so let us review: Back in 2017 when the outrage against lockboxes was at its highest...
Canadian class action lawsuit argues EA’s lootboxes constitute illegal gambling
Ah, it's a good thing for the companies relying on lockboxes that people have completely forgotten about those this year, isn't it? Turns out...