The UK, on the other hand, is having more trouble deciding what to do about loot boxes and other similar practices. According to the BBC, the Gambling Commission has warned that it cannot currently oversee loot boxes because there is no official way to monetize their contents. In order to fall under gambling legislation in the UK, a prize must have a determined monetary value or be money itself. This makes loot boxes rather difficult to define and regulate under current UK law. The prime example was player packs in the EA Sports FC games, but this also applies to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Overwatch, and plenty of other games with some sort of paid chance-based mechanic used to acquire unknown rewards.
However, while loot box contents may have no official value, there have been (and still are) plenty of third-party websites that enable players to literally gamble the content they acquire from loot boxes in virtual casino games, offering them the chance to generate real money. This is called "skin betting," and is prohibited by most game publishers in their terms of service. Yet it continues to be a problem, and the Gambling Commission has said that it isn't enough for publishers to simply say that they "don't want this happening."
All of this points to the inherent conflict between publisher culture surrounding loot boxes and consumers. Major game publishers like EA - who are most likely to implement loot boxes into their games - have refused to view them as a problem, instead trying to label them as "surprise mechanics." With loot box spending estimated to hit $50 billion by 2022. the practice doesn't seem to be changing. Since the industry won't do anything about the issue, governments have increasingly stepped in to address loot boxes and their effects, which may be the consumer's only hope for better business at this point.
Recent actions by video game publisher EA have brought to light just how scary it is that many of the industry's top companies have such a lax view of video game monetization, which has become a predatory practice that attacks consumers with addictive tendencies. We're not just in a position to actively interrogate this practice, but as consumers, we can also outright put a stop to it by refusing to engage with it, and it's becoming an increasingly urgent decision that needs to be made - will video game fans continue to support companies that clearly care very little about their well-being?
Perhaps that assertion seems a little over-the-top, but it will only seem that way to people who haven't closely followed the industry's trends over the last few years. We all know the negative impacts of loot boxes, and that knowledge has spread well beyond just video game enthusiasts, as several politicians are looking to get loot boxes banned after studies began suggesting that they were forming gambling habits in children. It's the extent to which these problems have become so ingrained in video games that is a point of issue now - it's hard to imagine a world in which AAA games don't include some sort of microtransaction.
EA has recently returned to the limelight thanks to a new controversy regarding the company's policy on loot boxes and microtransactions. During a public hearing, an EA representative referred to microtransactions as "surprise mechanics," attempting to distance the company away from a turn of phrase that is increasingly becoming a negative. Furthermore, EA apparently believes that its approach to these practices are "ethical" and "fun."
Obviously, that's a problem when the concept has become inextricably tied to the idea that we are teaching our children to become gambling addicts. Nowhere is it more obvious than in EA Sports FC, where players are routinely encouraged to spend obscene amounts of cheap EAFC 24 Coins money on card packs to help build their Ultimate Team and recruit their favorite players. It's deliberately exploitative, preying on the fact that fans interested in the game are likely involved because they have a player they idolize - one that would inevitably be an expensive and rare option in Ultimate Team.
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