The war against loot boxes will come to the Australian parliament: they want to limit them to games for +18 years
A deputy will propose this law to prevent minors from buying loot boxes.
The war against loot boxes continues to rage throughout the world. More and more countries are advocating regulating, or even prohibiting, these elements described as “gambling” by many, which are an integral part of the monetization of some games. In fact, the Government of Spain has already made clear its intentions to regulate loot boxes in our country , while in the Netherlands they have even condemned EA Sports for FIFA envelopes . Now, the one that wants to add to the restrictions is Australia .
As reported by the Daily Telegraph, shared by Kotaku Australia, MP Andrew Wilkie is proposing a new law in the Australian parliament to ban the sale of loot boxes to minors: if a game has loot boxes in Australia, it will be only for those over the age of 18 years . This is based on the fact that loot boxes are viewed by many as a real money gamble, an activity that is limited to those of legal age in Australia and numerous other countries.
Children paying real money for a random event is a gambleAndrew Wilkie, Australian MPWilkie alleges that loot box games encourage gambling among children , a fact that has already been proven by some recent studies. “It is not clear if that is what the video game companies want, but it is clear that this is the effect that they have, ” he says. “Allowing very young children to pay real money for a random event that may or may not reward them, that fits any definition of what a gamble is .” Its new law does not only want to limit its use to games for +18 years.
It also seeks to introduce new specific notices when buying these games, as is already the case with the European PEGI system , and the North American ESRB. Wilkie will take his proposal to the lower house of the Australian parliament in mid-August , and we will monitor its evolution due to the possibility of similar restrictions emerging in other territories. On the fight against loot boxes, and after years of criticism around its Ultimate Team mode, FIFA 21 has begun to show the contents of the packs before buying them, to reduce that component of “bet” with real money.
