A: Badly enough that the Netherlands is not only banning loot boxes, but urging other EU nations to do the same... after EA decoupled SW:BF2's progression system from its monetization system.
From GamesIndustry.biz:
The Netherlands Gaming Authority (NGA) says it wants to "work together and act together" with other European nations to tackle the issue of loot boxes.
Following on from yesterday's ruling that certain iterations of the mechanic contravene national gambling legislation, the government body has begun trying to work with other EU member states on the matter.
"There is no question of harmonisation of regulations," the NGA told GamesIndustry.biz. "Every European regulator has its own laws and regulations. We now want to work together and act together."Yes, "gacha" mechanic regulations aren't just coming, they're here, and they're spreading. And while EA isn't the only "loot box" offender, their pairing of gacha mechanics with the Star Wars license, just weeks before The Last Jedi hit theatres, managed to garner a degree and intensity of negative PR that practically begged to be restricted. Good job, EA. GG.
Oh, and that ruling that's referred to? Not only did it find four games as being "in direct contravention of the Betting and Gaming Act" (FIFA 18, Dota 2, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and Rocket League are supposedly the games in question), it also defined what sort of loot box mechanics violate the law:
The violation is defined by loot box mechanics that require no skill element whatsoever, and contain exchangeable items that hold market value outside the game.
If the developers don't take action to change these mechanics by June 20, they could be fined or even face the prohibition of their game within the region.I hated to see loot boxes proliferating in AAA videogames, mainly because (as you know) I hate to see bad corporate behaviour rewarded with boatloads of cash... and "gacha" games do rake in metric tonnes of the stuff. So it's good to see bad loot box behaviour finally being penalized, instead. It remains to be seen if the AAA video game industry will actually learn a fucking lesson from all this, of course, but one can always hope.