Loot boxes in FIFA 18, Overwatch, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are now illegal in Belgium, with the country’s legislators declaring today that if the games’ publishers don’t remove the offending microtransactions, people behind the games could face fines and even time behind bars.
As reported by Eurogamer, Belgium minister of justice Koen Greens said in a statement that the loot boxes in these games were in violation of the country’s gaming legislation and thus the companies selling them are subject to criminal punishment, including fines of up to 800,000 euros ($974,605) and prison sentences. This determination was made after Belgium’s Gaming Commission spent several months reviewing how loot boxes operated in these games and others following the controversy surrounding Star Wars: Battlefront 2’s microtransactions.
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Neither Overwatch publisher Blizzard nor CS:GO publisher Valve immediately responded to requests for comment.Ironically, EA and SW:BF2 will avoid Belgian censure, "since at the time of the survey, EA had temporarily removed microtransactions from the game." MTs have since been added back into SW:BF2, but they're not tied to gambling mechanics anymore, and therefore don't break Belgian law. Which means that EA, having thoroughly shit the loot box bed, have completely ruined the fun for everybody else while dodging the fines and other penalties. Huzzah!
Still, if you were wondering if the loot box furor had died down... it hasn't. At all. And I have a feeling that it will be a long, long time before AAA videogame publishers attempt this particular trick again.