Belgium Declares Loot Boxes are Illegal, Too

And the loot box news keeps on coming. In the same month that the Netherlands decides that certain types of loot boxes are gambling, Belgium comes out with their own verdict on the subject: and not only do they agree with the Netherlands, they take it one step forward.

We learn this thanks to a statement put out by minister of justice Koen Greens, which was then reported by Eurogamer, regarding the end of the loot box investigation and the decision of the court. The statement claims that FIFA 18, Counter-Strike, Global Offensive, and Overwatch (surprisingly) are all breaking the gambling laws in Belgium, and that the companies that are selling them are now subject to punishment by Belgium law: ranging from fines up to 880,000 euros to a prison sentence. Which… would be the first time someone’s ever gone to jail for making a triple-A video game, from what I could tell.

The criteria for determining the illegality of loot boxes were pretty simple: was there a game element involved? Could a bet lead to a profit or a loss? Was it based on chance or skill? The court decided that the above three games fell into those criteria, but in the ultimate ironic twist, Star Wars Battlefront 2 was left off the chopping block, because during the investigation, all the loot box stuff was disabled.

So what does that actually mean? EA is the only company to comment so far, and I think you can guess what they had to say:

“We strongly believe that our games are developed and implemented ethically and lawfully around the world, and take these responsibilities very seriously. We care deeply that our players are having a fun and fair experience in all of our games, and take great care to ensure each game is marketed responsibly, including in compliance with regional ratings standards. We would welcome the dialogue with Minister Geens on these topics, as we do not agree that our games can be considered as any form of gambling.”

As for everyone else? It would probably be easier to fight this decision in court than to comply with it, which I kind of hope they do. These court cases will set a bad precedent, and if unchallenged, we could see a lot more regulation of our game in-future. And nobody wants that.

But we’ll just have to see, won’t we? It’s out of our hands.