There is a bit of controversy surrounding the concept of loot boxes in video games. Loot boxes have been around for a while now, although in more recent times debate has arisen about the feature in which some wonder if it could potentially constitute as gambling. In Germany it seems that they do consider it as gambling and could be making moves to ban it.
In a report from Welt, a study by the University of Hamburg has found that there is an increasing amount of gambling-like elements in video games and as a result, the German Youth Protection Commission is now considering a ban on loot boxes. This is because if it does contain gambling elements, it could be seen as promoting gambling to children and adolescents, which is a violation of laws that prohibits such tactics.
No decision has been made yet, but the Youth Protection Commission is expected to render its decision in March, which means we should find out in about a month’s time. However we expect that even if they do decide to ban it, they will probably face a bit of resistance from developers and publishers who might launch appeals to try and reverse the ban.
Like we said, loot boxes is a hot topic at the moment where there are some governments who want it banned, while other governments disagree that it is a form of gambling.
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