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Tag: Belgium
[NM] EA Fought the Law and the Law Won, Removing Loot Boxes
EA fought the law and the law won, at least that’s the lesson the company learned this week after going head to head with Belgian authorities regarding loot box sales for FIFA games.
Those of you keeping score will recall that last April, the Belgian government criminalized certain loot box systems in video games, and sent notices to Valve, Activision Blizzard, and Electronic Arts warning that several of their titles were found to be in violation of the law. The Gaming Commission warned that the loot boxes would need to be removed, otherwise the companies could face fines and even jail sentences.
Valve and Activision Blizzard took near-immediate steps to disable loot box accessibility to Belgian players, while a number of other developers have opted to either alter their titles or outright shut them down within the country. EA meanwhile decided to take a gamble of its own and face a criminal investigation in order to keep selling those sweet ultimate team bucks. Unfortunately for EA, this gamble didn’t pay off, and the developer has posted a warning that FIFA Points will no longer be for sale in Belgium by the end of the month.
In case you were worried, EA notes that this change will have no material impact to their quarterly revenues.
After further discussions with the Belgian authorities, we have decided to stop offering FIFA Points for sale in Belgium. We’re working to make these changes effective in our FIFA console and PC games by January 31, 2019. This means that players in Belgium will not be able to purchase points to obtain FIFA Ultimate Team packs. Players still can access Ultimate Team and play with their existing players. All content in the game can be earned through gameplay, as has always been the case, and players can continue to use coins and the in-game transfer market. Any players in Belgium that have existing FIFA Points in their accounts can continue to use them, but they will not be able to purchase more. We apologize to our players in Belgium for any inconvenience caused by this change.
We seek to bring choice, fairness, value and fun to our players in all our games. In addition to providing players options in how they play, we include pack probabilities in our games for the transparency players want to make informed content choices. While we are taking this action, we do not agree with Belgian authorities’ interpretation of the law, and we will continue to seek more clarity on the matter as we go forward. The impact of this change to FIFA Ultimate Team in Belgium is not material to our financial performance.
Source: EA Games
In Response To Gambling Laws, Square Enix Starts Pulling Titles From Belgium
Earlier this year the Belgian government gave a clear warning to game developers: Fall into line with your gambling mechanics or face potential criminal charges including fines and even jail sentences. Over the last seven months, we’ve seen the industry take the threat very seriously (for the most part). Companies like Blizzard and Valve have simply stopped allowing players within Belgium to purchase loot boxes, while Electronic Arts stood its ground and is now facing a criminal investigation.
Companies like Square Enix, meanwhile, are just pulling out of the country entirely. Square announced that at least four of its titles will no longer be accessible from Belgium as of December. Those titles include Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, Mobius Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts Union X, and Dissidia FInal Fantasy Opera Omina. All four games will no longer be accessible in Belgium over the next month, although it isn’t clear if people will be able to circumvent the block with a VPN or if Square Enix will go as far as to disable existing accounts that have been operated from within Belgium.
(Source: GI.biz)
Guild Wars 2 Partially Disables Gem Store For Belgian Players
Arenanet has confirmed in a statement that a recent change blocking Belgian players from accessing the gem store is indeed a response to local legislation regarding loot boxes. Arenanet staffer Gaile Gray noted that Arenanet is seeking “flexible solutions,” and that for the time being purchases of certain
“We recently disabled Gem purchases for players located in Belgium. This action was in response to the Belgian Gaming Commission’s declaration that paid loot boxes violate Belgium’s gambling restrictions. We have now implemented a more refined system, which only restricts the purchase of loot boxes and related items, such as chest keys, dye kits, and certain packs by players located in Belgium. For players located in Belgium, you will see the following message when viewing these items ‘This item is not available for purchase in your region.’ All other items and purchases are now available.”
Any chests, dye kits, and other restricted items/packs that have already been acquired can still be used. Arenanet noted in their FAQ that Black Lion Keys and chests will still continue to drop in-game and can still be redeemed as long as they were not purchased with real money.
(Source: Guild Wars 2)
Column: Stripped Down For Belgium, A Post-Lootbox Ruling
Rest in peace, Belgium gaming. That’s hyperbole.
This week Belgium declared that lootboxes in the fashion of Counter Strike: GO and Overwatch constitute illegal gambling, threatening their associated developers with monetary fines and jail sentences if they don’t comply. This week and the following weeks will no doubt consist of executives meeting with lawyers in board rooms and asking questions like who would they jail, does a Belgian company have jurisdiction over our digital game, and what is the cheaper alternative between either altering our systems specifically for the local market, or pulling out of it entirely.
It isn’t so hard to imagine developers handling the Belgium market in the same way that they’ve taken care of Germany in regards to depictions of the swastika, or other European countries in regards to explicit content in games like South Park. The cheapest and most obvious answer is that companies will, at least in the short term, completely disable the purchasing of loot boxes, including the ability to purchase said boxes with fake currency purchased with real currency, in Belgium to comply with the law. I’m sure developers are currently looking at ways to generate new revenue streams in Belgium without getting on the bad side of the law, and others are looking at lobbying efforts to have that part of the law nullified completely.
Then again, I’m not a bean counter at any of these companies and have no up to date information on exactly how much money is coming out of Belgium. The latest information I can find is from 2011 estimating 220 million euros and climbing rather quickly. Belgium may be a country of about 11 million people, but approximately half of them were gaming in 2011. Again, this is something that individual developers are going to have to assess going forward. One outcome that is definitely not going to happen would be the games removing loot boxes entire from every market, not just Belgium. There is far too much profit to give up for no good (translation: legally required) reason.
I find it hard to believe that the AAA developers are going to pull out of Belgium entirely, although you will see this from smaller publishers for whom the cost of molding their titles around Belgian law don’t justify the kind of sales they would get in the country. At this juncture, that would still be the nuclear option and one that in my humble and admittedly not backed by hard data opinion, seems like there should be plenty of better options available. In order for wide-spread changes to be had in the industry, a substantial part of the market is going to have to follow Belgium’s lead and enact/enforce similar gambling laws.
One thing we can be assured of is that business will not be as usual. Otherwise I have no opinion on the matter.
Belgium Criminalizes Certain Lootboxes, Sends Threat To Developers
The first answer to any question of “is this legal” is “where?” Belgium has joined the growing list of countries to declare that lootboxes, in some fashion, constitute an illegal form of gambling. The Belgium Gaming Commission determined this week that FIFA 18, Overwatch, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive violate its gambling laws and has demanded that developers remove them with the threat of large fines and remarkably even prison sentences if their demands are not met.
Belgium’s Gaming Commission in its notice specifically directed at the following types of monetization. Please note that the below has been translated into English.
- Emotional profit forecast: uncertainty loot box is linked to profit forecast;
- A player may think that the purchase of a loot box gives an advantage, which is not always the case
- Confusion of fiction and reality: well-known real people promote the most expensive loot boxes;
- Use your own coin system: for a real amount, players can buy in-game coins;
- Apparently infinite methods to deposit money on player accounts;
- Hide from the random generator or at least its opacity.
It does not appear that any explicit timetable has been set for removal of said loot boxes.
(Source: Belgium Gaming Commission)
MMO Fallout 