Coming Monday, September 27.
Tag: Loot Box
Bad Bundestag: Germany Not Limiting Loot Boxes
EA’s Loot Boxes Are ‘Quite Ethical,” Says EA
If there’s a company at the forefront of predatory and unethical business conduct in the gaming industry, it has to be Electronic Arts. From the company that brought about the high profile disasters of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem to the wholly panned monetization schemes originally present in Battlefront II, Electronic Arts has become the poster child for various governments looking to put an end to what they perceive as video game publishers coercing children into gambling habits.
But Electronic Arts doesn’t consider what they are selling to be loot boxes, as noted by the VP of legal and government affairs at EA Kerry Hopkins. Speaking to the UK Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports Committee, Hopkins referred to loot boxes as “surprise mechanics” and stated that they are indeed quite ethical. It’s hard not to see this as a company desperately defending its questionable and highly lucrative business practices in the face of increasing threat of government regulation around the world.
Then again, perhaps we don’t need to hear about ethics from the company who patented a method to make subtle adjustments to a game’s difficulty in order to encourage more microtransaction purchases.
Source: PCGamesN
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)
Trion Worlds Announces Rift Prime: Subscription Server for Spring
As surprising as it may be, Trion Worlds was once very much against the idea of Rift going free to play. Yes, that Trion Worlds, the one with the $100 weapon pack in Defiance, the one that has more than once had to apologize for stepping over the line with its monetization strategy for Rift. In fact, it was Trion CEO Scott Hartsman who back in 2011 said that free to play would be a large net negative for Rift and its community.
“One of the assumptions people make is you can just take a game and throw a switch and change the model. For starters, you’d have to decide that that would be a good thing, and I do not think it would be – that would be a fairly large net negative for Rift and Rift community.”
Well all that is going to change, as Trion Worlds has announced the launch of Rift Prime, a subscription only server set to go public this spring. Rift Prime will, as stated, require a subscription and will remove loot boxes and drastically reduce the presence of the cash shop.
In the Spring of 2018, we will launch a new server, RIFT Prime. We’ve paid a lot of attention in discussions with all of you and within the broader gaming community regarding business models in the MMO and games industry as a whole.
We have the opportunity to experiment with this fresh RIFT server using an oft-requested subscription model and progressively unlocked content. Our goal for RIFT Prime is to provide the experience that many of you have requested: no lockboxes, a significantly reduced store with more of the current store-based items obtained through gameplay (or removed entirely) – plus the excitement of sequential progression through RIFT’s content with monthly milestones and achievements.
More details on the cash shop are on their way.
(Source: Rift)
Marvel Heroes: Mighty Women Loot Box Going Away
Gazillion Entertainment today announced that the Mighty Women loot box will be leaving Marvel Heroes Omega on consoles as of August 24th. In opposite of its PC counterpart, the console version of Marvel Heroes does not sell costumes directly. Instead, the only method to obtain them is to buy into loot boxes which rotate on a periodic basis what is available.
The costumes will presumably be available again at an unknown point in the future.
(Source: Marvel Heroes)
MMO Fallout 