Author Topic: Video game loot boxes are now considered criminal gambling in Belgium (Read 4473 times)

Conan · April 29, 2018, 12:09:28 AM

Quote from: King T�ny on April 28, 2018, 03:32:47 PM

All that stuff on steam can be resold on the market to buy games or more loot boxes.

Seems like gambling to me.

which is why i mentioned that they sorta count. the thing is though the whole system is obviously rigged in a way that you cant realisically make any real money since it costs like $2 a key and 90% of the drops redeem for less than that

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lordician · April 29, 2018, 02:32:36 AM

Hmm, never understood why Overwatch did have an option to pay for the lootboxes anyway.
It is nice if you want something specific, but paying money for those lootboxes was never any good.
You could pay like 5 dollars for some stuffty skins and some gold lol.
I would be find with the removal of that option, never used it.
How they would monetise the game, other then raising the price of it or using DLC to gate content, is a good question.

Shift Kitty · April 29, 2018, 02:48:06 AM

Letting you outright buy what you want is a good start.

Snaked_Snake · April 29, 2018, 03:38:51 AM

Quote from: Shift Kitty on April 29, 2018, 02:48:06 AM

Letting you outright buy what you want is a good start.

And not around �3 for a hat.

hillkill · April 29, 2018, 03:37:51 PM

the sad truth is games have remained around the $60 mark for the past 30 years and the consumers won�t let it rise because anything over $60 is �outrageous�. most devs aren�t getting paid like they used to and games are getting more and more advanced and cost much more to design. loot boxes are a good way for devs to get their well deserved money. however, pay to win is not the way. an increase in general rng is not the way.

beachbum111111 · April 29, 2018, 04:55:49 PM

Quote from: hillshill on April 29, 2018, 03:37:51 PM

the sad truth is games have remained around the $60 mark for the past 30 years and the consumers won’t let it rise because anything over $60 is “outrageous”. most devs aren’t getting paid like they used to and games are getting more and more advanced and cost much more to design. loot boxes are a good way for devs to get their well deserved money. however, pay to win is not the way. an increase in general rng is not the way.

Oh hey mcjob how much did Ubisoft pay you this time

Daswiruch · April 29, 2018, 05:30:09 PM

Quote from: Snaked_Snake on April 29, 2018, 03:38:51 AM

And not around �3 for a hat.

i would be fine with just paying 99 cents or a dollar or whatever for a cosmetic item of my choosing and not a chance at getting something between "green and darker green" and "unicorn vomit"

Headcrab Zombie · April 29, 2018, 07:31:42 PM

Quote from: Snaked_Snake on April 28, 2018, 12:52:25 PM

I'm pretty sure Overwatch raked in over a billion in just a year and it only cost around 60-160 million to make, so basically you're just giving them extra money they don't need.

I don't think Blizzard released official cost and revenue numbers, have they?
Either way, there's ongoing development and support costs, too.

Quote from: Shift Kitty on April 28, 2018, 02:28:01 PM

Many games have already implemented paid cosmetics before lootboxes and those worked fine. Lootboxes revoke the freedom to choose what you're paying for.

Hmm yeah I can see that

Quote from: Emgiell on April 28, 2018, 09:05:39 PM

I can slap in a few bucks and get an entire rainbow color pallet to recolor characters in Warframe.

Yeah but warframe also makes you buy a lot of non-cosmetic things, like additional weapon slots, as well as things that are borderline play-to-win, like being able to instantly buy warframes and weapons instead of having to work for them

Emgiell · April 29, 2018, 07:49:36 PM

Quote from: Headcrab Zombie on April 29, 2018, 07:31:42 PM

Yeah but warframe also makes you buy a lot of non-cosmetic things, like additional weapon slots, as well as things that are borderline play-to-win, like being able to instantly buy warframes and weapons instead of having to work for them

That is the nature of a Free-to-Play game, you can also trade items for premium currency at a relatively fast pace.

The point im trying to make is that Warframe isnt making me spin for guns, cosmetics, and characters, almost anything if it isn't limited there can be bought directly. Why are Pay-to-Play holding the items behind payed RNG?

Fire Vine · April 29, 2018, 07:50:22 PM

what about mobile games

Daswiruch · April 29, 2018, 09:42:54 PM

Quote from: Fire Vine on April 29, 2018, 07:50:22 PM

what about mobile games

the mobile game market is really tricky because you can't really expect anyone to pay for an app up front for more than a dollar. in the mobile market, games are usually very simple and trends can come and go quite literally overnight so it's gonna be hard to have people pay money for your game just to download it and be done with it the next day. microtransactions (i really hate calling them microtransactions because they're just regular transactions and it downplays them) come into play and you can have people who are hooked/literally addicted to your product spend money on your "free" game.

Foxscotch · April 29, 2018, 09:48:30 PM

Quote from: Fire Vine on April 29, 2018, 07:50:22 PM

what about mobile games

it can be paid, have microtransactions, or have ads. no combinations allowed

TheABELBOTO · April 29, 2018, 10:24:44 PM

Quote from: Emgiell on April 28, 2018, 09:05:39 PM

Don't nickle and dime the customers with rng. When Warframe is a good example of this cosmetic lootbox-less system the industry is doing something very wrong.

You pay $40-$60 on Overwatch and you're telling me that I have to roll for skins that are the equivalent to "Smash bros recolors"? I can slap in a few bucks and get an entire rainbow color pallet to recolor characters in Warframe.

1. you get loot boxes for playing, by level 300-400 you'd get basically everything, or enough coins to buy them
2. league skins are for supporting your team and you get the currency to buy them from watching streams

only shmucks or people obsessed with collecting everything buy lootboxes, meanwhile the chads just play the game (or the arcade)

Shift Kitty · April 30, 2018, 12:56:20 AM

Quote from: Foxscotch on April 29, 2018, 09:48:30 PM

it can be paid, have microtransactions, or have ads. no combinations allowed

unless there's a microtransaction for removing ads and it works for all of them, not just the random ones.
like grow stone. you can get the ad buffs without having to watch ads and it's great.