lootboxes Latest news

Jacob Blazewicz, 19 July 2024, 03:57

A document from Take-Two Interactive confirms that review bombing can harm the popularity and profitability of games.

Adam Celarek, 18 July 2023, 17:17

The British Game Industry Association, in cooperation with the government, has enacted a series of targets to guide the market with regard to lootboxes. The plan is presented in the form of 11 sub-points.

Kamil Kleszyk, 24 May 2023, 15:49

An American citizen has decided to sue Nintendo after his child spent more than $170 on lootboxes in Mario Kart Tour.

Hubert Sledziewski, 24 May 2023, 14:36

PEGI has fined Activision Blizzard for the presence of lootboxes in Diablo Immortal. However, the amount is ridiculously low.

Sonia Selerska, 04 April 2023, 14:57

EverQuest 2 almost fell victim to the pay-to-win system. Player reaction stopped the developers and led to significant changes in the game's update process.

Krzysztof Kaluzinski, 05 March 2023, 23:31

Austria joins countries that treat loot boxes as gambling. A court in the city of Hermagor has ordered Sony to refund the money a player used to purchase packs in FIFA Ultimate Team mode.

Adrian Werner, 20 November 2022, 15:08

Rockstar Games has banned role-play servers in Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 that use paid lootboxes, cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Kamil Kleszyk, 19 October 2022, 16:45

Overwatch 2 will not feature classic loot boxes. This could have been very good news. However, it turns out that the alternative solution is much worse for many players.

Miriam Moszczynska, 01 September 2022, 15:39

A Lost Ark player decided to open 1,000 card packs. What he got is disappointment, and the community is not unhappy with the scale of this achievement.

Jacob Blazewicz, 09 August 2022, 11:54

2018 was supposed to be the end of lootboxes in Belgium. However, apparently banning this type of „gambling” proved too difficult in practice.

destroytheardor, 18 July 2022, 16:33

The UK government has conducted an investigation into lootboxes in video games. The conclusions are that the problem exists and needs to be addressed, but it is best if it solves itself.

Michal Ciezadlik, 04 July 2022, 19:38

Lootboxes are attracting the attention of politicians in more European countries. After Belgium, it is the Netherlands that is set to become the next lootbox-free country. The local MPs have already submitted a relevant bill.

Przemyslaw Dygas, 17 June 2022, 10:52

Blizzard has shared information about microtransactions in Overwatch 2. There will be no lootboxes in the game, but we'll still have plenty of opportunities to reach for our wallet.

Krzysiek Kalwasinski, 02 June 2022, 10:55

Lootboxes are once again at the center of controversy. Consumer organizations are pushing governments to regulate them.

Jacob Blazewicz, 09 March 2022, 22:22

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has withdrawn its recognition of FIFA Ultimate Team packs as gambling. Electronic Arts has thus avoided having to pay a €10 million fine.

Sonia Selerska, 08 March 2022, 15:39

NBA 2K series publisher Take-Two Interactive is set to face legal action for its practices regarding virtual currency and loot boxes.

Paul Musiolik, 09 October 2021, 22:50

EA Sports believes that the card pack mechanic in FUT is about raising realism in the FIFA series. Why? Apparently because like in the real world, you can do more if you have money.

Mikolaj Laszkiewicz, 16 September 2021, 21:32

The Ultimate Team mode in FIFA 22 will see the return of content preview for packs. In addition, we learned the launch date for FUT's dedicated Web App.

Jacob Blazewicz, 28 May 2021, 15:45

Ultimate Team packs continue to bring Electronic Arts huge money. According to the company's financial report, last year alone the revenue from lootboxes in sports series like FIFA amounted to more than one and a half billion dollars.

Jacob Blazewicz, 02 April 2021, 17:29

Researchers from Great Britain published an extensive report on loot boxes. The authors prove that the mechanic does indeed fall under the category of gambling and, moreover, it has a tendency to become addictive for people with not very high salaries.

Adrian Werner, 10 March 2021, 12:28

According to analysts, lootbox revenue is expected to grow every year until it reaches $20 billion per year in 2025. However, this development will not continue indefinitely.

Adrian Piotrowski, 06 March 2021, 18:38

The Bundestag has passed an amendment to the law on the protection of minors. The amendment recognises loot boxes as harmful to the development of children. It only needs the approval of the second chamber of parliament to enter into force.

Michael Kulakowski, 27 January 2021, 20:30

In its annual business and investment report, Capcom outlined its official position on lootboxes and gacha-type random loot mechanics in its games. The company firmly disassociates itself from such practices in the future.

Bart Swiatek, 08 January 2021, 16:05

Peter Moore - former president of EA Sports - recently gave an interview in which he referred to the issue of lootboxes, among other topics. In his opinion, those and similar mechanics are very far from gambling.

Paul Wozniak, 29 October 2020, 18:18

The Dutch Gaming Authority has ordered Electronic Arts to withdraw lootboxes (i.e. packs of player cards) from FIFA Ultimate Team within next three weeks. If the company does not comply, it will have to pay a weekly financial penalty of €500,000. EA intends to appeal.

Bart Swiatek, 01 October 2020, 17:00

Electronic Arts has placed an advertisement of FIFA 21 Ultimate Team lootboxes in a toy catalogue available in Smyths Toys chain store in UK.

Jacob Blazewicz, 17 August 2020, 23:42

Electronic Arts has been sued in California for FIFA and Madden Ultimate Team packages. According to the plaintiff, these lootboxes are nothing but a game of chance, an example of gambling, which is illegal in this state.

Jacob Blazewicz, 10 July 2020, 18:32

The BBC station described the story of a gamer addicted to spending money in the FIFA series. A young British man spent almost 3,000 pounds in FUT mode, wasting his parents' savings.

Paul Wozniak, 14 April 2020, 15:42

The ESRB, an age rating organisation for US and Canadian markets, introduces a new label. It will enable players to know whether the title contains any form of randomized microtransactions.

Laty, 06 March 2020, 10:25

The team working on Valorant provided details of the microtransaction system. The creators of League of Legends have still not revealed the release date of their latest title.

Paul Wozniak, 19 January 2020, 21:51

England's mental health director, Claire Murdoch, claims that lootboxes in video games put children at risk of becoming addicted to gambling. Thus, she calls for the companies behind such games to take appropriate action.

Milosz Szubert, 29 October 2019, 13:47

Valve has decided to ban the resale of keys used to open the boxes acquired while playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. All because of the fact that there were used in scams.

Adrian Werner, 14 October 2019, 14:56

People from Infinity Ward reassured the players that in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare we will not find lootbox or supply drop mechanics, at least on launch.

Bart Swiatek, 02 October 2019, 11:43

French Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players now have the option - and even the obligation - to scan their equipment boxes before buying them. This feature is likely to have been implemented as a result of planned changes to the Anti-Gambling Act and its use is severely restricted.

Conrad Hazi, 07 September 2019, 20:37

Star Wars Battlefront 2 from Electronic Arts has received a mention in Guinness World Records. All thanks to the comment of one of the publisher's representatives, whose entry defending the microtransaction collected over 683 thousand downvotes on the Reddit.

Adrian Werner, 29 August 2019, 13:00

The MyTeam mode trailer in NBA 2K20 has appeared on the web. The video focuses on microtransactions and looks more like an ad for a casino than a basketball game.

Jacob Blazewicz, 22 August 2019, 14:29

Startheory Studio has revealed more details about Kerbal Space Program 2. We won't see any lootboxes in the game, and the title itself won't be a temporary exclusive on Epic Games Store.

Paul Wozniak, 09 August 2019, 14:25

Many game publishers (including EA, Ubisoft and Blizzard) have agreed to new rules for lootboxes imposed by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

Jacob Blazewicz, 07 August 2019, 22:48

Entertainment Software Association has revealed that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft intend to change their policy on lootboxes. From next year, companies will impose the obligation to provide information about the chances of obtaining specific items from lootboxes in games published on their consoles.

Adrian Werner, 07 August 2019, 12:36

The devs of Rocket League informed that this year lootboxes will disappear from the game. This way, the players will always know what they are buying without having to buy a cat in a sack.

Paul Wozniak, 27 July 2019, 23:35

A bug appeared with the latest update for Team Fortress 2, which changed the drop rates of unusual items in some of crates from less than 1% to 100%. A flood of extremely rare skins has led to a market collapse.

Paul Wozniak, 24 July 2019, 14:42

Electronic Arts has just revealed that more than a quarter of the company's profits for the previous fiscal year came from selling Ultimate Team packs in FIFA and other EA sports titles.

Konrad Serafinski, 24 July 2019, 13:59

The UK Gambling Commission found that lootboxes in games, such as player packs for FUT, are not gambling under British law. All because of the lack of real value of virtual objects.

Konrad Serafinski, 10 July 2019, 14:05

Thomas Carter just found out that loot boxes can be maddening, after his kids spent 550 pounds on FIFA Ultimate Team footballer packs. The information was provided by BBC.

Milosz Szubert, 21 June 2019, 23:05

The Coalition has announced what the post-release monetization of Gears 5 will look like. We learned that the title will not have a Season Pass, lootboxes and paid maps, but will include microtransactions.

Jakub Mirowski, 20 June 2019, 12:33

During a government commission meeting in the UK, a representative of Electronic Arts compared lootboxes to Kinder Surprises and claimed that gamers liked this element of video games.

Jacob Blazewicz, 08 May 2019, 22:58

American Senator Josh Hawley has announced a proposal for the regulation of microtransactions in games. The law would prohibit the presence of loot boxes and pay-to-win elements in games for people under the age of 18.

Bart Swiatek, 11 April 2019, 15:02

This August, the Federal Trade Commission will organize an open workshop on loot boxes and related issues, including their possible negative influence on the behavior of young gamers.

Adrian Werner, 04 April 2019, 16:00

The head of NetherRealm Studios revealed new info on Mortal Kombat 11. We've also learned that the team considers developing a Marvel vs DC fighting game.

Bart Swiatek, 21 March 2019, 16:28

Apex Legends players are pretending to be Belgian to trick Respawn's game into giving them crafting resources instead of some loot boxes.