While Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds and Diablo: Immortal are released almost simultaneously, two games designed to be both rather impressive on mobile devices, and especially to try to extract a maximum of microtransactions from usthe Norwegian Consumer Commission has just published a report on the practices of video game publishers with regard to loot boxes.
The loot boxes are these dlc “surprise bags” that you buy for a few tens of cents in the hope of obtaining interesting in-game content: a character, a powerful weapon… However, the appearance rate of the most searched is very low, and we often end up with “common” content that we will put aside to put a coin back in the machine and try, again, to obtain its Precious…
This is the main commercial mechanism of many free-to-play, and gacha games mainly, but also of certain big games, moreover invoiced at a high price, as in the FUT mode of FIFA games signed Electronic Arts.
The practice has already caused a stir and is legally considered gambling in Belgium and the Netherlands, for example, which implies that loot boxes cannot be accessible to minors in these countries. FIFA was therefore amputated from its FUT mode, and Diablo: Immortal simply did not come out.
Today, it is the consumer associations of 18 countries that support the Norwegian report, thus displaying their perplexity in the face of loot boxes. The report redraws the history of video game business models, from the complete work purchased on a cartridge to service games and microtransactions, mainly present on mobiles.
He recalls how the mechanics of these games exploit our cognitive biases to encourage spending, speaks of “misleading design” and aggressive marketing around the rarest content, which again is considered by the Commission to be “misleading”. Two examples are studied very closely: FIFA 22 and the mobile game Raid: Shadow Legends.
The rapporteurs’ analyzes lead them to make five proposals to protect consumers and regulate practices:
- Put an end to “misleading design” (not to say “false “, Editor’s note!)
- Display in-game purchases in real currency (with us, in Euros)
- Do not introduce loot boxes in games directly targeting minors
- Introduce more transparency when it comes to the chances of obtaining this or that item with each purchase
- Strengthen consumer rights in video games
A pious wish that seems all the same difficult, at the present time, to put into practice. If displaying the prices of microtransactions in Euros rather than in Gems, for example, is quite playable, determining which game is mainly intended for minors seems more complicated…
However, we can only support the fact that institutions are taking up the subject, as microtransactions are the bane of contemporary video games. In addition to the obvious financial problems to which these practices can lead, we also see the damage of this practice on the game design. When a game is no longer intended to be fun, but to lead to the act of purchase, we end up with games that we do not play, as evidenced by Ni No Kuni: Cross World, a “game where there is nothing to do, and everything is set to “autoplay” by default.
Hoping that the message will get through, and that manufacturers will regulate the practice on their own before the situation in Belgium spreads… Spain will also present in a few days a bill aimed at regulating the practices around loot boxes, which the country also assimilates to games of chance and money.