U.S. Senator Introduces Bill To Ban Loot Boxes And Pay-To-Win Microtransactions

| https://kotaku.com/u-s-senator-introduces-bill-to-ban-loot-boxes-and-pay-1834612226

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) today announced a bill that would ban loot boxes and pay-to-win microtransactions in “games played by minors,” a broad label that the senator says will include both games designed for kids under 18 and games “whose developers knowingly allow minor players to engage in microtransactions.”

Hawley will introduce the bill, “The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act,” to the U.S. Senate soon. In press materials announcing the bill, Hawley’s team brought up the Activision game Candy Crush as an egregious example of pay-to-win microtransactions thanks to its $150 “Luscious Bundle” that comes with a whole bunch of goodies. This bill will also likely apply to a host of online games that feature loot boxes and other ways in which players can spend money for real benefits.

“When a game is designed for kids, game developers shouldn’t be allowed to monetize addiction,” Hawley said in a press release. “And when kids play games designed for adults, they should be walled off from compulsive microtransactions. Game developers who knowingly exploit children should face legal consequences.”

Last fall, the Federal Trade Commission promised to investigate loot boxes following a letter from Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) that she wrote in the wake of 2017's string of games featuring the heavy usage of predatory microtransactions, such as Middle-earth: Shadow of War and Star Wars Battlefront II. Although some companies have pulled back on the practice, popular games like Overwatch, FIFA, and Apex Legends continue to make big money off randomized microtransactions. Many of those games are played by both adults and children.

Hawley, 39, has become known in Washington for criticizing major tech companies Facebook and Google, often accusing them of anti-conservative bias.

UPDATE (12:18pm): The Entertainment Software Association, the video game industry lobbyist group, sent over a statement shortly after this bill was introduced: “Numerous countries, including Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, determined that loot boxes do not constitute gambling. We look forward to sharing with the senator the tools and information the industry already provides that keeps the control of in-game spending in parents’ hands. Parents already have the ability to limit or prohibit in-game purchases with easy to use parental controls.”

| >>294a27

| If it'll force game companies to abandon the loot box mechanic and shift back to more traditional methods of acquiring things (that don't break wallets and patience), I'm all for it. The entire purpose is just to generate additional revenue, we can all survive without resorting to such a shitty business model

| Finally with this a majority of my competitors will be gone leaving me and the rest of the world to rule all games

| >>559489 You wish, Dlcs will still be a thing. And hiding lootboxes under Dlc content has already been made. It's a little battle that we won, but not the war, war'll never end, because people love money. Learn something, money.

| >>559505 war... war never changes

| >>559568 war has changed

| Silly Australia, your country has been controled by the emus since 1932.

| I live this. I have a friend who's 15 and compulsively spends all his on shitty microtransactions in games like Warframe and Fortnite. I appreciate that the ones in Fortnite are only for cosmetics, but, well, it still fuels his addiction.

If minors were prohibited from making microtransactions that would make everything easier. Sure, it would affect me, but at least it would stop him from spending all his money on 2 seconds of bullshit.

| Microtransactions are for losers anyway,
Long live the single player gang

| As a fellow singleplayer gurl, I also support this. I mean, microtransaction prints money, if the trend continues, more singleplayer dev/publisher will try to make multiplayer games, or at least incorporate it.

We already have microtransactions in singleplayer games like wwe and other sport games. Also some singleplayer games come with always online requirements. We we don't stop lootboxes in multiplayer, they'll eventually come to singleplayer.

| Lootboxes and microtransactions are something I would miss especially in paid games, but I hope something like this doesn't hurt muh waifus.
Gacha is full of pay2win stuff. The only reason f2p people can be f2p is because of those spending money on the game.

| *I wouldn't miss

| Good riddance to bad trash.
I've been avoiding the AAA industry for years now, only buying a few new releases, and never caving in to those microtransactions.
I hate how they're willing to ruin a good progression system in a good video game for a couple extra dollars.
I'm tired of these AAA companies that are willing to put a bullet through common sense and decency for a quick buck

| >>559815
Had it only been "a couple extra dollars". Companies earn hundreds of thousands of dollars on this shit.

| I don't think this will do anything politically, those old farts could barely speak to Zuckerberg or the Google spokesperson.

Hawley will keep yelling until EA or some company "donates" money to him and he will conveniently forget about the whole ordeal.

| >>560033 yeah probably

Also this is a proposal for a bill is not actually a bill yet so there's a few steps before this has a chance to do anything

Total number of posts: 17, last modified on: Sun Jan 1 00:00:00 1557685167

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