Although it is very late, the UK could classify loot boxes or loot boxes as part of the gaming industry associated with casinos, bookmakers and more.
A perverse system that contributes to the addiction of younger players and that is becoming a virus for the video game industry; not only the mobile one, since this "freemium" strategy is even invading PC games and consoles.
The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport this week will bring to the fore the most obvious Increase in loot boxes in all types of games as with FIFA itself.
This movement is due to the very essence of those loot boxes that is a wicked system that encourages gambling addiction behavior and that can cause the same addiction to other types of gambling associated with bookmakers and gambling in general.
These loot boxes or loot boxes we already know them well and give rewards such as characters or equipment without knowing first what they are going to give. That is, the same strategy as when we use a 50 cent coin in a slot machine.
If the ministers finally reclassify these loot boxes, in the United Kingdom, and as has happened in Belgium, or has declared the Minister of Consumption here in Spain, will lead to developers having to withdraw certain games from the market or redesigned so that they can be sold to those under 18 years of age.
This type of loot boxes have continued to increase in many games, and it is in mobile phones where they have found a placid place to exist. In fact, on Steam for PC today they are found in 71% of titles, while a decade ago they were only used in 4%.