Belgium again does not let down games with loot boxes. Next up are mobile titles from Nintendo.
On August 27, Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will stop working in Belgium. They cannot be downloaded and run. Nintendo stated that this step is forced. After all, there is an “unclear situation in the country regarding certain monetization mechanics.”
Note that Fire Emblems Heroes is one of the main mobile hits of Nintendo. Last summer, she was responsible for 78% of the company’s total mobile revenue. This game has happened to overtake both Super Mario Run by the studio itself and Clash Royale by Supercell in terms of revenue on various platforms. All this is largely due to the gambling mechanics of monetization with a random reward.
As for Animal Crossing, this game was gaining cash more slowly than other Nintendo mobile titles.
As Gamesindustry writes.biz, the same fate — blocking — awaits all Belgian versions of Nintendo games that have loot boxes. And the gaming company is not alone in this sadness.
Warnings from the Belgian authorities about loot boxes have already been received by EA, Valve, Square Enix and other giants of the gaming industry. Some of them have been sanctioned. For example, three Square Enix mobile games have been banned in the country. And EA and Valve threatened with fines of € 800 thousand if boxes with random loot do not disappear from their games.
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