The laws of Belgium forced ArenaNet to take extreme measures. She turned off the ability to buy gems for Guild Wars 2 in the country. Most likely, this happened because of the fear of receiving a fine of € 800 thousand.
UPDATE (26.09.2018)
A representative of ArenaNet on the official forum of the game confirmed the blocking of payments in Belgium. According to the report, “in order to comply with changes in Belgian legislation, purchases of gems, the ultimatum edition of the game and the update to the ultimatum edition were blocked for residents of the country.” At the moment, developers are thinking about a more “flexible solution”.
ORIGINAL PUBLICATION
According to the Belgian users of the game, since September 19, an error has been flying out when trying to buy currency. Belgium was also removed by the developer (or publisher, in whose role NCSOFT acts) from the list of countries in which the game accepts payments (that is, the game itself can no longer be bought in the country). When you connect via VPN and manually change the billing location, the store starts working again.
Guild Wars 2
The situation is most likely related to the recognition of paid loot boxes in Belgium as gambling mechanics.
Its use in video games is recognized as illegal there. In case of violation, the operator faces a fine of € 800 thousand. The amount of the fine may be twice as much if it is proved that the children also paid for the loot boxes.
In Guild Wars 2, loot boxes (boxes containing random loot) there is. They can be earned both in the game itself and bought for gems.
Earlier, Blizzard, 2K Games and Valve also changed the versions of their games for Belgian users. For example, you can’t buy a loot box in Overwatch in Belgium, but in CS:GO open containers.
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