Over the past year, 18% of games have received the label “Contains in-game purchases” from the rating commission

The commission reported this at a seminar of the US Federal Trade Commission, Gamasutra reports. It was dedicated to game monetization and its impact on children.

The marking “Contains in-game purchases” is obtained, including games where there are loot boxes. At the same time, a separate label “Contains loot boxes” was not introduced because, according to ESRB data, only 32% of parents of young gamers understand the meaning of this word. The remaining part of parents would prefer to ignore the unfamiliar term, the commission claims.

In recent days, the issue of loot boxes has been raised repeatedly in various fields. It was reported, for example, that games for the three most popular consoles will begin to indicate the chance of a valuable loot falling out of boxes with a random reward. And some games get rid of loot boxes altogether — for example, Rocket League.

Also on the topic:

• In console games from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will indicate the chance of dropping a drop from the loot boxesLoot boxes will disappear from Rocket League
• EA Vice President called the loot boxes “fun kinder surprises”