According to the BBC, only two out of the 26 top-grossing games with loot boxes on Google Play clearly indicate the presence of this mechanic in their British advertisements. The others remain silent about the loot boxes, thereby violating the UK’s advertising regulator requirements.

On March 22, South Korean authorities passed an amendment to the gambling law requiring developers to disclose the probability of items dropping from loot boxes in games. According to the country’s Game Rating and Administration Committee, 1,255 games were subject to the law by July, but not all of them complied with the requirements.

The cross-party group in the Northern Ireland Assembly on gambling harm has called for tighter control over video games that include loot boxes and other gambling mechanics. They believe these harm players’ mental health.

The Dutch government has supported the proposal to completely ban loot boxes in the country. Previously, only loot boxes that can be sold for real money were banned in the country.

Australian MPs continue to speak out against gambling video games. This time they suggested assigning a rating of 15+ to games that have paid loot boxes, and a rating of 18+ to all other games with gambling mechanics.

In 2020, several gamers from Austria sued Sony. In their lawsuits, they stated that they spent hundreds of euros to buy loot boxes in the PlayStation version of FIFA, but never received valuable cards with football players. In March 2022, the court sided with gamers and fined the company.

The National Assembly of South Korea voted almost unanimously for an amendment to the Gambling Law — it was supported by 180 out of 182 deputies. The amendment will oblige developers to report with what probability items fall out of loot boxes.

The year 2022 was rich in legal initiatives against loot boxes. The Versus.legal law firm has prepared a detailed overview of them, broken down by country.

You can no longer buy loot boxes in Brawl Stars. On December 12, Supercell released an update for the game that stopped the sale of sets with random loot.

Employees of the universities of Newcastle and Loughborough studied how loot boxes in games affect minors. The findings of the study were not the most positive.

Australian MP Andrew Wilkie has introduced a bill on loot boxes. He suggested labeling games with this mechanics so that minors could not buy them.

The creators of Adopt Me closed access to their project on September 13. According to the developers, they did this “as part of the Roblox program to comply with the laws of the Netherlands and Belgium.” Let us remind you that loot boxes are prohibited in these countries.

Last week, a new agency, the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA), officially launched in Singapore. Among other things, games with loot boxes came under his supervision.

The Belgian law banning loot boxes in games does not work properly. This conclusion was reached by researcher Leon Yu . Xiao (Leon Y. Xiao). He stated that the law is mostly observed by large companies, while small studios have not changed anything in their titles, while the authorities do not pay attention to violations.

The Spanish authorities will take up the loot boxes. It is reported that in a few weeks the country will adopt a law that will regulate games with such mechanics.

Норвежский совет потребителей выпустил подробный отчет, в котором прошелся по лутбоксам в играх. Исследователи назвали эту механику «эксплуататорской», а дизайн самих лутбоксов — обманчивым и побуждающим тратить большие суммы.

Take-Two is facing a new $5 million class action lawsuit related to loot boxes in NBA 2K series games. According to parents, such gambling mechanics deceive young users and mislead them.The lawsuit was initially filed on behalf of a minor player and his guardian on January 11.

Electronic Arts (EA) is trying to restore its reputation after the scandals with loot boxes in FIFA Ultimate Team. She decided to introduce content preview packs into games on an ongoing basis — Preview Packs. This system has already appeared in FIFA, but temporarily.

A scandal broke out in the World of Warships community related to the monetization policy of Wargaming. Players complain about a large number of loot boxes, randomness and criticize the game for introducing gambling mechanics. Against the background of discontent, dozens of streamers announced a boycott of developers and withdrew from the affiliate program.