ALL THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF PC GAMES

News

Dutch Dota 2 players can see what it's in a loot box before purchase

Dutch Dota 2 players can see what it's in a loot box before purchase

Valve's battle to appease Holland's Gambling Authority continues with the PC giant letting Dota 2 players see the contents of a loot box before they buy it.

That's according to a screenshot from Reddit user Larhf, which shows this change in action. Users are no longer able to buy multiple boxers simultaneously. Additionally, what you see is what you get for the next crate opened always, presumably so users can't game the system to get specific items.

Larhf also speculates that being able to only buy one box at a time and see the contents is a means of stopping users mass-buying crates.

This follows the Netherlands having objections with loot crates in video games, like many countries. The Dutch concern was that items in loot crates in certain have real-world value due to third-party trading, leading Valve to block item trading for its games in the region.

Item trading was eventually allowed again in the region, but loot boxes weren't. Keeping up?


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.