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UK government rolls out call for loot box evidence

UK government rolls out call for loot box evidence

The UK government has opened itself up for evidence about the impact of loot boxes.

The consultation was opened yesterday (Wednesday, September 23rd) and will be taking submissions until midnight on November 22nd. The government has said that it is asking for evidence from players and adults whose kids play video games, as well as video games businesses.

This follows the UK government announcing that it will be investigating the video games business model in the wake of a Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport inquiry that touched on the subject. The UK's House of Lords has said that loot boxes should be regulated in the same way that gambling has been.

In the announcement of its consultation, the UK government says that the aim is to see whether the 2005 Gambling Act needs to be amended.

The conversation about loot boxes in video games started building at the end of 2017 when EA's Star Wars Battlefront II came under fire for its aggressive implementation of the business model. Of course, games businesses have by and large moved away from using this mechanic, instead turning to battle passes, among others.


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.