PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo have formed a partnership to create policies around Lootboxes in games on their platforms.
Gamespot is reporting that the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced this during a public panel with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Going forward, any new games or updates that add loot boxes, or any kind of randomised reward system you can pay for, on Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony platforms will be required to disclose the chances of receiving those items and the rarities of them. The statement does not mention if this would be applied to games already on these platforms that have lootboxes.
The quote for Michael Warnecke of the ESA can be found below:
Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have indicated to the ESA a commitment to new platform policies with respect to the use of paid loot boxes in games that are developed for their platform.
Specifically, this would apply to new games and game updates that add loot box features, and it would require the disclosure of the relative rarity or probabilities of obtaining randomized virtual items in games available on their platforms.
Warnecke also notes that many publishers have agreed to follow these policies; however, he did not mention which publishers.
This seems like a necessary move by all three parties, as the microtransaction and lootbox situation on consoles has slowly been getting out of hand the past few years. Whilst, this doesn’t eradicate the problem it should help avoid the horror stories of people spending thousands on these items.
This also seems like a necessary move by the ESA, as they are the regulatory body of the industry. It seems they are hoping that this move will stop Governments around the world from looking deeper into the situation and possibly regulating the industry as a whole.
As we hear more about these new policies we will update this story.
Source – [Gamespot]