If you want to buy a loot box, get out your ID card: Spain is going to ban them for minors and already has a system in place.

17 comments

  1. Translation:

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    Spain will be the first European country with a specific law to regulate loot boxes. The first draft of the law has been released today and we already have some of the measures that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs intends to implement. Among them, a ban on loot boxes for minors. A ban that will require an extraordinary measure: forcing everyone to give their ID on platforms that have loot boxes.

    What the government understands by ‘loot boxes’. The future law stresses that video games are not on the same level as games of chance. In this first text, loot boxes are defined as Random Reward Mechanisms (RRM). This will be the case “when the activation of the reward mechanisms costs money or other virtual objects acquired with money directly or indirectly”. The inclusion of “virtual items” suggests that rewards based on cryptocurrencies or NFTs will also be considered as ‘loot boxes’, even if they are not rewarded with money per se.

    Examples of ‘loot boxes’ or MARs are, for example, those video games where loot boxes with prizes are hidden inside, or websites or exchange applications that are directly a kind of casino. In all these cases, the new law will require a series of actions to be taken.

    Loot boxes are forbidden to minors. As the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón, announced in an interview with Xataka at the end of 2020, the new law will prohibit access to loot boxes for minors under 18 years of age. “Many of these reward boxes are in video games that may even have a legal PEGI accreditation below 18 years of age”, explained the minister.

    For those over 18, obligations will also be added. In addition to the ban on minors, the law will force applications with loot boxes to add a number of settings. Users will have the possibility to limit spending completely with a self-exclusion system or partially limit it by being able to set up play sessions with a maximum time and amount.

    How will age be verified? By means of the ID card. In order to carry out these changes, a new control method will be needed. The Consumer Affairs Department explains that this prohibition will be carried out by means of documentary verification, by means of the DNI or biometric verification. In other words, video games containing ‘loot boxes’ will be obliged to ask for the ID card at the time of payment, to check whether the account belongs to a minor or not.

    Goodbye to anonymity? The new law is currently a draft that is beginning its public hearing process, but it raises many doubts about privacy and how it will be applied. Requiring an ID to be able to make a purchase is a big change, as it is not currently necessary to provide this document when playing titles that contain loot boxes.

    Platforms such as Google Play have for a couple of years now been requesting information to verify that you are of the minimum age. Google explains that “if we detect that you may not be old enough to manage your own account, you will have 14 days to set up supervision on your account”. For this process, Google asks for your ID or a credit card.

    With the entry into force of this new law, it is expected that platforms such as Google will reinforce age supervision, to ensure that applications and video games through its platform comply with the law. It remains to be seen whether other apps or platforms will take similar actions.

    What about gift cards? Another doubt that arises is with gift cards of 20 or 50 euros for use on platforms such as PlayStation. By requiring a DNI, the door is open for shops to be obliged to ask for it when buying them, as if they were a consumer good only available to adults.

    Regulation of advertising. The new law will also prohibit physical advertising related to loot boxes, as well as online advertising in web environments not related to video games. As for television and radio, advertising of these rewards will be banned except in the 1-5 a.m. time slot.

    Information on reward possibilities. Platforms will also have an additional obligation with regard to these rewards and that is that truthful information about the real chances of obtaining the prize must be given. If an envelope or chest has only a slim chance of yielding an interesting gift, this should be reflected.

  2. They should be banned in the whole of the EU for adults and kids alike.

    It’s gambling without a gambling license and preying on the vulnerable.

    If your game relies on opening stupid addictive boxes to sell copies, it’s a crap game.

  5. If most politicians weren’t boomers who fall asleep halfway through having this explained by their aides, there would be a lootbox ban across the EU ages ago.

  8. lootboxes are last decades gambling

    now they add some mindless gameplay, so some “skill” applies, so it’s no longer considered to be gambling

    legislators need to realise this

  11. Also, isn’t Belgium having some law against the loot gambling? Not exactly the same but I think it is that you are allowed to buy a loot box but it rewards you with ingame currency instead of random loot so you don’t have to overspent until you unlock what you want.

    Anyone feel free to inform me

  13. Needs to be an EU-wide things.
    They can probably afford not to release a game in Belgium and Spain. But imagine losing all of the EU as a market?

  17. It’s unfair to compare loot-boxes with gambling. If you bet on black at Roulette there is a ~50% chance that you get you you like (more money in this case). Never saw a loot-box with 50% chance 😉.

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