Several modern mobile games have loot boxes. Loot boxes are in game items, perks or abilities that offer gamers the opportunity to get ahead or have an easier ride. The BBC has conducted some research on the matter and found that several of those mobile developers don’t disclose that their games include loot boxes.
As reported by VGC, the BBC report looked at the number of top grossing mobile games that had loot boxes but didn’t disclose them. The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency will remove or ban ads of games that contain loot boxes if they don’t disclose them.
The BBC’s report looked at the most popular mobile games and whether or not they disclosed the presence of loot boxes. It discovered that 90% of the games had loot boxes but didn’t disclose them to players. These findings were in line with those of Leon Y Xiao, who is a video game regulation researcher at the IT university of Copenhagen.
Many adults and children struggle with controlling their spending on loot boxes, so it is important that they know what they’re getting into. Several games that make use of loot boxes often make the games significantly harder for those who don’t want to pay. This is ethically a bit of a gray area. Players aren’t forced to pay for loot boxes but if they get invested into a game and find that they can’t progress without loot boxes they may feel obligated to give in.
Apex legends is a game that makes use of Micro Transactions and loot boxes, if you’d like to find out more click here. If you’d like to read the BBC report, click here.
