Belgian gambling commission declares lootboxes gambling

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File: 218d274f71e54ce⋯.webm (768.83 KB, 854x480, 427:240, microtransactions.webm)

Belgian gambling commission declares lootboxes gambling Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:01:13 e5b237 No.14695099

Last week the Netherlands, this week Belgium. However, Belgium does a better job.

The Belgian gambling commission has researched Overwatch, Star Wars Battlefront 2, FIFA 18 and CS:GO. Except for SW:BF2, they were all be considered in violation. SW:BF2 was not in violation because the lootboxes have been removed from the game.

The commission will first consult the sector, but if the games are not adjusted, then there may be fines up to 800,000eu and five year in prison for violators.

Source in belgianspeak http://archive.is/FhBFU

Source in google translate http://archive.li/PIfwF

Unlike last week's news, no deadlines has been set. A real shame. The fines are pretty insignificant too when you take the profits into consideration.

What's better though is that the Belgians don't give a fuck whether or not you can trade items, this time declaring Overwatch lootboxes in violation.

This means that unlike Netherlands' situation that might just see lootbox rewards becoming untradeable, lootboxes flat-out can't be sold in Belgium.

Reminder to sell your Steam items whilst you still can.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:07:24 146e3e No.14695109

File: 5e7533d17d5daaf⋯.png (76.17 KB, 300x316, 75:79, 5e7533d17d5daaf34cc30db33b….png)

Is the fire rising?

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:10:43 803440 No.14695116

File: 17f393382454d87⋯.jpg (20.63 KB, 282x278, 141:139, feest.jpg)

>>14695109

I expect a couple more will jump on the bandwagon, maybe some of the nordic countries.. I wonder if the frogs or the krauts are doing something like this or if they're too cucked to give a shit.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:19:49 dfcd54 No.14695143

File: 6c52e9690e5ef96⋯.png (357.77 KB, 2000x2000, 1:1, PEGI Gambling.png)

Now, from my understanding all this means is the transactions will be taxed and the games get an automatic 18's rating along with a gambling warning on the PEGI rating.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:27:10 14ebbb No.14695156

ⁿᵒⁿᶜᵒᵘⁿᵗʳʸ

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:28:03 90ecb1 No.14695160

>Making gambling illegal to begin with

Why?

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:29:13 14ebbb No.14695164

>>14695160

It's not illegal, it's 18+ only

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:29:59 dfcd54 No.14695166

>>14695160

It says nowhere that gambling itself is illegal, only they're illegally practicing gambling.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:31:49 7c4231 No.14695171

>>14695116

>implying it matters if a government is cucked or not when it has a chance to put more taxes on something

>they gain more money while potentially gathering more support as they can say "we fought companies who wanted to exploit your children for shekels in a form of entertainment"

This will be decreed gambling in the entire Europe in a year, lootbox-based games are fucked.

>>14695160

Gambling's legal everywhere, there are just age restrictions and taxes.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:34:00 7481ed No.14695176

>>14695171

>lootbox-based games are fucked.

And nothing of value was lost.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:34:13 dfcd54 No.14695177

>>14695171

There is a loophole to get around the laws.

You can buy in-game currency and "gift" the player a lootbox in return, like how casinos gift people free wine when they play for long enough (though I think that was outlawed awhile ago).

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:36:41 dbc4a8 No.14695183

>>14695171

>Gambling's legal everywhere

No it's not. And online gambling especially is more strictly regulated, being illegal in most of the US.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:42:02 e5b237 No.14695196

>>14695156

Last week the Netherlands, this week Belgium. Even if they're non-countries, shit adds up.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:51:57 a9c4e1 No.14695211

HAHA EPIC

*DAB*

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 11:56:03 dfcd54 No.14695217

File: 062b637cb08e36f⋯.webm (Spoiler Image, 959.14 KB, 640x360, 16:9, cancer in video form.webm)

>>14695211

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 12:55:06 2177de No.14695313

This is good news. This could mean the end for most lootbox systems in vidya.

Anonymous 04/25/18 (Wed) 15:41:09 b67195 No.14695752

>>14695171

so is pretty much porn. but making a game age restricted is how you seal its fate so this is really setting up a crossroads for companies. do they want to get over themselves and sell adult rated games now or do they want to keep the illusion games are for children and keep them sanitized enough to avoid that rating

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 12:35:08 111595 No.14700647

>The Benelux crashing the Steam markets with no survivors

Rust in vrede

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 13:17:16 34c850 No.14700751

>>14695099

I wish people were smart enough to control themselves and never have been exploited in the first place, but this is what it has come to.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 13:22:14 35b46d No.14700768

File: c6c19a594a83663⋯.png (13.55 KB, 67x101, 67:101, MFW.png)

You know what this means then don't you? This won't change anything Blizzard and the rest will just ban as many kids as they can from their games to keep getting shekles off 30 yo millennials who throw money at them with open mouths in awe.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 13:32:33 b66552 No.14700790

Are stuff like cards on Steam considered gambling? Because they're also random, you can get Foil cards that are more valuable, etc?

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 13:36:46 2c14d8 No.14700804

>>14700768

>le millenial maymay

<even though 38yo are millenials

>people >30yo play that shit

You're probably baiting, but couldn't resist calling you a faggot

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 15:17:19 c20bdd No.14701080

>>14695752

Depends on what they think is more profitable. Nintendo will probably ban lootboxes eventually just to preserve their image. Sony and MS could go either way. While this might soften their general position on AO/18+ ratings, you can bet they still won't allow porn games to be published.

>>14700790

Steam is in an interesting position, because it doesn't require games to be rated as far as I know. Most simply are because they're multi-platform. I'm curious to see how this all shakes out for the PC market, which is less regulated.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 15:29:46 89c253 No.14701129

>>14700768

Problem being that underageb& already own the games, so it's either remove it or be in violation.

>>14700790

You only get drops for free, not by paying for them, and buy cards directly from other people. Unless they sell booster packs as well nowadays, I don't use Steam anymore.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 20:57:26 f7fe6a No.14702221

It is literally just exploiting children and getting them addicted to gambling. Any way these jews can get fucked is good.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:02:04 2c14d8 No.14702235

>>14700790

I think the key points here are: Can you trade those items? and Can you buy those items directly?

So in the case of steam cards, it's justified.

Probably CS:GO has been fined due to the famous incident that sprung some years ago, and it's more of a residual/late fine.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:08:06 69871e No.14702246

>>14695099

So, Yuropeens: Is PEGI as dogshit as our Burgerstanian equivalent, the ESA, which has basically said 'lol wagering real money on a prize isn't gambling cause we said so, and it's totally in the best interests of the consumer that we control game ratings and also bribe politicians'?

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:15:45 3ed47e No.14702276

I am sure the kikes for these games will find a new way. Maybe sell % chance increases to get better loot while playing.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:18:26 c20bdd No.14702286

>>14702246

What is the point of PEGI ratings when all the bannings I hear about are from other local authorities "refusing classification"? VSC, USK, etc. Why are there multiple layers of bureaucracy just to put a rating on a video game, any one of which can bar its sale?

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:20:41 3ed47e No.14702292

>>14702286

Thats Europe for you.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:21:27 a653ec No.14702295

>>14695177

Buying in-game currency, with real money, to use on loot boxes falls under Belgium's definition of gambling, it's neither safe nor an actual loophole.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:23:23 159d6a No.14702305

inb4 "muh free market" cucks flood in to cry on behalf of the kikes

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 21:31:16 6fcde7 No.14702326

>>14702246

>>14702286

PEGI is just a game rating system that has no actual authority, the equivalent of the ESRB. It's the national government's gambling authorities that do the actual banning and fining.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 22:11:18 31bfb1 No.14702469

>>14700768

In many countries gambling has strict regulations, need special licenses and confined to limited geographical areas (if allowed at all). Vidya games may not be able to fulfill such regulation.With online offshore casinos of course its not easy to enforce but AAA companies can't ignore these laws if they want officially operate in such countries or they would be fined into oblivion.

Anonymous 04/26/18 (Thu) 22:17:05 31bfb1 No.14702491

>>14702305

As free market supporter i tell you this. All forms of business should be subjected to same regulations. I don't support restriction of voluntary transactions but if majority made such laws they should be applied universally no double standards. Making exceptions for some businesses just because is much greater evil than regulations itself.

Anonymous 04/27/18 (Fri) 17:46:12 be21a6 No.14705616

File: ed834307063a533⋯.gif (150.93 KB, 500x362, 250:181, ed834307063a533bdc6382d515….gif)

>Five years in prison

FINALLY

Anonymous 04/27/18 (Fri) 17:47:25 2d970c No.14705619

>>14702491

This.

I don't care what the rules are, but we need to all be on the same page. Hypocrisy and doublethink is why we got into this shit in the first place

Anonymous 04/27/18 (Fri) 18:10:17 5d16cc No.14705696

>>14702491

Well lootboxes are gambling, hence they should be regulated by law no?

Anonymous 04/27/18 (Fri) 18:12:22 2aaf4f No.14705704

File: 5d19d347af3eb45⋯.png (4.87 MB, 997x6308, 997:6308, 5d19d347af3eb45676b758a965….png)

>>14695752

You bring up a good point. Bigwigs in the video games market have been trying desperately to break free of the perception that games are for kids. The game part alone frustrates them to no end, but mostly because it drives off adults as customers due to social stigma. They've seen cracks in this, with every normalfag buying a Wii and adults playing board games, but they onviously don't understand what made them popular and have failed to capitalize on it. It's still very possible that "games as art" fags just want to be able to create low effort content that is unassaible by criticism due to the misconception that art can't be measured because of "eye of the beholder" bullshit, but that standpoint has also been used to argue for video games as a mature entertainment platform for discerning individuals.

All of that rant leads me to my point: when do marketers start to say "video games aren't just for kids because we have video games for adults only, and not because of porn"? It's not like the parents who are shitty enough to let their kids play these games and make these purchases ever cared in the first place, and will still probably let little Timmy get his Mature Game for Mature Gamers. There's already terms of service explaining that purchases need to be made by the cardholder, and people already ignore that.

No, this is another push to argue that video games are "maturing." Lootboxes are cancer, but they're a symptom, and a true businessman will only see this as an opportunity.

Pic unrelated

Anonymous 04/27/18 (Fri) 18:21:09 ef32b3 No.14705729

File: bc57a2ce691a262⋯.jpg (71.67 KB, 564x480, 47:40, laughing_ferret.jpg)

All those FIFA pack opening videos done by faggots on Youtube will be demonitized and just think of the river tears that will flow from cuckchan when shitty Chink run mmos close. Good times coming Anons.

Anonymous 04/27/18 (Fri) 20:06:43 85f6f7 No.14706091

>>14705704

Again, this can all be summed up as: the very companies that create the products and services in the video games industry are the enemies of not only the customers/gamers, but enemies of the industry itself.

>>14705696

They should made illegal, and not considered "just gambling".

Anonymous 04/27/18 (Fri) 20:36:58 e703dc No.14706233

File: 12e6caa32157285⋯.png (518.47 KB, 854x478, 427:239, mpv-shot0350.png)

>when you're so jewish the jews declare you juden

Liberal european countries will save gaming, who could have possibly predicted it?