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GameLook report/According to insiders in Europe and the United States, the Dutch government is trying to formulate a legislation that completely prohibits the lootbox mechanism. The source of this news is Leon Y.Xiao, a researcher who has long been concerned about the lootbox mechanism. It said at the end of the month that the Dutch minister responsible for consumer affairs had called for a ban on opening treasure chests, which was confirmed by a Dutch government spokesman.
Of course, there are still many details that are not accurate in this news, and the population of the Netherlands is only over 17 million. The Netherlands is not considered a top game market in the entire game industry, even in Europe, so the impact on game practitioners is relatively limited. But it is worth noting that the background behind this “coming soon” ban needs to be taken seriously by game publishers.
The law makes us lose face in lawsuits, so we in the Netherlands will enact new laws
In fact, since 2018, regulatory authorities in many countries around the world, especially in Europe, have successively started to open treasure chests. However, the reason behind the Dutch legislative rumors is a lawsuit that originated in 2020.
In October 2020, the District Court of The Hague, the Netherlands rejected EA’s appeal in the FIFA treasure chest case and approved the Netherlands Gambling Authority (Kansspelautoriteit/Ksa) to impose a fine of 10 million euros on the grounds that EA violated Betting and Gaming Act in the Netherlands. He also pointed out that players can benefit from Ultimate Team cards worth nearly 2,000 euros, and can completely ignore the basic gameplay of FIFA games and “play” the Ultimate Team card pack as a separate game.
However, EA believes that opening treasure boxes in FIFA games should not be considered a violation of the Gaming and Games Act, because FIFA Ultimate Team card packs themselves have no real value because they cannot be directly converted into cash, and FIFA games themselves value technology rather than probability. There is no scientific evidence to suggest any association between Ultimate Team card packs and gambling addiction. Subsequently, EA filed an appeal.
In March last year, the Dutch Supreme Court (Dutch Administrative Jurisdiction Division) held that EA’s treasure box opening mechanism used in the FIFA game did not violate Dutch gambling laws.
According to court documents at the time, “Most of the card packs were obtained through game participation and used in the game. For their content, they are not a game of chance and do not require a specific license or permit.”
On June 29, Dutch Consumer Affairs Minister Micky Adriaansens called for legislation to ban treasure chest openings.
In this regard, Leon previously said on social media, “My understanding is that they (Netherlands) will promote legislation to ban treasure chests at the EU level, but it will be implemented in their own country soon. What I hope they understand is that this practice is already in use. Belgium proved ineffective.”
Subsequently, Leon sent an e-mail to the Dutch government office to confirm the authenticity of the news, and published the reply of the spokesperson of the public information service. According to the email, “As of now, the Dutch government has plans to improve the regulation of in-game purchases, and one of the goals is to prohibit opening treasure boxes in the game.”
In other words, according to the current law in the Netherlands, the treasure box opening mechanism neither allows players to directly turn it into real money, nor can it be regarded as a separate game. This is the key to EA’s victory in the Dutch Supreme Court. However, in order to resist opening treasure chests, politicians in the Netherlands decided to promote special legislation after losing the case without legal support. This is the most speechless place.
More disturbing than being banned from loot boxes is the unfair treatment of video games
Of course, although the short-term impact of the legislation on opening treasure chests is currently limited to the Netherlands, the country’s resistance to opening treasure chests has attracted the attention of courts and officials in many EU countries. Sony compensates users for in-game purchases of the PS version of FIFA.
In fact, the laws of the Netherlands as a whole have relatively loose restrictions on gambling and even adult-related industries. For example, real money gambling is legal in the country (a license is required). According to the current Dutch law, if EA’s treasure chest opening can be judged as If you play alone, but EA does not have a corresponding license, you need to pay a fine of 10 million euros. But from the experience of the game itself, opening treasure chests is actually deeply integrated into the gameplay and cannot be regarded as a separate game.
Like Leon said, even if the legislation to ban treasure chests is successful, the Netherlands can’t really prevent treasure chests from being played.
As early as 2019, due to pressure from the Belgian government to open treasure chests, EA had stopped selling FIFA Points (used to buy treasure chests in FIFA games) in Belgium, but industry analysts said that there are still Belgian players through Various ways to bypass region restrictions to buy in-game chests.
Regarding the actions of the Dutch regulators, many netizens said that this move is actually aimed at digital games, because in addition to the legalization of real money gambling, the physical version of the game “Magic: The Gathering” also has a card-drawing method, but However, it was not included in the category of prohibiting opening treasure chests. Recently, it was reported that the world’s only “Supreme Lord of the Rings” card previously associated with the Lord of the Rings in “Magic: The Gathering” has been fired to 2 million US dollars!
It can be seen that there is still a lot of prejudice against games in the Netherlands and even in the EU. Even if it cannot be promoted to the EU, the treasure box opening legislation is enough to show the unfair attitude of the Dutch government towards digital games. Manufacturers who release treasure box games in the EU still need to be cautious.
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