A new study by researchers in the UK found a “strongly verified” link between problematic gambling and loot boxes in video games.
The report (via BBC) was conducted by researchers at the University of Plymouth and the University of Wolverhampton and commissioned by the charity GamblingAware. He took existing data and examined elements such as gender, age of spenders and how much revenue is provided by fewer spenders.
Based on this research, the study found that up to 40% of children who play opened cash drawers, although it does not mention whether that figure includes cash draws won or just paid ones. He also said that about 5% of players generate half the revenue from these boxes, which means that a small number of players are spending an exorbitant amount of money, and that younger, less educated men are more likely to use them. .
Spending can reach $ 100 a month, and with younger, less educated people, usually with less disposable income, that’s a considerable amount.
A few years ago, Belgium declared that cashiers were illegal as they violated the country’s gambling laws. Similar efforts have been made to classify them as games of chance in other regions, including the United States.
In response, game publishers often point out that, unlike something like poker, you’re guaranteed to get some prize from a withdrawal box. However, the resistance of the players still allowed them to become a little less common in AAA launches.
Star Wars Battlefront II, released a few years ago with great controversy over its loot box progression system, changed to make it a moot point before it was even released, it was undoubtedly the last straw, and the game was extensively revised in the following months. Around the same time, a similar controversy hit the single-player Middle-earth: Shadow of War, which completely wiped out its real-money market.