No more loot boxes on consoles!

Console Loot Boxes, that means those on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and all major brands now require disclosure! So ends the long debate about loot boxes, their hidden meaning, their sublime effect on players and, overall, their good or bad effect on the industry. It's a compromise that all the major publishers have made with the FTC, which is the Federal Trade Commission and the result of their public panel dedicated to microtransactions in video games.

The announcement came from Entertainment software association, which made the headlines of the three big publishers mentioned above and who voluntarily agreed to change their records policy. This is certainly not the end of the public panel as microtransactions are a much larger field, but it ends the debate that has been going on for some time. The practice has become quite popular since its inception over the past 5-10 years, when the first wave of loot boxes even started from 2004 to 2007 in many popular free-to-play online video games.

Entertainment Software Association's Michael Warnecke was a strong supporter of the practice, albeit only generally speaking, and it was part of the compromise that keeps everyone moving forward with it. its games and updates. He also commented on the announcement, saying:

“Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have indicated to ESA their commitment to adopt new platform policies relating to the use of paid loot boxes in games developed for their platform. This would apply more particularly to new games and game updates that add loot box functionality, and disclosure of the relative rarity or odds of getting random virtual items in games available on their platforms. -forms. "- Michael Warnecke

He added that many other big publishers are also joining this new practice, including Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Bandai Namco, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros, Bungie, Take-Two Interactive and the previous Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony Well. Of course, the disclosure deal for chests doesn't contain all the fun, as it is general practice that users will now have some insight into the relative rarity of the virtual items they would get, or the exact point of view of their content. the likelihood that they can obtain specific virtual items.

“This approach would also be compatible with the Apple and Google approaches on the mobile platform. We believe that, taken as a whole, this provides a holistic approach to enabling consumers to get the information they need to be able to make informed purchasing decisions when it comes to paid loot boxes, ”added Warnecke. One of the main arguments that has long been debated was the addictive nature of the game element in the loot box reward mystery, which is at least now avoided. And the FTC's public panel on the matter is concluded.