A new policy update has been added to the terms of use for developers making video game apps for iOS platforms. Apple is enforcing a new rule under section 3.1 of Payments in the developer guidelines, with a special addition to section 3.1.1 for In-App Purchases, where it now states that developers have to disclose the odds of a user’s chance at earning the item they want from the loot box.
The exact wording from the section reads…
“Apps offering “loot boxes” or other mechanisms that provide randomized virtual items for purchase must disclose the odds of receiving each type of item to customers prior to purchase.”
This will likely throw a foil in the plans of those who thought they could cash in on all that sweet gambling-style loot from whales, normies, and little Jimmies alike.
So far reports indicate that Google has not enforced any rules on their Google Play store when it comes to in-app purchases for premium loot boxes.
Surprisingly, China was the first to crack down on loot boxes, forcing developers like Blizzard to clean up their act and disclose the loot box odds for gamers getting something good in Overwatch.
In America, the whole idea is to allow corporations to rape your wallets dry and then blame you for not being richer. Some parents finally got fed up with that mentality when EA wanted to molest the wallets of their little Timmy and Bobby, and decided to literally complain to Disney about the issue when the premium loot boxes appeared in Star Wars: Battlefront II. This resulted in EA temporarily pulling microtransactions from the game, Disney getting pissed, and both lawmakers and gambling commissions being dragged into the fray.
Some politicians have promised to put premium loot box regulation on the table for the legislature, which means that government enforcement could be barreling down on the gaming industry like Nicolás Maduro bearing down on a kid with a stolen loaf of bread.
Anyway, it looks like the mobile market is going to self-regulate to avoid government regulation. Big AAA companies don’t have enough sense between their noggins to do the same, and will likely have to face the wrath of Big Brother since they couldn’t curb their greed.
