Topic: Loot Box Odds Will Be Required To Be Disclosed on Nintendo Systems.

ESA chief counsel of tech policy Michael Warneck, announced today at the Federal Trade Commission’s Inside the Game workshop that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are working on policies that will require transparency of loot box odds to players in new games that have loot boxes or updates that are adding them in.
Full quote from Micheal Warneck:
“That said, we are doing more. I’m pleased to announce this morning that Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have indicated to ESA a commitment to new platform policies with respect to the use of paid loot boxes in games that are developed for their platform. Specifically, this would apply to new games and game updates that add loot box features. And it would require the disclosure of the relative rarity or probabilities of obtaining randomized virtual items in games that are available on their platforms.”

“As well, many of the leading video game publishers of the Entertainment Software Association have decided that they are going to implement a similar approach at the publisher level to provide consumers this information and give them enhanced information to make purchase decisions.”

I'm sure EA, Activision, and Take Two love this news.

So it’ll be no different than the back of a lotto scratcher, right? All this really does is create a barrier for lawsuits. Or if someone has an issue with a game including loot boxes, this allows the publisher to smugly say “We said exactly what the odds were, you still bought it”.

I’m neither for nor against this, but it doesn’t really hold much significance.

Pretty much my opinion in a nutshell.

I wish the (Paying Real Money) loot system would just get outlawed anyways.

If this is a benevolent move, then good... But I have a feeling publishers behind the scenes are trying to make Loot Boxes look like less of an outright scam, thus trying to keep them under the legal radar. "Surprise Mechanics", anyone?

This is a step in the right direction, but it depends on the implementation. As an example, in fire emblem heroes they give the odds to get a specific rarity. But it still doesn't give away the true odds to get a specific character, and it doesn't take in to account the different colors of orbs. So the real odds are still buried.

Also, it should be mandatory to show how much real money have been spent this month and lifetime (preferably right before a new purchase), the more transparency the better. And it should be illegal to have micro-transactions in any title aimed at children.

This is the big thing that they aren't addressing; selling gambling to kids. They should get an automatic Mature rating at the very least.