Andrew Wilkie, an Australian MP, has finally introduced his Australia loot box legislation. I say finally because we reported that Wilkie would propose his Australia loot box legislation back in July 2021, so he's been working on this for a while.
The law, which has the rather long-winded legal name of "Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Loot Boxes) Bill 2022", seeks "to classify any game with loot boxes as R18+ or RC," which would definitely put a cramp in any publisher trying to sell loot boxes in the land down under. This makes sense, because you must be at least 18 to legally gamble over there.
Wilkie had this to say while introducing his Australia loot box legislation:
It’s widely acknowledged that the risk-versus-reward nature of loot boxes essentially sets young people up for future gambling addiction. The way in which the mechanism entices young people to keep coming back with desirable items is akin to the relationship between a gambler and a poker machine. It’s obvious that young people who are spending a lot of money on these games are being groomed for future gambling.
I don't disagree with Wilkie's interpretation, especially when you have massive publishers like EA funneling players toward loot boxes. It's extremely predatory and has resulted in some action against it in countries like Belgium, although they apparently aren't enforcing their laws as they should be doing.
Still, it's nice to see Wilkie doing his best to fight loot boxes. He's only one man, so while he's doing his best to protect minors against loot boxes, he's coming up against an industry that will be doing its utmost to keep it going. At this point, why not? The industry is having successes like Tencent's Honor of Kings, which is the world's first 10-billion-dollar mobile game and which contains loot boxes. When a feature helps companies make that much money, it's going to be almost impossible to stuff the genie back into the bottle.
For more information on Wilkie's crusade against loot boxes and the loot box world in general, stay tuned to TechRaptor.
