Germany might BAN Loot Boxes and Sweden is thinking abauth it

[Santti]

Thank god.

Perhaps if more countries embrace a ban on them, they will disappear.

[Yunru]

A little update:
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-b...hases-in-2017/

Activision Blizzard earned more than $4 billion on in-game purchases in 2017

Microtransactions are increasingly controversial core gamers, but they're clearly not going away.

Activision earned $7 billion in net revenues in 2017, which is an awfully impressive number, although maybe not all that surprising surprising given the games in its stable: Overwatch, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and a few others you may have heard of. But what's really interesting (or potentially terrifying, depending on your perspective) is that more than half of that amount—over $4 billion—comes from in-game purchases.

The bulk of that amount is delivered via King and its Candy Crush games, Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga, which were number one and two among the top-ten grossing games on the iOS and Android app stores in 2017. But it was hardly alone, as Blizzard (I know, what a surprise) was able to deliver more than $2 billion in revenue without having to actually make a new game.

"Blizzard generated record results for the year with no major game release, fueled by a steady stream of content and events across their franchises, in particular Overwatch, Hearthstone and World of Warcraft," Activision Blizzard chief financial officer Spencer Neumann said in the earnings call (via Seeking Alpha).

Destiny 2, despite its struggles, is part of that success as well: As we noted yesterday, Destiny 2's Curse of Osiris expansion had a better attach rate than the first expansion for the original Destiny. The release of Zombie Chronicles for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 further demonstrated the value of DLC, as Activision Blizzard president and COO Coddy Johnson said it was "the number one add-on offering of the year for PlayStation North America," despite Black Ops 3 being almost two years old when it came out.

"In-game services, features and content continue to engage our fans and help drive our results, delivering a Q4 record of over $1 billion of in-game net bookings and an annual record of over $4 billion," Johnson said.

"Just as impressively, player investment in additional virtual goods and services surpassed investment in downloadable content in 2017 for Call of Duty and for Destiny, and we expect that to be the same for 2018. Activision has a great digital roadmap ahead including Destiny 2’s expansion pass and Call of Duty: World War II’s season pass."


Yeah....lootboxes, what else. (not counting the mobile purchases, but still truckload of money).

[Bigbazz]

I hope it goes through and spreads, then game developers can go back to good game design instead of praying on people with skinner-box gambling systems. Though I'm sure they will find something equally as shit to spoil it.

[ro9ue]

This is sort of weird. There are clear examples of it being bad like CSGO Live. However, when it comes to Hearthstone or Overwatch packs and boxes... you can't cash out. It's not true gambling.

But even then, it's really it's no different than buying a pack of Magic the Gathering cards or baseball cards. And even those you can resell for money.

How about a bubble gum machine?

Will be interesting to see where they draw their lines.

[Pickynerd]

If only America would protect its consumers...

[RobertoCarlos]

This is sort of weird. There are clear examples of it being bad like CSGO Live. However, when it comes to Hearthstone or Overwatch packs and boxes... you can't cash out. It's not true gambling.

But even then, it's really it's no different than buying a pack of Magic the Gathering cards or baseball cards. And even those you can resell for money.

How about a bubble gum machine?

Will be interesting to see where they draw their lines.

Cant sell your blizzard account unless you want it to get locked.

[ro9ue]

Cant sell your blizzard account unless you want it to get locked.

I was talking about MTG and baseball cards. I said you can't cash out with HS or OW stuff.

[Blade Wolf]

I was talking about MTG and baseball cards. I said you can't cash out with HS or OW stuff.

But HS cards can be "milled" down. Also HS doesn't require you to purchase the game then have MS added ontop of that.

[kail]

But HS cards can be "milled" down. Also HS doesn't require you to purchase the game then have MS added ontop of that.

Sooo so long as the game is free, loot boxes are ok?

[zito]

Sooo so long as the game is free, loot boxes are ok?

it's also a pseudo card game and the only thing you get is cards. It's no different from buying pokemon or yugioh in real life since the only thing you can get is cards

[kail]

A little update:
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-b...hases-in-2017/

Literally doesn't make a single mention of loot boxes.

- - - Updated - - -

it's also a pseudo card game and the only thing you get is cards. It's no different from buying pokemon or yugioh in real life since the only thing you can get is cards

But it's still random, has value, and greatly affects the game. Why wouldn't that be gambling?

[ro9ue]

A little update:
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-b...hases-in-2017/

Activision Blizzard earned more than $4 billion on in-game purchases in 2017

Microtransactions are increasingly controversial core gamers, but they're clearly not going away.

Activision earned $7 billion in net revenues in 2017, which is an awfully impressive number, although maybe not all that surprising surprising given the games in its stable: Overwatch, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, and a few others you may have heard of. But what's really interesting (or potentially terrifying, depending on your perspective) is that more than half of that amount—over $4 billion—comes from in-game purchases.

The bulk of that amount is delivered via King and its Candy Crush games, Candy Crush Saga and Candy Crush Soda Saga, which were number one and two among the top-ten grossing games on the iOS and Android app stores in 2017. But it was hardly alone, as Blizzard (I know, what a surprise) was able to deliver more than $2 billion in revenue without having to actually make a new game.

"Blizzard generated record results for the year with no major game release, fueled by a steady stream of content and events across their franchises, in particular Overwatch, Hearthstone and World of Warcraft," Activision Blizzard chief financial officer Spencer Neumann said in the earnings call (via Seeking Alpha).

Destiny 2, despite its struggles, is part of that success as well: As we noted yesterday, Destiny 2's Curse of Osiris expansion had a better attach rate than the first expansion for the original Destiny. The release of Zombie Chronicles for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 further demonstrated the value of DLC, as Activision Blizzard president and COO Coddy Johnson said it was "the number one add-on offering of the year for PlayStation North America," despite Black Ops 3 being almost two years old when it came out.

"In-game services, features and content continue to engage our fans and help drive our results, delivering a Q4 record of over $1 billion of in-game net bookings and an annual record of over $4 billion," Johnson said.

"Just as impressively, player investment in additional virtual goods and services surpassed investment in downloadable content in 2017 for Call of Duty and for Destiny, and we expect that to be the same for 2018. Activision has a great digital roadmap ahead including Destiny 2’s expansion pass and Call of Duty: World War II’s season pass."


Yeah....lootboxes, what else. (not counting the mobile purchases, but still truckload of money).

Admittedly I would say I've been a "whale" for Blizzard games. But even though it's not a big deal to me financially, I've made it a point to not buy any RNG boxes from them in the last few months because I just want to vote with my dollars. It doesn't mean there will be millions of others who will do the same and actually make a real impact, but I can do my part.

The last 2 Overwatch seasons have been a test for me because I cant' seem to help myself but buy all the skins. But I didn't. I just got the skins I got from playing and if I didn't get the ones I wanted, oh well. It was tempting but I just can't support this model anymore as a consumer.

I'll buy WoW expansions, HS adventures, etc. I'm not buying anything going forward where I do not know the contents of what I'm purchasing.

All that being said, to hear that $4bil of Activisions $7bil income comes from Candy Crush... well I just don't see how anyones going to stop that. I never played that game and I'm not interested in it, but we're probably talking about $1-5 on average from most of their players.

[RobertoCarlos]

Admittedly I would say I've been a "whale" for Blizzard games. But even though it's not a big deal to me financially, I've made it a point to not buy any RNG boxes from them in the last few months because I just want to vote with my dollars. It doesn't mean there will be millions of others who will do the same and actually make a real impact, but I can do my part.

The last 2 Overwatch seasons have been a test for me because I cant' seem to help myself but buy all the skins. But I didn't. I just got the skins I got from playing and if I didn't get the ones I wanted, oh well. It was tempting but I just can't support this model anymore as a consumer.

I'll buy WoW expansions, HS adventures, etc. I'm not buying anything going forward where I do not know the contents of what I'm purchasing.

All that being said, to hear that $4bil of Activisions $7bil income comes from Candy Crush... well I just don't see how anyones going to stop that. I never played that game and I'm not interested in it, but we're probably talking about $1-5 on average from most of their players.

Im in the same boat here. I've stopped pre-ordering completely also even if it has a tasty pre-order bonus. Too many day 1 patches these days gonna wait for more people to play it and get an idea what im getting before spending money now.

[Blade Wolf]

Sooo so long as the game is free, loot boxes are ok?

My point being, i don't mind MS if the game itself is free.

[zito]

Literally doesn't make a single mention of loot boxes.

- - - Updated - - -



But it's still random, has value, and greatly affects the game. Why wouldn't that be gambling?

If you want to make an argument about card packs, online or real life card packs, then go start a thread about it. Cards though are not in the same situation as loot boxes though.

[kail]

If you want to make an argument about card packs, online or real life card packs, then go start a thread about it. Cards though are not in the same situation as loot boxes though.

They are loot boxes. Random in-game items inside a "pack"that you buy with IRL money or game currency. To be ok with one and not the other is hypocritical.

[GreenJesus]

If you want to make an argument about card packs, online or real life card packs, then go start a thread about it. Cards though are not in the same situation as loot boxes though.

Real cards can be sold or traded to other people at card shops or friends. Hearthstone cards are just 0s and 1s on your account.

[Yunru]

Real cards can be sold or traded to other people at card shops or friends. Hearthstone cards are just 0s and 1s on your account.

And if you get banned or they got error in their system = you lose everything. Well everyone will lose those cards when game will shut down. And this applys to any multiplayer game with micro-stuff.

[PosPosPos]

Because of tech limitations. If it we're possible back then, micro transactions would exist back then.

What? This is rubbish, slot machines in casinos and web browsers existed way back then.

Random number generators isn't a modern concept.

[Daedius]

Great. Always found the Lootbox practise to be beyond disgusting. Bad enough buying games with separate DLCs that should've been in the game on launch.