Games industry agrees to new restrictions on loot boxes in UK
Games industry agrees to new restrictions on loot boxes in UK
The government has spent nearly three years on plans to regulate the use of loot boxes
UKIE has published the long-awaited industry-led guidance on loot boxes developed as part of DCMS' Technical Working Group on how they should be regulated. The guidance seeks to meet the Government's objectives on consumer protections regarding loot boxes that it set out last year. Of note:
āļø The 'complexity, dynamism and fast changing nature of the games sector' was given as one of the reasons why the government has pursued an industry-led approach to regulation (as opposed to introducing new regulations itself).
11 Principles underpin the guidance, with an emphasis on:
š Driving player awareness of technological controls š Disclosing the presence and probability of paid loot boxes ā Enforcing the unauthorised external sale of paid loot box rewards
The guidance also gives examples of current industry best practice, such as displaying PEGI's 'contains in-game purchases (includes random items)ā descriptor at the point of sale.
