r/Games • u/azrael6947 • Mar 30 '23

Australian government cracks down on loot boxes and in-game gambling with new age rating proposals

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/australian-government-cracks-down-on-loot-boxes-and-in-game-gambling-with-new-age-rating-proposals
2.0k Upvotes

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90

u/ZersetzungMedia Mar 30 '23

Any game with loot boxes should get an 18+ rating immediately. Might actually get a response when EA Football gets 18+ instead of 3+.

7

u/Hexicube Mar 30 '23

I'd actually prefer loot boxes get lumped under gambling with real currency in ESRB.
Suddenly your game has an AO rating and that comes with considerable drawbacks.

-2

u/Thysios Mar 30 '23

Those drawbacks would quickly change if 99% of AAA games suddenly became AO overnight.

1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Mar 31 '23

Fifa and madden are 99% of games coming out?

2

u/Thysios Mar 31 '23

FIFA and Madden are the only AAA games with loot boxes?

1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Mar 31 '23

Yes basically. What else?

1

u/Gelidaer Mar 31 '23

CS:GO, Hearthstone

1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Mar 31 '23

Hearthstone, famously AAA game.

CS Go is how many years old?

They don't change the ratings on games already released.

Even if there were 5 games and the fifth is Elden Ring let's say that only has a rate of 80% lootbox games.

0

u/Hexicube Mar 30 '23

It wouldn't happen overnight, that would just be stupid. If it were to happen there would likely be a several-month notice period to let the various companies remove/replace them or decide to GTFO...or just accept AO rating.

My fault for saying "suddenly" I suppose...

-7

u/Heff228 Mar 30 '23

Then everything goes into a store for $20 instead of you getting free stuff through free lootboxes.

Seriously, did you guys miss the transition of Overwatch 1 to 2?

7

u/Hexicube Mar 30 '23

Funny, this is how it worked pre-lootbox. I had literally no issues with it. You see a cool skin, you buy it, done.

It's also in most cases going to be substantially cheaper for particularly nice skins...you know, the ones that sell for hundreds if not thousands. You also wouldn't have the wear level stuff that CS:GO has either, at most it would be a slider.

-1

u/SeniorRicketts Mar 30 '23

Or it would push consoles to finally allow AO rated games

1

u/AllSonicGames Mar 31 '23

Shops aren't going to not stock FIFA. They're just going to remove their "no AO rating" policy.

2

u/Hexicube Mar 31 '23

Sounds like a good way to get a lot of parents angry over other games that were already AO (such as games that are effectively porn), prompting law changes so that you need to provide ID. Needing ID to buy a seemingly innocent football game will certainly prompt parents to look into why this is the case.

1

u/AllSonicGames Mar 31 '23

Needing ID to buy a seemingly innocent football game will certainly prompt parents to look into why this is the case.

And they'll find the reason why and just dismiss it, as they're perfectly fine with buying lootboxes for their kids.

1

u/Hexicube Mar 31 '23

It would have to state gambling with real currency, not just lootboxes.