Games

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The UK government’s decision to let technology companies self-regulate gambling-style loot boxes in video games has been called into question, after some of the developers put in charge of new industry guidelines broke their own rules.

In the past six months, the advertising regulator has upheld complaints against three companies involved in drawing up industry rules, including the leading developer Electronic Arts (EA), for failing to disclose that their games contained loot boxes.

Loot boxes are in-game features that allow players to pay, with real money or virtual currency, to open a digital envelope containing random prizes, such as an outfit or a weapon for a character.

Since then, Leon Xiao, an expert on loot-box regulation and PhD fellow at the IT University of Copenhagen, said hundreds of adverts for games, more than 90% of those he examined, did not abide by the group’s own rule on disclosure.

Don Foster, the chair of the House of Lords group Peers for Gambling Reform, said: “‘It is abundantly clear that self-regulation does not work and that the government must intervene to properly regulate loot boxes and their marketing to protect children.”

The UK gaming trade body Ukie said its members hoped to implement their new guidelines by July 2024, to “improve protections for all players and underline the industry’s commitment to safe and responsible play”.

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