Its really gonna change Overwatch and gaming for the better. F2P and Mobile games will be actually bearable, we can buy the skins we want instead of spending hundreds on POSSIBLY getting it.
I dont live in the US myself but its gonna force a worldwide change that I am supportive of.
No, things are going to be disproportionately more expensive to buy without any free drops, they’ll just milk us harder and then blame the legislation for the price jack.
Exactly. No lootboxes doesn’t mean free easy access to items, it means they’ll be stuck behind a paywall.
So? Let them be. If gamers exercised an ounce of common sense and stopped throwing money at the damned game companies and their scummy practices, then it would cease to be a problem.
Know how many lootboxes I have purchased in Overwatch or any other game? Zero.
Know what I do when a game shop has a cosmetic for a price I feel is too high? I don’t buy it.
The problem is that video gamers act like drug addicts with absolutely no willpower, so of course the studios are going to capitalize on it.
no loot boxes means no way to earn currency, meaning all skins will be paywalled eventually, doesn’t sound fun to me
Not really.
For games like EA’s garbage? Yes, i am. Things like what happened with Battlefront 2, should never happen.
But for a game like OverWatch? No, it’s going to suck. What’s going to happen is you’ll either have to buy things a la carte, or via coins packs. And, unless you only want a few skins or only play a hero or two, it’s going to get really expensive, really fast.
For example, lets say in an a la carte system, Epics cost $5 and Legendaries cost $10 (there is a reasom why i picked these numbers, they aren’t arbitrary). Even if you just want 10 skins of each Rarity and nothing else, that could cost you $150.
Going with coins packs, lets say you get 1,000 coins for $10. Well, if a new legendary skin comes out for an event, that could cost you $30, if its still 3,000 coins, in game. And, that’s just for one skin.
And this is just talking about skins. Not to mention things like highlight intros and emotes. This is also just talkin about if you buy a handful skins, because you only like a few or only play Hero or two.
But, if you’re someone like me who plays all heroes and is looking to collect as many Cosmetics as possible, an a la carte system or coin packs would really break the bank.
People hate to admit it, but OverWatch has loot boxes that are actually pretty fair. They just don’t like it because of the RNG of it all. And while I can understand that, I assure you that if we were to buy skins and the like, through other methods, it would be way more expensive.
By the way, I’m not just pulling this out of my butt, I actually have stats and figures to back this up and I can post them, if you like. I just don’t want to bore everybody with three paragraphs worth of math
kinda like how we used to buy dlc that actually expanded the game by more then a couple of skins and gimmicks?
or you know, instead of buying a bunch of boxes and still end up not getting the thing you want, you could just buy the coins directly and unlock the thing you want without all the messing around/predatory business practices.
Also it doesn’t mean loot boxes disappear entirely, they just won’t be able CHARGE for them anymore but god forbid they give you more ways to get them by actually PLAYING the game… (they only reason they don’t give out more regularly at the moment is to get you to PAY for them)
But they’d have to create a different system with which to get coins. As of right now we depend on lootboxes to get coins and buy skins.
As a responsible adult that feels I am of sound mind to decide what to spend my money on … no, I think it’s utterly stupid. Just the government adding more red tape to things.
As long as it’s cosmetic, I have zero problems with cash shops in games. Pay2Win can go die in a fire, of course, but OW isn’t like that, so I don’t have an issue.
If you really cannot exercise enough willpower to not buy cosmetic items in a video game instead of paying your rent, then that’s your own problem, and the government shouldn’t step in and ruin it for the rest of us.
And that’s my two cents on that. XP
i think EA-Like lootboxes should be banned
OW-Like shouldnt…
You get free lootboxes almost every day in OW, its fine, plus even if you get Dupes you can still re-invest the money into the skins you want after a while
Plus even then, its just a SKIN, its not changing anything
While i agree, consider that some people have a real problem with this, an addiction, but i think this people should be identified and adressed by themselves inestead of punishing everyone because of them
I can see Game changing loot boxes getting the boot but Overwatch style type of loot boxes. Don’t like that idea on bit.
Yeah the thing is this game is rated T for Teen, which means the player base is not composed entirely of “responsible adults” who always make the best financial decisions.
Late stage capitalism is such a funny thing, look at the customers standing up for the billion dollar company to defend their predatory business practices… oh wait did I say funny I ment depressing 
This is the same company that patented a system of matchmaking that will deliberately put new players with no unlocks up against high level players with all the unlocks so they’ll get beaten constantly, in order to “encourage” them to go buy loot boxes/upgrade packs so they can actually compete.
but yeah these guys TOTALLY have YOUR best interest at heart and they absolutely don’t see you as a giant wallet to be emptied of all its cash
You are now my spirit Animal!
Oh yes, it will greatly improve gaming as a whole. Just like how it’s a crime to sell M rated games to minors. The criminals.
Wait…
To a degree, yes.
Lootboxes in games like Battlefront or Shadow of War were an atrocity.
But in games like Overwatch? Eh, can’t say I really have an issue with them. You can unlock whatever you want if you play enough. I think the last time I’ve bought lootboxes was LNY or Anniversary 2017, but I still have the vast majority of stuff unlocked for every hero through free lootboxes or simply buying it with coins.
In regards to Overwatch, the best case scenario is that they replace current lootboxes with just earned coins, like 100 per level or whatever.
Worst case scenario is that they completely nix the free loot for leveling and arcade wins and make getting cosmetics you want more reliable, but significantly more expensive. Using Apex as an example, if you buy a lootbox it’s pretty similar to Overwatch and costs 100 credits per lootbox (roughly 1.20 AUD), but buying a skin out of the shop (which has the same items as in the lootboxes) costs 1800 coins, or enough for 18 lootboxes.
I have the microtransaction story from hell.
I’m from Australia and I don’t think there will be any lootbox bans here, but I hope there is, so long as games such as Overwatch give currency to buy items through other means, such as winning games and leveling up. But now to the story…
I’ve been a fan of the Fire Emblem series for a really long time now, and, as my name suggests, I REALLY love the character Berkut. I think he is just the best and is one of my favourite fictional characters of all time. In the mobile game Fire Emblem Heroes, I +10’d the original Berkut as fast as was possible.
(side note here, to +10 - fully promote - a character, you need 9 other copies of that same character and merge them into one. It’s a GACHA game, so there is a summoning system which is pretty much like a lootbox, but not all characters are redeemable by summoning, they are redeemable by other means. Original Berkut is one of those characters - this is important for the story)
Then, relatively recently, they released an alternate Berkut. I had been waiting for it for ages and pretty much died when, finally, he was released. I managed to get 3 of him really fast, but I got greedy and decided to keep trying…and trying…and trying…until I had blown over 400 dollars without having gotten him again. I entirely blame myself and know how utterly stupid I was (cannot emphasise that enough to the point where I got into an argument with a friend of mine over how it WASN’T the game’s fault), and honestly I think a ban over lootboxes and similar systems would be really beneficial. I don’t want other people making the same mistakes I did, and I don’t agree with the idea that games can promote something and take your money for the CHANCE of getting that which you spent your money on. That being said, people DO need to exercise personal responsibility and common sense…Something I am very surprised that I ignored for a lot of the month of May where this event took place. Ugh me.
So that’s my microtransaction story from hell, and why I think the ban is good.
If they make access to items worse because of this legislation that is THEIR decision exclsuively. If Blizzard decides to be the worst version od themselves it is a combination of their moral bankruptcy and capitalist greed. People praising loot boxes in any way or acting like they’re a good alternative to other forms of DLC are out of their minds.
See I personally don’t see this as “predatory.” There are games out there that I feel are very scummy, however.
Animal Jam is a big one. It most certainly DOES prey on kids, and that irritates the crap out of me. Like, we used to buy my niece AJ gift cards for her b-day and such, but then she got to where she wanted them all the time. Begged her mom constantly for more AJ credits that you could ONLY get via RL money.
It was clear she was developing kind of a problem there. A problem that the AJ devs purposefully caused and WANTED her to develop. Now THAT is scummy - to prey on actual weak-minded children.
Another shady game is Black Desert Online. Pay 2 Win practices and locking almost everything behind a paywall is just insane. Even if it’s aimed at adults (unlike AJ), it’s a really bull design that will drain your wallet faster than you even realize.
With Overwatch, though? I don’t see that it’s a huge problem. Mainly because there is nothing in this game from regular lootboxes that you cannot earn by simply playing the game. None of those skins (aside from the charity ones) are exclusively tied to real life money.
Dishing out some cash can earn you the things quicker, yes, but it’s not downright required to obtain them. That, and the fact that skins are just cosmetic. It would be entirely different if there were weapon upgrades and such inside those boxes.
Anyway, sorry for the long-winded rant. Just explaining why I think OW lootboxes aren’t that scummy.
NO because business never goes backwards, it always wants to go forward. Companies are used to getting 100, 200 or even 5k dollars off a single game sale. They won’t go back to single sales figures. Instead they will push streaming services and upfront micro transactions.
I don’t know if you have noticed but even skin and cosmetic sales have gone up to any where from 10-30 dollars for a single item these days. Companies are used to the profit margins of loot boxes, they can’t do anything else and achieve the same number of profits let alone grow.
In theory it’s a good idea but in practice companies will just find new ways to get their money in even worse ways. Not to mention you can’t trust the government to regulate anything properly, especially the US Government.
Next thing you know games will spend 8 months waiting for approval, or be told they violate some standard and get shut down. Months or years of development lost because of vague terms and human level interpretations of the rules that never the same across two cases.
Look at the TOS of most digital platforms like Youtube or Twitch. They can get you for almost anything, or alternatively let almost anything slide if the person is popular enough.
The logistics are also insane because any board would have trouble monitoring even just the biggest AAA releases, let alone the millions of games put on Steam.