The UK government is once again looking to take further action against games companies that use loot boxes in games. As noted by Gamesindustry.biz, yesterday on Sunday, July 17, the government told game publishers that if they do not take action to better protect young people from loot boxes, a legislation will be drawn up to enforce changes instead.
The government has said that children and young people should not be able to purchase loot boxes without parental consent, but that for the time being, it is letting the games industry regulate itself.
This comes after the previously launched call for evidence on the effects of loot boxes back in 2020, which has since come to the conclusion that loot boxes are not impactful enough to require changes to the Gambling Act.
"Changing the Gambling Act with regards to loot boxes would have significant implementation challenges and risks of unintended consequences".
But, that doesn't change the fact that the report also notes that loot boxes should not be available to under-18s, and that the government "will not hesitate" to bring in a legislation "if companies do not bring in sufficient measures to keep players safe."
A new body has also been formed to support players who spend too much money on loot boxes, as well as another body being formed that will help develop "industry-led measures" to help tackle the problems that loot boxes create.
A new initiative called the Video Games Research Framework has also been launched, which will aim to gather better evidence and understand the positive and negative effects of gaming.