Loot boxes are becoming increasingly prevalent on computer video games despite concern over the early exposure of children to gambling, new research suggests. Researchers at the University of York indicate that the prevalence of loot boxes—virtual bundles of random items exchanged for real-world money—continue to grow on desktop games.
Such boxes increased from four to 71 percent over the past nine years. It also reported a rise in microtransactions, where specific items are purchased, from eight percent to 86 percent.
“A common line among industry representatives is that loot boxes are a niche feature in modern video games,” research author, David Zendle, told the Guardian. “In contrast to this, these results suggest that loot boxes have become a common presence in the lives of many gamers. We appear to have reached a point where the majority of gamers on Steam play games with loot boxes.”
Zendle believes the practice is more widespread in mobile games.
Spending money on loot boxes, which originated in Japan, has been linked to problem gambling since they involve a high degree of chance and a risk-reward factor, mimicking slot machines and roulette.
It is difficult to ascertain the true value of the in-game items, but one estimate suggests £23 billion (US$29.7 billion) was spent on them last year and it is forecast to be a £39 billion industry by 2022. A number of video game companies make more money from in-game purchases than from sales of the games themselves.
The industry has largely resisted calls to remove loot boxes voluntarily. It now faces an impending threat of regulation in the UK and elsewhere after Belgium, the Netherlands and China either classified them as gambling or moved to restrict them. Sweden is currently investigating how to regulate them.
Carolyn Harris, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on gambling-related harm in the last parliament, said the rise of loot boxes on video games was “shocking. They’re grooming children to normalize gambling activity by encouraging speculative transactions where you don’t know what you’re going to get,” she said. “They grow up thinking there’s nothing wrong with pressing buttons and spending money on something that’s not real. They don’t even think of it as gambling. But speaking to young adults, they’ve all brought loot boxes and have now graduated to becoming gamblers.”
A brief published earlier this month by the law firm White & Case said: “Sponsors with portfolio companies in this space should analyze the extent of the portfolio’s reliance on loot boxes as a revenue stream and assess the viability of alternative income models.”
Pressure for reform is also growing in the U.S. after a senator proposed a ban and criticized video game companies for preying on user addiction.
“Now that microtransactions are widely accepted as part of the gaming experience, the amount of money spent on virtual in-game items and loot boxes is only going to keep growing unless we follow the lead of other countries and seriously considers whether loot boxes are a form of gambling,” said Ryan Morison, a lawyer specializing in digital entertainment.
The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment, a trade body for the games industry, said millions of people across a range of platforms and devices enjoyed playing games “sensibly and safely.”
