The Netherlands could be the next country to ban loot boxes in video games, as six political parties joined to support this bill.
While it still has to move through the country’s Senate, it seems unlikely to fail after the overwhelming support it is receiving meaning that the Netherlands would join Belgium and China in its ban on loot boxes.
According to VGC, this motion claims that “in video games, children are manipulated into making microtransactions and that loot boxes are also a form of gambling […] they can get addicted and can burden families with unexpected bills for these transactions.”
This could cause a chain reaction
If the Netherlands approve this motion, the calls from across Europe to ban loot boxes will grow even louder and pressure mounts on games companies to remove them from their most popular titles.
Only last month, 20 consumer groups from 18 European countries launched a coordinated petition asking authorities to pass regulations on loot boxes which include a ban on deceptive design, extra protections for minors, and transactional transparency.
Hopefully, more European countries will take action and eventually other markets like Asia and the Americas could follow in their footsteps.
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