Good God, please let this unceasing nightmare end.
As the politicians move in on the industry over the loot box mess, the ESRB is trying one last move to hopefully appease them. In this case, they plan to force games that contain loot boxes to include a label stating that the game includes in-game purchases. As they explain at their Parental Tools site:
ESRB video game ratings will soon include a NEW In-Game Purchases notice on game packages, so you’ll know before buying the game if it includes offers for players to purchase additional game content.
Be sure to check ESRB ratings to help you decide which games are appropriate for your kids and family.
And, yes, this applies to any game that sells you something through the menus. That includes DLC as well. In a conference call with a number of reporters earlier, ESRB President Patricia Vance explained the thought process on that:
I’m sure you’re all asking why aren’t we doing something more specific to loot boxes. We’ve done a lot of research over the past several weeks and months, particularly among parents. What we’ve learned is that a large majority of parents don’t know what a loot box is. Even those who claim they do, don’t really understand what a loot box is. So it’s very important for us to not harp on loot boxes per se, to make sure that we’re capturing loot boxes, but also other in-game transactions.
Will this get the bureaucrats off their back? Probably not. EA made damn sure there was enough blood in the water to draw sharks from all over, so to speak. But maybe it’s enough to placate the horde and keep the ratings process from becoming infinitely more complicated than it is. We’d do well to hope so.
Source: Kotaku
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