United States senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) has begun a crusade to regulate the use and proliferation of loot boxes in games by contacting the ESRB. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board, a self-regulatory organization for the gaming industry, is best known as being responsible for putting age-related ratings and warnings related to the content on games. The letter sent by Sen. Hassan to ESRB president Patricia Vance urges the ESRB to “keep pace” with the recent trends in microtransactions and what she refers to as “predatory gaming tactics”.
The letter is a direct follow-up to issues raised by Sen. Hassan during a hearing populated by nominees for posts to the Federal Trade Commission. The two events in conjunction send a clear message to the ESRB that if they are unable or unwilling to take action themselves to properly regulate or provide notice regarding randomized rewards that Sen. Hassan plans to impose legislation via the Federal Trade Commission. The letter, as reported by Andy Chalk of PCGamer, has prompted a response by the ESRB:
“We received Senator Hassan’s letter and appreciate her confidence in and support of the ESRB rating system,” an ESRB spokesperson said in response to our inquiry. “For more than two decades we have earned the trust of parents around the country by helping them make informed decisions about the games their children play.”
The letter, and Sen. Hassan’s questions during the senate hearing follow closely on the heels of news that the state of Hawaii is publicly discussing the possibility of restricting the sale of games featuring loot boxes purchasable in-game to people under the age of 21. Hawaii’s discourse on the matter itself follows several European countries either banning loot boxes as currently constructed or classifying them as gambling for legal purposes.
Loot boxes do operate under a principle close in nature to that of gambling. The randomization and frequency of desirable, or rare, drops leads gamers to work hard or pay for in-game currency to get multiple shots at receiving the drops. Should legislation pass, it would disrupt (or completely eliminate) what is sometimes the only source of revenue for some games. Loot boxes have found their way from free-to-play games all the way to AAA titles, such as Overwatch, the Madden series and, controversially, Star Wars: Battlefront II. Should the ESRB force games to list the odds of receiving rare items, similar to lotto scratchers and even trading cards, and provide notifications on the box and in-game regarding loot boxes, they will likely avoid government interference.
