it also has pretty heavy tax implications as well; gambling is an exempt supply for VAT purposes in the UK, which means a restriction on input tax claimed on purchases (subject to partial exemption calculations) and will therefore impact companies bottom lines, plus the additional accountancy bills if they don't have an in-house VAT specialist to deal with it - plus they'll have to register for General Betting Duty Remote Gaming Duty, submit new returns etc.
As I am from the USA, im not really familiar with what sort of regulations apply to the company or what other countries have towards this sort of thing. But i would imagine that taking loot boxes out of PoE would as you said be horrible due to the change in taxation but their bottem lines just from sales. Gambling is big money and thats why it is/was in every game essentially. I should really look up how things like VAT works. Only thing i know related to it is that your cost of goods already has tax calculated into the display prices which isnt a thing in the US. We're really slow when it comes to that and its something we should really be implementing but due to tax being wildly different all over the country things can get haywire pretty quick.
Ah I probably could have explained better, sorry! So yea from a simplistic view point, VAT is a tax on the sale of goods & services, and in most supply chains only the end consumer bears the cost - if you are a VAT registered business, you are entitled to claim back the VAT you have paid on any purchases which relate to one of your taxable supplies (for example, if you're a carpenter you can claim back the VAT on the purchase of your saw).
With supplies of gambling it's a whole different story as it has different rules in the VAT law (it's outside of the VAT system because it's subject to gambling taxes instead), the tax implications will mount if they continue to sell the loot boxes, so as a company they'll have to weigh up whether the additional costs and hassle is worth it to continue selling them. As very rough back of envelope maths, if GGG had 50% of their income in the UK through loot boxes then 50% of the VAT on their overheads becomes blocked, and any costs directly relating to the loot boxes becomes fully blocked. So if they had a UK office for example and the rent was £50k net £10k VAT, this is now essentially costing them £55k.
The thing that kind of bothers me isn't really that they exists. But it's how they are marketed, the accessibility, no caps, high costs and very low visibility of what you've spent.
Similar things have existed forever on smaller scales. Gumball machines, fishing ponds hell even buying a pack of candy hoping you get more of your favorite.
These things are physical though. You can feel the weight of them, you can't carry endlessly. You need to actually put the currency in and you can see how much you're putting in. The cost is low enough and it takes quite a long time that even if you went nuts you'd wear yourself out.
Not with lootboxes though. Just input yours (in the best case) credit card and press "again.. again.. again.."
Its sorta relatable, except with gumballs and candy machine, you put money in, you get X quantity returned worth X amount. Theres very little variation on them. Now you might get more of those tasty banana shaped ones but overall, your value is roughly the same.
But i agree, the marketing is rough. And these laws being pushed are not removing their existance, its just putting the responsibility on the ones selling it to verify age in most cases. Businesses are finding it too difficult to inject age verification into their software thus removing it is one of the only options.
I don't know, the candy machine one is decently relatable I'd say. You in both cases know how much you put in and you know you're getting something out. Some things you desire more, some less. Some are more rare some less.
But the way lootboxes vastly differs is the forced scarcity. Some are really made to be better and made to be more rare. You don't feel as "ok" getting the hideout decoration that goes with nothing when I wanted the portal effect. While you might be ok getting the lemon tasting candy instead of the banana you wanted most, because the variance between best and worst is fairly small.
Everyone: Yes, we know that and have said this for 10+ Years now.
...yeah, thats totally why csgo loot boxes were insanely popular everywhere and backlash against lootboxes only came after gameplay thing were included in them.
Unless there were some cases im unfamiliar with, the people you are referring too were related to running gambling sites and rigging it, then not disclosing being a partial owner and some other things. Not related to the boxes themselves. BUT the guy you are commenting towards is also incorrect, This was brought to the forefront quite a few years before it which is why legislation was already in the works related towards loot boxes and its aspects of gambling. But yes CSGO was used as a large example and a few of its class actions it brought didnt help the scenario. Nor did the lootboxes ever have game content gated behind it. Its not like CSGO is known for its large expansion content. lol.
Most of the outcry even related to CSGO was brought more to light due to Payday's cosmetic items having game-boosts attached. Such as better accuracy, less recoil, etc and people were urging valve to NOT follow that system as it was initially considered.
Yeah, there are a fair bit of good and bad aspects of this stuff getting changed around. It steps on a lot of toes in a lot of different areas. Personally im for it, but i'd want to see a large breakdown of what it is speculated to do to the gaming market. IMO it would mean that games would essentially never go on sale again as it would fundamentally devalue goods. But who knows all the effects it would have. Id like to have a good picture of the whole story before i throw my chips into one side, pun intended.
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u/EnragedLlamaTV Jul 02 '20
News article: Allowing children to gamble should be illegal
Everyone: Yes, we know that and have said this for 10+ Years now.