ESRB Ratings Will Now Tell You If A Game Has Loot Boxes
ESRB Ratings Will Now Tell You If A Game Has Loot Boxes
ESRB Ratings Will Now Tell You If A Game Has Loot Boxes
By Ethan Gatch
April 14, 2020
Summary
"Since adding the In-Game Purchases notice to ratings assigned to physical games many game consumers and enthusiasts have reached out to us asking the ESRB to include additional information to identify games that include randomized purchases," the agency wrote.
The descriptions still won't be using the phrase "Loot box," though, because in the ESRB's words, "Most people less familiar with games do not understand it."
In the past the ESRB had been resistant to calling out loot boxes in games, telling Kotaku back in 2017 that it didn't consider them to be gambling.
By now many games have already replaced their loot boxes with battle passes and other forms of in-game microtransactions.
Reference
Gach, E. (2020, April 13). ESRB Ratings Will Now Tell You If A Game Has Loot Boxes. Retrieved April 14, 2020, from https://kotaku.com/esrb-ratings-will-now-tell-you-if-a-game-has-loot-boxes-1842838351