The European Parliament has adopted a report on protecting consumers in online video games. In it, the European Parliament calls on the European Commission to investigate the impact of loot boxes and to take measures where necessary.
It’s about a report drawn up at the end of last year by Adriana Maldonado López as rapporteur for the European Parliament. Its aim is to achieve a uniform approach to consumer protection in online games that is the same across the EU. The European Parliament has voted with a large majority behind the report. There were 577 votes in favour, 56 against and 15 abstentions.
One of the main recommendations is that loot boxes should be examined from a consumer protection law perspective to counter the harmful effects and exploitative practices of loot boxes, especially among minors and young children. The report therefore calls on the Commission to analyze how loot boxes are sold and, where necessary, to take measures to arrive at a uniform European approach in order to achieve adequate protection for consumers, in particular children. It is not yet a direct call to ban loot boxes, but that could eventually be an outcome. It also zooms in on specific gold farming; Parliament wants the Commission to look into the extent to which this is linked to financial crimes and human rights violations.
The report also pays specific attention to gaming addiction and ways built into games to drive players to spend more and more money. For example, it is pointed out that some in-game purchase systems are inherently manipulative and exploitative, employing aggressive commercial practices that severely limit consumer choice and push them to make financial decisions they otherwise would not have made. Such practices are prohibited and developers are therefore called upon to respect the rights of minors, for example in the field of privacy, targeted advertising and manipulative practices.
In addition, the aim is to establish a uniform way of providing information about games and their content, as well as systems that help parents understand and manage how much time and money their children spend on games. Priority should also be given to data protection and a plan to bring more balance to the gender distribution in the games industry. In addition, Parliament considers it important that it is as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to make a commitment.
GroenLinks MEP Kim van Sparrentak negotiated the report on behalf of the group of the Greens and is satisfied with the outcome, because she believes that the games industry has been allowed to do too much with regard to an important and vulnerable target group for them , namely children and young people: “Whereas you used to buy the most fun or exciting game in the store and take it home, the aim of the game industry is now to keep you online as long as possible and to spend as much as possible in a game. They do this with psychological tricks, addictive design and deception. We have to crack down on this.”
The Interactive Software Federation of Europe and the European Game Developers Federation have a joint statement issued before the vote in the European Parliament. The organizations note that there are also many positive words in the report about the benefits games offer consumers, but are concerned about calls for stricter action against all forms of in-game purchases. This could affect the ability of companies to make games or mean that they will no longer be freely available to European players. According to the organizations, current European legislation is sufficient to act against misleading, unfair or aggressive practices and the problem mainly lies with ineffective enforcement.
