A bipartisan bill was introduced in the U. S. Senate on Tuesday aimed at banning pay-to-win microtransactions and loot boxes in video games that are “minor-oriented.” The bill, however, essentially applies to all video games ever made, whether children were the intended audience or not. It would also appear to ban a wide variety of in-game mechanics that virtually no one is complaining about, even
A bipartisan bill was introduced in the U. S. Senate on Tuesday aimed at banning pay-to-win microtransactions and loot boxes in video games that are “minor-oriented.” The bill, however, essentially applies to all video games ever made, whether children were the intended audience or not. It would also appear to ban a wide variety of in-game mechanics that virtually no one is complaining about, even the parents of kids who game.
At its core, the bill seeks to prohibit video game companies, like Blizzard, and distributors, like Steam, from selling games that allow players to pay money in exchange for unlocking features or obtaining items that offer their characters a competitive edge—especially when these perks can be otherwise obtained in game for free. These types of purchases are what the bill refers to as “add-on transactions.” (Think buying a weapon in a game that could be obtained by repeatedly besting a difficult boss in a dungeon.)
Introduced by Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, the bill has gained the support of two Democrats, Senators Ed Markey, and Richard Blumenthal, both of whom framed it as a means to crack down on business models predatory toward kids.
Loot boxes in particular, which the bill defines as transactions that involve randomized rewards—akin to how a slot machine works—are widely viewed as exploitative and one of the worst practices adopted by game makers in recent years. It’s been widely argued that loot boxes can be addictive as they are essentially a form of gambling, and that they unfairly target children who end up emptying their wallets (or, in many cases, their parent’s wallets) in exchange for items that have little to no actual value.
The influx of randomized loot boxes into games like Shadow of War and Star Wars Battlefront II has…
“Inherently manipulative game features that take advantage of kids and turn play time into pay time should be out of bounds,” Markey said. Blumenthal said he was proud to support the bill because it would “protect kids from predatory gaming apps and hold bad actors accountable for their reprehensible practices.”
Hawley himself said the bill was aimed at combating an “addiction economy” that places “a casino in the hands of every child in America with the goal of getting them desperately hooked.”
The actual text of the legislation, however, appears to cast a very wide net. Ostensibly, any video game created, whether for children or not, whether containing a casino-like mechanic or not, would be in some way restricted by this law.
