2K Games Begging Fans to Support Loot Boxes

[Abhay]

After EA, Its 2K games begging fans to Support Loot Boxes, “Contact Your Local Government,” Says the Company

2K Games has shared a post on its official website, begging fans to support loot boxes. The publisher asked fans to contact local Govt and ask them to give free-hand to developers to implement loot boxes in NBA 2K19. Belgium and Netherlands have banned loot boxes which means 2K Games cannot implement this predatory feature in NBA 2K19 or any other game they may release in the future.

After losing the battle with Belgian Gaming Commision, 2K posted to gather sympathies from the gaming community in Belgium and Netherlands. The company apologized for “any inconvenience” the lack of loot boxes may cause.

The Belgium Gaming Commission (BGC) has stated that games which include certain ‘loot box’ style mechanics violate gambling laws in Belgium. While we disagree with this position, we are working to comply with the BGC’s current interpretation of these laws. As a result, we have made some local changes to the MyTeam mode.

These changes are necessary in order for us to accommodate the BGC’s interpretation of the Belgian Gaming Act. Specifically, we will be turning off the ability to purchase packs with premium (non-earned) currency/VC.Gamers are still able to acquire packs with MyTeam points. We will be continuing conversations with the BGC in order to explain our view on how NBA 2K and MyTeam pack purchases already comply with local laws. If you agree, we recommend that you contact your local government representative to communicate your opinion. We will keep the community posted on any developments. We apologize for any inconvenience.

I am glad to see BGC taking a strong stand against the microtransactions in game. Its unfortunate to see companies like 2K stoop this low.
What do you guys think about this development? Will this really have any effect on GTAs future, and currently slated for release RDR 2?

 

[sser]

Well since they asked so nicely.

 

[deuxhero]

 

[Eyestabber]

I'm still not 100% sure what lootboxes even are, because none of the games I play feature this thing. Maybe lootboxes are a tax on bad taste, who knows?

What I do know is that I REALLY envy the cleverness of whoever came up with this new retard-money-milking-scheme. DAMN it's like "retardonomics" is a VERY profitable field of studies and I should've gone for that instead of Law.

 

[Trithne]

"Write to your local government explaining why they should encourage their citizens to be addicted to giving money to a foreign corporation"

 

[deuxhero]

Basically 2K Execs right now

 

[Astral Rag]

EA Sports, it's in the Courts

 

[taxalot]

I can't blame them for trying, nor am I actually shocked that they do so. What I am wondering is : is it actually working ? Are people actually contacting their representatives for this ?

 

[Telengard]

Will this really have any effect on GTAs future...?

No.

Will this really have any effect on...currently slated for release RDR 2?

It might delay it for some months while they adapt one of the other, many psychological techniques for extracting money from the emotionally vulnerable.

What do you guys think about this development?

The whole lootbox craze adapted from collectible card games is terrible. It was terrible many decades ago, and it will continue being terrible for many decades to come. Society can outlaw the practice, but business doesn't change on a dime, so even if society goes to an outright ban, there will be decades more of business attempting to finesse the governing laws. Like some stupid gamer banging his head against the wall over and over when some cheap tactic that worked against early enemies suddenly stops working when the enemies change, but the stupid gamer just keeps using the same cheap tactic anyways, business will keep trying to make money the way it made money before.

But while the lootboxes of last century may soon die, the overall tactic of psychologically manipulating the emotionally vulnerable in order to take their money, that concept is here to stay.

As for the company asking their audience to write to their legislators to "fix" their game after the removal of lootboxes breaks one of the core progress mechanics? Their audience would have done that anyways. The emotionally vulnerable are, indeed, emotionally vulnerable, and they spent some of the proceeds of their toil on some piddling entertainment, and the entertainment got broken, so they will want -- need -- it to be fixed. The company could rework the game, sure, but they are already taking a loss by the removal of one of their planned monetary conduits, so sending the game back into development for reprogramming and subsequent rebalancing would just make the financial hole even larger. Sometimes it's better for the company's survival to just write it all off as a loss.

 

[Fedora Master]

I dunno, they might convince me if they bought this here mystery box that may or may not contain my vote.

 

[Pound Meat]

They should have put a franchise mode in All-Pro 2k8 then and not killed the series with the first damn game.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I hope they go bankrupt and they're forced to go homeless and live the rest of their days warding off diseased rats under a city bridge for a piece of discarded pizza.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I dunno, they might convince me if they bought this here mystery box that may or may not contain my vote.