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The debate surrounding loot boxes and in-game gambling has reached new levels, with the UK government now being called upon to change current legislation.A petition calling for the government to adapt current gambling laws to loot boxes in video games surpassed the 10,000 signatures needed to trigger a response from government - a response yet to be issued. And an MP submitted questions to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport asking whether the government plans to enhance protections against illegal and in-game gambling and loot boxes, receiving an evasive answer.
The government is dancing around the issue of loot boxes. But it turns out some countries have already had a stab at regulating them - with varied results. Japanese Gacha machines are the seed from which western loot boxes have grown. Gashapons, or Gacha for short, are vending machines which dispense capsule toys when a coin is inserted. The Gacha system began to make its way into Japanese free-to-play mobile games in 2011, essentially as a monetisation mechanic, and it worked. Puzzle & Dragons became the first mobile game to net over $1bn using the system, but it quickly became clear there was a problem with Gacha - it was basically gambling.
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