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German authorities wishes to regulate cybercrime and gambling possibilities in video games

A new draft law has been passed that might have an impact on the release of games in Germany.

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Last week, a new law draft was passed to the highest constitutional bodies of Germany that might have a major impact on the release of video games over there. In the future, the USK - the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (an organisation that examines medial content before it is allowed to release in Germany and provides age rating certifications) - shall take so-called "interaction risks" into account during its complex evaluation processes.

What exactly that might be, is unfortunately unclear. Many journalists seem to agree that at least two common things will fall under this definition: Chat interactions and game systems that combine "buying functions and gambling-like mechanisms" - in other words, loot boxes.

In the future, German consumers shall be made aware of chat systems because interacting with strangers on the Internet has the risk of potential cybercrime. Therefore, video games that use such functions should have to be considered accordingly by the youth protection act. Because loot boxes and game mechanics specifically designed to pull money out of our pockets also represent a great danger for children and adolescents, corresponding systems in Germany should also be included in the age rating certification in the future.

A look at Belgium shows what this could mean. There, such debatable business practices fall under the Gambling law, from which minors must be protected. Publishers like Valve, Electronic Arts, Nintendo and Square Enix are not only forced to disclose the chances of winning from loot boxes (which is almost an industry standard by now), they also have to ensure that users have no way of spending real money on this form of gambling at all.

This is often associated with high costs and a lot of effort, which is why many developers simply decide to remove affected products from the market all-together. However, Germany is such a big part of the European video game market that publishers like Bethesda as an example have bothered to make appropriate adjustments so that their games were allowed to be released there. However, many smaller studios will not have the economy to do something similar if they rely on loot boxes.

It is unclear how the situation in Germany will develop. The law has not yet been finalised and the vague formulations make further classification even more challenging. However, seeing the country finally act and judge forms of gambling that are disguised as game mechanics is undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

German authorities wishes to regulate cybercrime and gambling possibilities in video games

Source: Gameswirtschaft, Spiegel, Golem.



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