You’re probably familiar with the concept of monetized loot drops by now. As a recent example, you can purchase Loot Boxes in Overwatch that randomly assign the player several items of varying rarity. These boxes can be purchased with real money, and many players will buy a ton of them until they get that one skin or item they really want. These functions in games toe a fuzzy line between harmless DLC and very harmful gambling. China sees the issue as the latter and has struck out legally.
A new law, passed in December, has gone into effect. Now, game developers and publishers are required to publicly disclose the drop rates for any monetized loot systems in China. They need to include probabilities for all items and services in the box, quanities of items, and content possibly included on a game’s official website.
Dota 2 and League of Legends have already complied with China’s new regulation, while Blizzard has yet to do so. It’s also important to note that these regulations only refer to the Chinese versions of the games. There’s no way to know if the rates are or will be altered and shown in all regions as a result.
Personally, I think that while anti-gambling is the fuel behind this kind of legislation, there is also an element of protecting people from shady business practices. Not disclosing the drop rates helps lead players to make more blind purchases, as they have no idea what the odds are of getting what they want. Protections against this kind of thing are important, and corporations should be held accountable.
Source: The Verge