Perennial
Studios are redesigning their monetization strategy market by market to comply with differing rules, or exiting those markets entirely.
A loot box is a mystery package inside a game. You pay for it with real money or in-game currency, but you don't know what's inside until you open it. People have argued for years about whether paying for a surprise prize counts as gambling. Governments have stopped waiting for that argument to end and are starting to set rules, such as age limits, on their own.
Games now carry different ratings, and different obligations, depending on where they are sold.
| Market | Regulation | Requirement | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | In force | Loot boxes banned in games under-18s can access; fines up to 10% of Brazilian revenue. | |
| South Korea | In force | Odds disclosure mandatory; GRAC has levied fines. | GRAC (게임물관리위원회)2025 |
| Belgium | In force | Games of chance, so banned unlicensed; the ban has proved hard to enforce. | Belgian Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie / Commission des jeux de hasard)2018 |
| Australia | In force | Minimum M for paid loot boxes; simulated gambling restricted R 18+. | Australian Classification Board: computer games (incl. 2024 gambling-content rules)2024 |
| Germany | In force | PEGI 16+, alongside USK’s national classification. | USK2026 |
| UK | In force | PEGI 16+, and outside the Digital Fairness Act. | Ukie2026 |
| EU | In force | PEGI rates paid random items 16+ across PEGI territories. | PEGI2026 |
| Japan | No age gate | Cost caps or odds display under JOGA’s self-regulation guideline, with no age threshold. | JOGA2012 |
| Netherlands | Not gambling | The 2022 Council of State ruling found packs cannot be assessed as a separate game, so loot boxes are not prohibited gambling. | Kansspelautoriteit (KSA): loot-box enforcement and case record2022 |
| USA | Contested | No national rule; courts are still arguing the definition. |
Star Wars Battlefront II's paid loot boxes set off what the Belgian regulator later called a worldwide conflict over paying to progress inside a game.
Belgian Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie / Commission des jeux de hasard)2017
The Belgian Gaming Commission found the paid loot boxes in Overwatch, FIFA 18 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to be games of chance, and said operators who keep selling them risk prosecution.
Belgian Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie / Commission des jeux de hasard)2018
The Netherlands' highest administrative court decided EA's appeal in its favour, finding FIFA's packs are not a separate game that can be assessed as gambling; the regulator's 2018 position and its fine fell with it.
Loot Box State of Play: Leon Y. Xiao's annual regulatory review2022
The UK Government's response to its loot box consultation declined to bring paid loot boxes inside the definition of gambling, and asked the industry to keep under-18s from buying them without parental consent.
Loot Box State of Play: Leon Y. Xiao's annual regulatory review2022
Under rules updated for 2023, Germany's USK rated every game with loot boxes it reviewed that year USK 12 at minimum, including games whose earlier annual editions had been USK 0.
Loot Box State of Play: Leon Y. Xiao's annual regulatory review2023
South Korea's amendment to the Game Industry Promotion Act, adopted in March 2023, took effect on 22 March 2024 and made probability disclosure for paid random items a legal requirement.
Loot Box State of Play: Leon Y. Xiao's annual regulatory review2024
Australia's new classifications took effect on 22 September 2024: a minimum M for games with paid loot boxes, and R 18+ for games with simulated gambling.
Australian Classification Board: computer games (incl. 2024 gambling-content rules)2024
South Korea's mandatory odds-disclosure regime moved from drafting into enforcement, with fines levied against publishers.
Brazil's Law 15211 came into force on 17 March 2026, banning loot boxes in games aimed at or likely to be accessed by under-18s, with fines of up to 10% of Brazilian revenue.
PEGI began rating any game containing paid random items at 16+, applying the threshold across every PEGI territory rather than market by market.
The EU's Digital Fairness Act is due, and may go further than age-gating on paid random items.
European Commission2026
Every claim below is somebody else’s argument, named and linked. The site takes no position on which of them is right.
Same game, four ratings
EA Sports FC 25 received four different age ratings across the world because of loot box rules, ESRB E, PEGI 3, ACB M and USK 12, and companies have removed loot boxes from Belgian versions or withdrawn games from Belgium rather than comply.
Loot Box State of Play: Leon Y. Xiao's annual regulatory review2024
Korea's disclosure rules are working
South Korea's disclosure regime is producing measurable results, which is the first evidence that odds-disclosure rules change publisher behaviour rather than only documenting it.
Disclosure is not comprehension
Disclosure is not comprehension: players remain, in the study's words, left in the dark, so a regime measured by compliance may be failing at the thing it was passed to fix.
Bans have not been enforced
Under-18 bans are almost certainly unenforceable: Belgium tried and failed because its regulator had little or no resources to monitor and enforce the law, and Brazil's implementation details, including age assurance, have yet to be revealed.
Loot Box State of Play: Leon Y. Xiao's annual regulatory review2025
The FTC's January 2025 Genshin Impact settlement required an under-16 purchase block and fiat-price disclosures, but the Commission's current chair dissented on its loot box points, so whether the US position holds is open.
Loot Box State of Play: Leon Y. Xiao's annual regulatory review2025
The EU's Digital Fairness Act, due late 2026, may go beyond age-gating.
European Commission2026
