Europe Wants to Ban Loot Boxes and Pay-to-Win for Under-18s, and Publishers Are Losing It

Europe wants to take loot boxes off kids. The European Commission has proposed a Digital Fairness Act that would ban paid loot boxes, pay-to-win and pay-to-progress for players under 18, lock paid in-game currency behind parental approval for minors, and force every game to show what your gems and coins really cost in real money.

It landed on Wednesday in Brussels, overnight NZ time, and the games industry’s European lobby groups lost their minds within hours. It’s only a proposal for now, but if it survives the EU’s lawmakers it will change how a huge chunk of the games you play make their money.

What the Digital Fairness Act would actually do to games

We read the proposal itself. Here’s the gaming stuff, straight from the draft text.

• Real prices on virtual currency: any game selling paid currency has to show the real-money value of items bought with it, in the currency you paid in (Article 14).
• Currency off by default for kids: where a game is aimed at minors, or the company knows with reasonable certainty a player is a minor, paid currency is switched off by default and only a parent or guardian can turn it on.
• Loot box odds, and an off switch: games with paid loot boxes, wheels of fortune or card packs must show what you can get and the odds, and give every player a simple way to disable them (Article 15).
• No paid loot boxes for minors: where a game is aimed at kids or the company knows a player is a minor, paid random rewards can’t be offered to them at all.
• No pay-to-win for minors: pay-to-win and pay-to-progress mechanics are banned for under-18s on the same test (Article 16).
• Addictive design: players must be able to switch off things like daily login penalties, streak rewards and notifications that aren’t about what they did (Article 17).

The PEGI catch that has publishers sweating

Here’s the bit that matters most. The draft says a product counts as aimed at minors if its age rating, PEGI or similar, says it’s suitable for under-18s.

That means anything rated below 18 could get caught, which is most of the big live-service games. The industry reckons that’s the whole ballgame.

The industry calls it ‘game over’

Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation put out a joint statement calling the proposal “unworkable, unjustified and disproportionate”, under the headline that the DFA is “game over” for the European games industry.

• Their main gripe: they say the pay-to-win ban has no clear definition and “could cover almost any purchase in a game”.
• On PEGI: they argue age ratings show suitability, not target audience, and that the rules could push publishers to block under-18s from games entirely.
• On parents: they say banning purchases for every under-18 takes the decision away from parents and teens.
• Their alternative: purchases off by default for kids with only parents able to switch them on, real-money prices, refunds for unused currency and smaller top-ups.

Consumer Commissioner Michael McGrath isn’t backing down. “We are not making it harder to do business. We are making it harder to do business unfairly,” he said, according to The Verge.

When would this actually happen?

• Not yet: it’s a proposal. The European Parliament and the Council of the EU both have to agree, and they can change or strip anything.
• The clock: the draft says the rules would apply 12 months after the law comes into force.
• The stick: fines of up to 6% of a company’s worldwide annual turnover, according to the Commission via The Verge, a figure the industry statement also cites.
• The Commission’s pitch: it says the wider package could save EU consumers up to €13.7 billion (euros) a year, The Verge reports.

What it means for NZ and Aussie players

Australia got in first, sort of. Since 22 September 2024, Australian Classification has rated any game with paid loot boxes M, not recommended for under-15s, and games with simulated gambling R18+.

That’s a warning label, not a ban, and the EU proposal goes a lot further. But when a market of 450-odd million people forces publishers to rebuild their shops, the changes rarely stay in Europe, so we wouldn’t be shocked to see real-money price tags and loot box off switches turn up down here too.

We’ve seen how Australian rules bite before, with Steam’s credit-card age check locking out Aussie adults and the GTA 6 R18+ rating panic. This one could reach a lot further than Australia.

Our take

Good. Publishers spent a decade building slot machines for children, calling them surprise mechanics, and hiding the price behind gems, V-Bucks and bloody crystals. Showing the real price and the odds is the least they could do.

The industry does have a fair point on the PEGI rule, though. Treating every game rated under 18 as a kids’ game is clumsy, and a vague pay-to-win ban with 6% fines attached is going to make lawyers rich.

But “game over” is a hell of a call from an industry that only offered to switch purchases off for kids once Brussels had the pen out. If your business model falls apart when players can see the price, it was a crap business model.

Should Australia and NZ copy Europe, or is this nanny-state rubbish? Come argue about it in the GetRekt Discord. We’re tracking the fallout on our loot boxes page.

Sources

• European Commission: Digital Fairness Act
• European Commission: Proposal for a Digital Fairness Act (PDF)
• Video Games Europe and EGDF: Joint statement on the Digital Fairness Act
• The Verge: Loot boxes, influencers, and addictive features face an EU crackdown
• PocketGamer.biz: The DFA is “game over” for the European games industry
• Australian Classification: New classifications for gambling-like content in video games