When Diablo Immortal brought Blizzard’s infernal ARPG series to mobile in June, the free-to-play game was roundly criticised for its methods of monetisation, especially after systems came to light that seemed to favour players who’d splashed out on the game’s loot boxes. In Belgium and the Netherlands, however, this wasn’t a problem – because in these territories, Immortal was simply never released. The former nation has banned loot boxes outright, while in the latter a cross-party motion called for similar legislation, just a few months after EA successfully overturned a 10m fine issued after The Hague in 2020 ruled that FIFA’s Ultimate Team had broken the country’s gambling laws.
In May, meanwhile, a study on loot boxes from the Norwegian Consumer Council turned its eye to that same game, producing one particularly stark example. It found that, in order to get the Team Of The Year Kylian Mbappé promo card in a user would have to buy and open an average of 847 Jumbo Rare Player packs, equating to a spend of around £11,500 – asum Mbappé himself might not miss but, for most of us, a bitter illustration of how money-hungry loot box
