With the speed at which news comes out in the gaming industry we sometimes miss important or news worthy things. Some of these things we want to talk about in a way that is both easy for you guys and allows us to get all the facts together as some of these stories develop quickly. Sometimes we also just cover topics that we find interesting and want to discuss.
FTC could get involved with the loot box issue if ESRB doesn’t step in first
I’ll start with a video here because it shows some interesting actions taking place.
The FTC nominations have all agreed to look into loot boxes if the ESRB doesn’t act on them first. An article posted by PC Gamer goes into much more of the back store of what has transpired revolving legal action being taken to attempt to curb loot box integration into games. PC Gamer even received a response from the ESRB clamming that they will continue to “provide information about additional tools, including parental control guides, that help parents set spending and time limits and block potentially inappropriate games based on the ESRB-assigned age rating.” – PC Gamer
Wiggin’s thoughts on the subject : So this is quite a potentially huge story due to the far reaching implications it may have on the gaming industry. While I would like to see some oversight on these loot boxes because frankly they have gotten so far out of control that they seem to appear in every game under the sun these days. I would like to think that the industry would self correct itself but let us be realistic about what’s going on and agree that it is not a realistic expectation to see the industry do that. On the flip side however I don’t think I want the FTC meddling with things they don’t really understand as with their ruling of revoking net neutrality last year. Our best bet I think is to hope that the ESRB creates the necessary tools to allow customers to make informed buying decisions before the FTC is forced to act.
Cinelix report starts a rumor about Disney revoking Star Wars license from EA
Tuesday Cinelix published a reported, which started a rumor of the possibility of Disney looking at other game studios to make new Star Wars games with the possibility of EA loosing the license after the debacle of a launch of Battlefront 2. Part of that rumor is that the contract with Disney/EA has a clause that lets Disney cancel a license if the company in question doesn’t meet standards set by Disney. Supposedly, Activision and Ubisoft are studios that Disney has reached out to. These are all just rumors of course and no confirmation from either Disney or EA say that this is indeed happening.
Source: ingamers.com
Ozzy’s Thoughts: After the atrocious launch and just plain “not good” game that is Battlefront 2, as much as I would like EA to be punished for continuing this practice of “we make it look good, we make it sound good, now pay us more” or there egregious abandon for “Pay to Win” mechanics which they say is going to be in all their future titles, if this rumor turns out to be true, Activision and Ubisoft are NOT an upgrade.
The one thing that EA has that no other AAA company has is its engine. While I don’t like EA, the Frostbite engine is great (when setup right.) It looks beautiful, it sounds amazing, so going to any other studio would be a visual/auditory downgrade, not to mention Activision/Blizzard has loot boxes too (Overwatch for example.) Yes I know it’s cosmetic but so was Battlefield 1’s loot boxes, what’s to stop Activision from doing exactly the same as EA? Not mention Activisions patent on “matchmaking for Microtransactions” which is just honestly disgusting to me.
As for Ubisoft…it’s Ubisoft. I don’t need to say anything else other than if they do get the license, good luck getting there game to run.
