Belgium and the Netherlands do not compromise with the legislation voted in 2018 assimilating the lootboxes to a game of chance and money, and the two countries have already proven it in the past by obtaining the withdrawal of this method of monetization of several titles marketed on their territory. 2K Games had also paid the price by withdrawing the packs MyTEAM on games NBA 2K. Some publishers have even preferred to withdraw their games from sale, as was the case for Nintendo, for example, which decided three years ago to stop marketing Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp on Google Play stores and Apple Store.
This time, it was Activision Blizzard who decided to take the lead and avoid legal action by announcing that it would not be released. Diablo Immortal with our two neighbours. ” This is related to the current gaming operating environment in these countries. As a result, pre-registrations for the game are not accessible in these markets. » declared a spokesperson for the company to our colleagues at Eurogamer. This confirmation follows the publication on Reddit of a screenshot of a message sent to Belgian and Dutch players by Blizzard Europe: The game’s lootboxes are against the law in your country, so unless gambling restrictions change, the game will not be released (…). It would be illegal for you to download the game in another country like France. If you manage to run the game, I can’t guarantee that you won’t get banned for it. » was it thus clarified to them.
In France, the lootboxes are still legal. In 2019, questioned by Senator Jérôme Durain, the State Secretariat for Digital Affairs declared that it had no specific provision for this practice but had promised a working group aimed at ” provide a balanced and concerted response to the issues raised by these lootboxes “. Three years later, nothing has changed. Diablo Immortal can therefore quietly leave with us as is, on PC, Android and iOS.
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