The new Star Wars video game is getting some serious flack from angry fans and worried regulators.
Gamers have complained in recent days that it takes huge amounts of time — or money — to unlock features in Star Wars Battlefront II. Regulators in Belgium, meanwhile, are looking at whether the game constitutes a form of gambling.
The Belgian Gaming Commission is investigating how players in Battlefront II and similar games are rewarded by unlocking “looting boxes.”
The idea is that players pay real money to unlock a virtual “looting box” without knowing what kind of reward is inside. They also don’t know how many boxes they might need to unlock in order to finish the game.
Peter Naessens, general director of the Belgian Gaming Commission, said the regulator is examining whether the rewards are allocated by chance, and whether this might constitute a form of gambling.
In Belgium, companies involved in gambling are required to have a license. Minors and people with gambling addiction problems are not allowed to play.
Electronic Arts, the game’s publisher, said that the “mechanics of Star Wars Battlefront II are not gambling.”
