Huge news for anyone left traumatised after grinding for hours in Pokémon Blue for their Porygon: Future generations will not feel this pain.
From mid-September, all games featuring loot boxes will receive or simulated gambling will automatically receive new classification guidelines.
These new classification guidelines will come into effect on September 22, 2024, and mandate that titles featuring “in-game purchases with an element of chance” must have a minimum classification of ‘M’ (not recommended for children under 15). The element of chance here relates to loot boxes in games.
Games with actual gambling mechanics, like slot machines, would fall under simulated gambling and automatically earn an R18+ rating. This means that if Pokémon Red or Blue were released today, they would get slapped with that rating thanks to the Pokémon-themed slot machines in the game. Thankfully, Nintendo hasn’t included slot machines in Pokémon since 2009.
However, these new guidelines will only apply to new games released after September 2024 and won’t be applied retroactively. That means you won’t see second-hand copies of Pokémon Emerald with a huge R18+ rating over it. In saying that, odds are if you’re hunting for an old copy of Pokémon Emerald, you’re already over 18, so it’s not like you’d have anything to worry about.
It’s important to note that the M classification is only an advisory rating. This means there are no real legal restrictions on the sale or distribution of these games. It may, however, deter parents from allowing their kids to play games with the rating. Game companies may also consider changing their monetisation methods in the future the classification.
These new guidelines aren’t surprising for anyone following the loot box drama in Australia and Europe. In fact, they were greenlit last year after a long and arduous debate that started in 2020.
The effects of normalising gambling mechanics in gaming have already started to show. As noted in a recent article published by The Guardian, an increasing number of Australians as young as ten are getting hooked on gambling. Thanks to online game mechanics like loot boxes, where rates to pull a valuable item are higher than in real life, young people are being given a false equivalence on how easy it is to win big in gambling.
Australia already has a massive gambling problem. We are, in fact, the home to the greatest gaming losses, per capita, in the world and have a shocking 40 per cent lead ahead of Singapore, which is in second place.
This is a rare W for the Albanese Government, especially regarding gambling regulations. Gamers have long complained about loot boxes and gambling mechanics in games, arguing that they’re anti-fun and force them to gamble to get the most out of a game they’ve already purchased.
Hopefully, with more governments finally starting to crack down on this monetisation method, we’ll see them phased out of gaming for good.
If you’d like to read more about the impending guidelines, the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) has more information and FAQ.
Update: The article previously combined the R18+ rating and the M rating in a previous paragraph. The article has been updated to correct that.
Image Credit: Pokémon
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