The Wire

“Loot boxes” and “micro transactions” are the hottest trend of 2017 in the video game industry.

However gamers are calling these mechanics gambling and are turning their back on the industry because some games are turning into whoever pays the most wins, while those who don’t pay have to spend hundreds of hours to catch up.

Electronic Arts has defended the loot box system in Star Wars Battlefront 2 and have temporarily turned off the ability to buy loot boxes with real money. You can read their full statement here 

The Institute of Games is currently looking at how gambling in games affects gamers, and you can read about their research on their website.