Diablo Immortal will not be released in the Netherlands or Belgium due to its use of loot boxes, according to an Activision Blizzard communications manager.
The game, which will be released on mobile and open beta for PC on June 2, was briefly available for pre-registration in Apple and Google Play app stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, but he retired a few days later.
After being asked why this happened, the Dutch site Tweakers received a response from the head of communications for Activision Blizzard for Benelux, who confirmed that the games would not be available in Belgium or the Netherlands.
According to the head of communications: “This is related to the current operating conditions of the games in these countries.”
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The situation was further explained in the Diablo Immortal subreddit (as detected by GamesIndustry.biz), where a Blizzard employee added: “Unfortunately, players in the Netherlands and Belgium will not be able to install Diablo Immortal due to countries’ game restrictions.
“Gambling boxes are against the law in your country, so unless the game restrictions change, the game will not be published in the Netherlands and Belgium.”
The employee then warned that you should not try to download the game from the app store in another region, stating: “It would be illegal for you to download the game in another country such as France. I can guarantee that you will not be banned for this. “
In April 2018, the Belgian Gaming Commission found that loot boxes, such as those sold in real currency in FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode, constituted games of chance.
FIFA players in Belgium still can’t buy game currency because of their loot boxes
The Commission then went so far as to recommend criminal proceedings against companies that continued to sell them at their games.
As a result, games are removed from loot boxes in Belgium or not sold there. EA, for example, announced in 2019 that it would stop selling FIFA Points in Belgium.
The reason for Blizzard’s decision not to sell the game in the Netherlands is a little less clear, as in March of this year a major court case found that loot boxes do not always violate gambling laws. of the country.
The Hague tribunal ruled in October 2020 that the Netherlands Gaming Authority could fine EA with 500,000 euros each week for continuing to sell loot boxes to FIFA Ultimate Team, after it was considered that the function infringed the rules of the game.
However, in March 2022, the Dutch Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State ruled that the above conclusion was an “unjustified penalty” and that EA no longer had to pay the fine.
The new finding is not a definitive conclusion as to whether the loot boxes are at play. Rather, it is simply a decision that, under Dutch gambling laws, only a “gambling license” (ie a betting license) is needed if the “gambling” aspect is a standalone product like a slot machine, rather than a single element of a slot machine. greatest skill game.