UPDATE 5/31/22: Activision Blizzard has officially confirmed reports that it has suspended the release of Diablo Immortal in Belgium and the Netherlands.
“Diablo Immortal will not be available in Belgium or the Netherlands, and will not appear on Battle.net or the Belgian and Dutch app or Google Play Stores,” an Activision Blizzard spokesman told Eurogamer this morning.
“This is related to the current operating environment of gaming in these countries. Consequently, pre-registrations for gaming are not accessible in these markets.”
ORIGINAL STORY 5/30/22: The long-awaited release of Diablo Immortal this week has been reported to have been ruled out in both Belgium and the Netherlands, due to countries’ laws on loot boxes.
A communications manager for Activision Blizzard Benelux confirmed the move to the Dutch news site Tweakers, GamesIndustry.biz reported, citing “current operating conditions in these countries”. Eurogamer has contacted Activision Blizzard here in the UK for comments.
It has also been stated that the pre-registration for the launch of the mobile game and for the beta for PC has now been removed in both countries.
Check out Diablo Immortal, which arrives this week.
Both Belgium and the Netherlands have historically taken a strict stance on games with loot mechanics, especially with Ultimate Team package sales to FIFA.
In 2018, both the Netherlands and Belgium declared looting to be a form of gambling and therefore illegal. EA withdrew FIFA Points from the sale the following year, although it continued to fight in a long legal battle for the cancellation of a € 10 million fine for its sale of FIFA booty .
Four years later, EA was successful, and the Dutch high court controversially overturned a previous ruling saying that, after all, EA had not violated the country’s gambling laws.
Still, it looks like Blizzard isn’t taking any chances.
An apparently unverified email from Blizzard Europe’s customer support team has also appeared on reddit, which offers more details.
“Unfortunately, players in the Netherlands and Belgium will not be able to install Diablo: Immortal due to country game restrictions. Game loot boxes are against the law in your country, so unless game restrictions change, the game will not be published. ”, reads.
“It would be illegal to download the game in another country like France. If you manage to run the game I can’t guarantee you won’t be banned for it.”
Diablo Immortal launches this Wednesday, June 2, for both mobile and PC via an open beta on Battle.net. Here in the UK, servers connect from 18:00 BST.