While the UK and other territories have made it clear they have no plans to reclassify games with insular loot box mechanics -- where the items can't be traded for real money outside of the game -- as gambling, other countries may do things quite differently. Belgium is one such country, where the Gaming Commission is currently investigating loot chest mechanics in both Overwatch and Star Wars: Battlefront II, with the possibility that after the study is concluded, it will recategorise them as gambling and therefore subject to strict age limitations.
Although there is no guarantee that that is the way the commission will rule, especially considering the stance of several international game rating authorities like the ESRB and PEGI, the head of the Belgian commission did say that the reason these games are being investigated is because they allow users to buy something (loot box) which has a randomized, and therefore potentially gambling, outcome.
If the games are reclassified, not only would they be immediately beholden to gambling laws which have 18+ age restrictions, but they might be removed from sale altogether. PCGamer has it that there could also be fines for EA and Blizzard for marketing their games to children despite the gambling nature of their content.
The hope from some gamers is that a classification like this in Belgium would see other territories look at reclassifying them too, which in turn could see a gradual de-escalation of loot box mechanics in games. The idea of randomly assigning awards in a free to play manner in premium games appears to have hit a fever pitch with Battlefront II, with EA receiving no-end of flak for its actions. Although it's walked back some of its more nefarious practices, there are still tonnes of roadblocks to fun in the game, which is seeing big boycotts from many sectors of the gaming audience.
