In some games, fans can buy loot boxes to potentially draw great items with luck. They pay real money for this. However, for some people, this becomes a big problem – as in this case, where a player spent the equivalent of 9,000 euros on loot boxes in Counter-Strike.
In the game CS:GO, there are so-called “cases” that you can buy for real money. If you get one, there is a chance to draw rare items – but the chance is usually low.
The rarest items in CS:GO are sold for extremely high prices on digital marketplaces; there are even examples with prices in the six-figure range. This likely has an effect on why loot boxes in CS:GO are so coveted by some players.
However, they also cause a problem: namely when players spend money on the boxes beyond their own limits. This also happened to a player in New Zealand.
Loot boxes instead of home ownership
The New Zealand news portal “RNZ” spoke to a player who reported how he invested large sums in CS:GO loot boxes. In fact, according to the report, it was less about the possible winnings, but simply about the excitement of clicking and opening the boxes.
As he always invested only small amounts, it didn’t feel like he was spending much money – until he realized how much it actually added up.
When the player reviewed his expenditures, he felt “terrible,” according to the report. He now doesn’t trust himself with the credit card anymore, which is why he gave it to his wife: “As a person with an addiction, one always finds a way to say ‘I’ll save this week so I have something to spend.’ It’s simply easier to give her everything,” said the player (via RNZ.co.nz).
In total, he had spent over time 16,000 New Zealand dollars, which is about 9,000 euros: “If I had saved all that money in a bank account, I would now have about 16k that I could have invested in a home mortgage or something similar.”
He also refers to videos on the internet that glorify opening loot boxes. There, one only sees the “good” things, while the thousands in expenses aren’t visible beforehand.
Are loot boxes gambling?
On the topic of loot boxes: Loot boxes in video games are a critically scrutinized topic. This applies not only to games like CS:GO but also in many other games. The same issue arises in the Ultimate Team mode of FIFA or EA FC, as there have also been examples of players who put a lot of money into packs in the hope of getting something great.
In some countries, such as the Netherlands or Belgium, loot boxes have already led to consequences. This primarily concerns content that you spend money on but receive good benefits only through chance – meaning that you don’t really know what you’re spending your money on. For example, Lost Ark is not playable in the Netherlands and Belgium because it is classified as gambling there. The same situation applies to Diablo Immortal in both countries.
Loot boxes that give players gameplay advantages are particularly critically viewed and thus contribute to “Pay2Win.” Other loot boxes, such as those in CS:GO, provide cosmetic items that merely change the appearance in the game – but even there, as seen in the example here, one can quickly spend a lot of money.
Another example that caused a big controversy was the 2017 released Star Wars game “Battlefront II,” which received so much backlash for its loot boxes that the entire system in the game was revised. Read more about the background here.
