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Chinese law requires rates to be revealed for chance items

Basically, companies are now required to reveal the percentages for items from random crates/boxes/crystals etc so players know how likely they are to win.

Several major companies have updated their websites to show the rates. For example; Valve, Blizzard, Riot and Supercell.

The law came in to effect on May 1, 2017 and has been brewing for about 6 months, so when can we expect Kabam to follow suit? I would like to encourage Kabam to be an industry leader and take a step forward, and not be one of the last to come in line with these new regulations. Doing so would increase confidence and trust in the company and could likely encourage more spending from players.

Here is some specific information with the specific laws:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-12-09-china-forces-devs-to-reveal-loot-box-drop-rates-in-game
More general commentary:
http://toucharcade.com/2016/12/08/new-chinese-laws-require-developers-to-state-the-probability-of-items-in-loot-boxes/

Supercell proof:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ClashRoyale/comments/69qpx9/psa_official_chest_probabilities_announced_by/
http://imgur.com/a/11w9B
Valve proof:
https://www.joindota.com/en/news/53321-valve-forced-to-disclose-item-drop-rates-for-ti7-chests
Riot proof:
http://www.pcgamer.com/new-chinese-law-forces-riot-to-publish-league-of-legends-loot-box-drop-rates/
Blizzard proof:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/overwatch-loot-box-drop-rates/

Comments

  • Alkaiser_93Alkaiser_93 Posts: 249
    Chinese? Wasn't Kabam an American company? Why would they have to follow a Chinese Law?
  • TerminalTerminal Posts: 789
    edited May 2017
    Because their game is available in the Chinese app store and they make money from that region. You'll notice that the website and logo etc is also translated in to Chinese. Unless they plan to withdraw from that market and lose a large chunk of income, they need to follow the laws there if they want to make money in that region.

    Blizzard, Valve etc are also American companies, you know that right? Kabam would have to follow it for the same reason they did. Please read the links for this kind of information.
  • SepSep Posts: 22
    The rates only have apply in China. Also, there are ways of stating the odds that make it impossible to calculate the actual odds so you cannot see if they have any sort of modifier for recent runs of bad/good luck or algorithms that modify the odds based on other factors.

    e.g. Blizzard stated "It takes an average of 13.5 loot boxes to get an item of legendary quality." No raw percentages which suggests odd differ.
  • AmanoAmano Posts: 318
    Lmao they won't they'll lose so much money
  • AfairlypudgycatAfairlypudgycat Posts: 7
    edited May 2017
    Or maybe they'll be pressured by the user base to make their little gambling less a complete waste of money and more to the player's benefit.
    EDIT: I think I misunderstood you. I took your meaning to say they won't reveal the percents. Which makes less sense than the alternative of they won't withdraw from the Chinese market.
  • TerminalTerminal Posts: 789
    The point is, if they want to remain in the Chinese market, they have to abide by the laws there. So they either have to reveal the rates, in Chinese, or withdraw from that market. There is no choice in this matter, they have to reveal the rates to remain there.

    Now people saying the rates could be different outside China, this is possible, but it's also been widely discussed with all the other, much bigger games than this one that while it's possible, it's not likely.

    @Sep In the link, people worked out the percentage based on the odds, it works the same way, it doesn't mean odds differ. I'm not sure what you mean about modifiers and stuff.. can you give another example? Do you mean like the pity timers in hearthstone?

    @Alkaiser_93 Kabam is Canadian btw.

    @Bendover I'm not sure your point.. This is something that benefits you, why would you be so negative towards it?

    However, I think a lot of people are missing the big picture.. this is not an optional thing that can be discussed whether it should or should not be followed. There is no choice in the matter. All games in China must follow this new law.

    I'm simply bringing this to peoples attention.

    I'm also slightly surprised people aren't more positive about something that is clearly a good idea and something that companies should do regardless of if there's a law or not.. it's just a common sense, logical and honest thing to do. This law protects consumers by allowing them to know the chance they have for something before spending their money on a chance item.

    There is nothing bad about this from a consumers perspective and everyone should be supporting it, but even if you don't (for I can't even think of a reason why you'd think it's a bad thing) it doesn't matter, law is law and hopefully more countries pick it up and follow suit.

    Companies also have an opportunity to be industry leaders and be proactive in taking steps to make the industry better and remove the negative image that the pay side of mobile games has.
  • MustangjonMustangjon Posts: 1,146
    So explain to me difference it will make in gamblers mindset that a company says I have 5% chance 3* and .5% at 4* than players and experience telling me same thing? does that change buying habits? Because everyone knows casinos have to disclose return rates and yet people still pisss money away.

    I mean if they reveal it cool but don't really see how it changes much
  • TerminalTerminal Posts: 789
    Oh and Kabam is a Canadian company btw.
  • TerminalTerminal Posts: 789
    Mustangjon wrote: »
    So explain to me difference it will make in gamblers mindset that a company says I have 5% chance 3* and .5% at 4* than players and experience telling me same thing? does that change buying habits? Because everyone knows casinos have to disclose return rates and yet people still pisss money away.

    I mean if they reveal it cool but don't really see how it changes much

    @Mustangjon these are good points.

    Like in overwatch, people had already figured out the rates, so it wasn't any big revelation. So if people already know, what is the benefit?

    I think the important thing to consider is it's not just about the gamblers mindset but everyone's mindset. People should have the opportunity to know what the chances are of things they're spending money on so they can make informed decisions. Experience and other players should not be required.. that means others have had to spend their money for others to know what the rate is.

    And if a new type of crystal comes out.. we start all over again trying to figure it out.

    Although I have a feeling of what the rate is for say a 3*, the chance of it being the event character across all rarities and 4* in general is a mystery. Some other games are clear for example; 4* is 19% chance and then 25% chance it is the event unit. 5* is 1% and 50% chance of being the event unit.

    Gamblers have that expression 'never tell me the odds', but not everyone is a gambler and the game should not present itself as gambling. Companies should not be afraid to reveal their rates. If they think people knowing the rates will negatively impact their sales then that means they're doing something wrong. If the rates are fair, regular people will spend. Whales likely don't care anyway, whales will spend regardless.
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