Nintendo's Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will stop working in Belgium
Nintendo decides to withdraw Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp from Belgium due to their laws against lootboxes, legally considered as virtual casinos. The market was too small to adapt the game to legality.
Belgium For months he has been working against addiction and gambling problems in video games, mainly against lootboxes. It has already affected FIFA 19 and Star Wars Battlefront II among others, and now two Nintendo mobile games are added: Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Those games will simply stop working in the country.
Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp leave Belgium
Nintendo has announced that these two mobile games, which are very popular with gamers and which are part of their promotional strategy for Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Animal Crossing for Nintendo Switch, will be discontinued in Belgium. Belgian law clearly says that games of chance involving real money payments are not allowed in uncontrolled children's games.
This law applies even if virtual currencies are purchased for use in random spins. This mechanic is used a lot because it's easy to get around the legal framework using technicalities, but if it didn't work for Electronic Arts or Activision Blizzard, it won't work for Nintendo to continue offering techniques that are proven to incite gambling. And we remember that they are games that have a huge audience for children and young people.
This is why Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will stop working in the country. Nintendo confirmed that they will be withdrawn from the iOS and Android stores on the 27th at the same time that they will stop working. They could adapt the game to avoid legal problems but Belgium is not a very big market. Some may complain that we are running out of much-loved games, but remember that these games, no matter how much they are from Nintendo, use techniques that can lead to problems of gambling and addiction to encourage players to spend more and more money.
Source: ResetEra
