Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Last week, a district court in the Northern District of California ended a suit alleging unlawful and unfair conduct by videogame developer Supercell Oy. Plaintiffs alleged that Supercell’s use of loot boxes in its popular games Clash Royale and Brawl Stars constituted violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law (Business & Professions Code § 17200) and Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Civil Code § 1750). At the crux of Plaintiffs’ complaint were claims that loot boxes are illegal gambling games under California law and that loot boxes are inherently unfair because they exploit the same cognitive traps as gambling.

Earlier this month, a district court in the Northern District of California ended a suit against Apple concerning loot boxes. That suit alleged that Apple facilitated in-app purchases of “gems,” a virtual currency used in Supercell’s game Brawl Stars. A decision issued in a similar suit brought against Google ended last week on similar grounds. The case, brought by the same attorneys on the same day as the Apple case, sought to hold Google responsible for games (in this case, Bandai’s Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Brave Exvius) in its Play Store that use loot boxes.

In another blow to plaintiffs suing game developers and publishers over loot boxes, a district court in the Western District of Washington granted summary judgment in favor of Valve Corporation. The case concerns the use of loot boxes in Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Defense of the Ancients 2, and Team Fortress 2 games.

A California federal district judge put an end to a suit brought against Apple under California’s Unfair Competition Law (Business & Professions Code § 17200). The suit alleges that loot boxes in games are akin to illegal slot machines, which are prohibited by California law. Rather than suing the game publishers themselves, plaintiffs sued Apple for hosting games with loot boxes in the Apple App Store.

Plaintiffs suing Valve Corporation over the company’s use of loot box in several top videogames have moved for class certification in Seattle federal court.

Brazil, the 13th largest videogame market in the world as of 2017, may be the latest jurisdiction to adopt rules prohibiting or limiting loot boxes in videogames.