anti-gambling
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Nintendo pulls two mobile games in Belgium due to loot box laws
Nintendo is pulling two of its popular mobile games in Belgium due to the nation's anti-gambling laws aimed at loot boxes. Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be removed from app stores on August 27th, according to an announcement on the company's website. Upon that date, neither game will be available to download or play. Players who have Orbs or Leaf Tickets can still use them until the game's removal. Due to the law, Nintendo also will not release any future games with similar earnings models in Belgium.
Blizzard kills Diablo III's RMT to appease South Korea
Blizzard Entertainment made waves last year when it announced that Diablo III would be supporting real-money trading (RMT) through its in-game auction house system. While it proved to be a divisive topic among fans, apparently it was too much with the South Korean rating board, which sees such activities as potentially violating the country's anti-gambling rules. The board was quoted as saying that "the feature involving for-cash trades between users was not included in the presentation to the rating committee, and therefore it was not subjected to any scrutiny." To appease the board and pave the way for release, Blizzard has dropped the RMT auction house for the Korean version. The ratings board has warned the company not to sneak in the feature in a future patch and gave the title an 18 rating for the country. Interestingly enough this makes South Korea the first country to slap a rating on Diablo III to date.
