Gems purchase disabled in Guild Wars 2 in Belgium

ArenaNet, the publisher of the popular video game Guild Wars 2, has disabled the purchase gems for the players based in Belgium.

According to the company, the change was made to comply with existing gaming regulation in Belgium regarding loot boxes in video games. The company has also stopped the sale of the Ultimate Edition and the Ultimate Edition upgrade in Belgium.

ArenaNet said in a statement that “we are continuing to investigate more flexible solutions”, which suggests it may tweak the massively multiplayer online role-playing game for the Belgian market.

Here is the statement:

“In order to conform to changes in Belgian law, purchases of gems, the Ultimate Edition, and the Ultimate Edition upgrade have been disabled for residents of Belgium. We are continuing to investigate more flexible solutions. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause our players.”

It is unclear exactly what about Guild Wars 2 got ArenaNet in hot water with the Belgium authorities, but it may have something to do with the game’s “ecto gambling” system.

ArenaNet is not the first video game company to disable loot boxes in order to comply with Belgian law. Back in August, Blizzard announced plans to remove paid loot boxes from its games in Belgium. Prior to that Valve blocked Belgian and Dutch players from opening paid loot boxes in CS:GO, and 2K did the same for NBA 2K.

It should be noted that Electronics Arts, one of the leading game publishers in the world, is facing criminal investigation in Belgium over FIFA Ultimate Team card packs.

Source: Eurogamer