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Loot boxes result in Belgium blocking three Square Enix mobile titles

Mobius Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts Union X and Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia will be pulled over the next few months

Loot boxes result in Belgium blocking three Square Enix mobile titles

Three Square Enix mobile titles will be withdrawn from sale in Belgium because of their loot box systems.

Mobius Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts Union X and Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia will be pulled in the country on November 30th, December 6th and December 19th respectively.

A notice posted for each game directly calls out loot boxes as the cause for removal. After their respective withdrawal dates, these games will no longer be available to play.

"We regret to inform you that due to the present uncertain legal status of 'loot boxes' under Belgian law, Kingdom Hearts Union X will be withdrawn from service in Belgium in 30 days, on Dec. 6, 2018 (UTC) at the earliest," said the statement posted for Kingdom Hearts, for example.

Unlucky drop

Belgium ruled that loot boxes violated its gambling laws back in April, with this change wreaking havoc across the industry as publishers remove or rectify offending titles.

Square Enix isn’t the first company to be hit by the law’s enforcement. ArenaNet was forced to make changes to Guild Wars 2 following the ruling but opted to simply remove paid currency from the MMORPG rather than outright remove it from sale.

Others have decided not to take the ruling lying down. Take-Two-owned 2K Games rather infamously tried to push consumers towards lobbying local representatives into changing the law.

EA, meanwhile, may be going to court over failing to remove violating systems from FIFA 19.

These withdrawals follow a rough week for Square Enix, as the publisher posted a $33 million loss for H1 2018.


Staff Writer

Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.