Ted Cruz and Asmongold may be sitting down to talk about loot boxes in the near future after the US Senator responded to the Twitch streamer’s concerns regarding in-game monetization. Loot boxes have become an incredibly prevalent talking point in the gaming industry over the last decade, even resulting in some legal action from certain countries after it got out of hand. Although a lot of major publishers have since shifted to things like battle passes or just outright microtransactions with no random qualifiers, loot boxes still exist in a number of games including major sports titles like FIFA. Some of these games can promote the idea that if you pay enough money, you can get the best items in the game and be better than other players, but in reality the loot boxes are designed to rarely give you the best items.
Asmongold recently expressed concern over this issue and put out a call to Ted Cruz to address it and the US Senator has responded. Senator Cruz stated he’d love to sit down and talk with Asmongold about the matter and stated that he plays games himself and has been enticed to pay for in-game microtransactions before. Cruz’s official stance is that although he believes games are designed to be addicting, he doesn’t know if the government should play a role in preventing the gaming industry from choosing how to monetize its titles. Cruz discussed the matter about how it can really be harmful for children, but isn’t convinced the government needs to intervene. Asmongold took to Twitter to express his excitement for Cruz’s response.
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As of right now, it’s unclear if they will end up sitting down to have a conversation, when that would take place, and if it would be streamed or recorded so the public could view it. Nevertheless, it’s good to see a streamer using their platform to elevate an issue many gamers have. Whether or not anything will come of it remains to be seen, but it’s nice to see the conversation is being had on some level.
Do you want to see the government regulate how game developers utilize in-game monetization? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
