Take-Two CEO: "Loot Boxes Aren't Gambling"

It’s good to remember every now and again that EA doesn’t have a monopoly on being a crap company: let’s not forget Take-Two, publishers of GTA 5, are the very same scum who tried to shut down popular modding tools that Rockstar had once celebrated. And it seems that they’ve been looking at all this free publicity that EA’s been getting and thought, “We gotta get in on this!”

So! Take-Two Interactive president Karl Slatoff was ALSO at the Credit Suisse 21st Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, and speaking there, he decided to officially throw his hat behind the ESRB and declare that he and his company did not consider loot boxes as “gambling.”

"In terms of the consumer—the noise you hear in the market right now—it's all about content and over-delivering on content. It's about making sure you're focused on engagement, and I think that has been our strategy; that has been our focus. And as long you keep your eye on that ball, you're going to be okay. The consumer's going to be really happy with what they get."

He continued…

"You can't force the consumer to do anything. You try your best to create the best experience you possibly you can to drive engagement, and driving engagement creates value in franchises. That's how it's always been and how it always will be."

That’s a whole lot of words to say a whole lot of nothing. I guess maybe you could read it as loot boxes being “over-delivering” on content? Either way, it’s not really a moral question for him, it’s more about ‘counting on user apathy to make bull more palatable. And fine: if you want to argue that people don’t mind loot boxes if they’re controlled, that’s pretty easy to prove—all you have to do is look at Blizzard.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not gambling. And whatever you want to call it, I think we can all agree that it’s pretty effed up.