As Belgium begins to crack down on games that use micro-transactions and in-game purchases, developers have been forced to change their games for the region due to their new laws. Meanwhile, certain other companies aren't as willing to make such accommodations, resulting in today's official statement made by Nintendo's Belgian branch. Mobile titles Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes will no longer be available for those in Belgium, "due to an unclear situation regarding certain in-game revenue models". On August 27, 2019, service for both games will end, and they will be removed from download. Not only will this affect the two existing titles, but any and all future Nintendo mobile games that use a "gacha" style system will avoid releasing in the country from here on out.

Due to the current unclear situation in Belgium regarding certain in-game revenue models, we have decided to end the service for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes in Belgium. It will therefore no longer be possible to play and download the games from Tuesday 27 August 2019.

Players who still have Orbs and / or Leaf Tickets in their account can continue to use them until the service ends.

In addition, future Nintendo games with similar earnings models will no longer be released in Belgium.

We would like to thank all players in Belgium for playing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes.

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[KingVamp]

I figured they would be affected by this too. Belgium basically banned all gachas. Just a reminder, EA led to this. Probably would have happened eventually, but still.

 

[Ericthegreat]

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As Belgium begins to crack down on games that use micro-transactions and in-game purchases, developers have been forced to change their games for the region due to their new laws. Meanwhile, certain other companies aren't as willing to make such accommodations, resulting in today's official statement made by Nintendo's Belgian branch. Mobile titles Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes will no longer be available for those in Belgium, "due to an unclear situation regarding certain in-game revenue models". On August 27, 2019, service for both games will end, and they will be removed from download. Not only will this affect the two existing titles, but any and all future Nintendo mobile games that use a "gacha" style system will avoid releasing in the country from here on out.



Source

I hate these types of games, but I do understand that if they release a version with less dlc, people will find a way to play that version. And upkeep, not worth it to pay developers for another version, sucks for people in Belgium, but they can probably still play with a vpn. (Or if Nintendo is smart a sideloaded app, still tougher for iOS players though)

 

[Kadji]

Sucks hard, especially since Nintendo gacha games are always very fair and don't try to nickel and dime you into spending more than you want.
Heck, Magicarp Jump only allowed you to spend like 30€, after that you had basically "bought" the game and had not to worry about premium currency anymore.

 

[Chary]

So in the efforts of "protecting" their citizens, they now get to get the lesser experience of not being able to play those games, even if they want to.

 

[Asia81]

A country free of micro-transactions?
Time to move there.

 

[Deleted User]

So in the efforts of "protecting" their citizens, they now get to get the lesser experience of not being able to play those games, even if they want to.

If mousetraps were banned, mice would have the lesser experience of not being able to eat peanut butter, even if they wanted to.

 

[eyeliner]

Good. Belgium, lead the way. I hope more countries follow. I hate paywalls. If nothing else, at least this will help clear the store of not-so-free games that end up being revenously expensive in the long run.

Or crap dollar games that have dlc for "the complete experience".

 

[xalphax]

Shit like this is why I play retro games almost exclusively nowadays. And I have a backlog that is big enough to last me two lifetimes.

 

[LightBeam]

I really want more countries to follow

 

[kumikochan]

Good, now hopefully more countries would follow making companies realize that this bullshit can't go on anymore. Bring back the 90's era of gaming

 

[DarthDub]

I'm glad that I live in the US.

 

[Skelletonike]

Nintendo gacha games tend to be very F2P friendly. I have never spent a dime on Heroes or other Nintendo gachas and never had a problem getting characters I wanted. I agree some companies are sketchy in this, while I love FGO, it can be a prick to the users for example.

 

[KingVamp]

Good, now hopefully more countries would follow making companies realize that this bullshit can't go on anymore. Bring back the 90's era of gaming

Yeah, no. If it gets too bad for lootboxes and gachas, they will just switch to something else that they can get away with. (For better or for worse for us.)

 

[kumikochan]

Yeah, no. If it gets too bad for lootboxes and gachas, they will just switch to something else that they can get away with. (For better or for worse for us.)

well that's a problem for then and not now and maybe it won't be worse.

 

[Rahkeesh]

If it was worse companies would already be doing it. They will have to settle for something nearly as bad instead.

 

[Eleczoro]

Good. Belgium, lead the way. I hope more countries follow. I hate paywalls. If nothing else, at least this will help clear the store of not-so-free games that end up being revenously expensive in the long run.

Or crap dollar games that have dlc for "the complete experience".

I’m for the sentiment but a lot of countries seem to have already determined it doesn’t constitute as gambling.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidt...eo-game-publishers-if-it-passes/#237ea0f4676f

 

[Taleweaver]

Damnit...for a second I thought "mobile" meant...well...pretty much any game on the 3DS or switch (nintendo doesn't have much games you can't carry around anymore, lately ).

It's apparently only these two android games (btw...isn't Super Mario Run made by nintendo themselves? ). So...I don't really mind.

Then again...it's not much of a "the customers won't stand for it no more!!!!" statement if we're the only country doing it.

 

[Bimmel]

If mousetraps were banned, mice would have the lesser experience of not being able to eat peanut butter, even if they wanted to.

I love the analogy. These games are indeed like mouse traps.

 

[Bladexdsl]

good this should happen to all countries micro$ AND loot boxe$ are a cancer to gaming.