Portal web ‘The Enemy’ had access to the opinion of the opening of the lawsuit against Garena, the company responsible for the popular mobile game Free Fire, in which ANCED asks for the suspension of sales of loot boxes "until further definition of its use by children and adolescents", under daily penalty of R$ 4 million.
In addition, the organization also asks for compensation of R$ 1.5 billion against the company, and individual moral compensation of R$ 1,000 for each child or adolescent user of its games.
In her opinion, prosecutor Luisa de Marillac Xavier dos Passos declares that: "the present action, and the other six associated with it by determination of this Judgment [...] are an opportunity for the Justice system to look into the issue, with the possibility of inaugurating measures that can expand the protection of children, adolescents and families, especially considering that hobby or leisure activities aimed at children and adolescents should not only have, preferably, pedagogical character and contribute to their full development, but preserve their physical, mental and moral integrity."
The text quotes and compares the terms used in ANCED's action regarding loot boxes with other types of gambling, prohibited in the country, as well as recent legislative measures to combat places and entities such as illegal bingo halls.
"Plausible, in this way, the right invoked by the Applicant to consider as a game of chance and, therefore, illegal, the use of random boxes or surprise boxes, or 'loot boxes', in electronic and virtual games", says the text. "As illegal, products with this characteristic should be removed from circulation, especially to protect the full development of children and teenagers."
The promoter also reinforces the "danger of damage" that loot boxes can bring to children and adolescents, which authorizes the advance protection of the ban on sales of this type of products in Brazil.
"If, on the one hand, there are countless studies dealing with the harmful effects of electronic and virtual games for children and adolescents, it is quite true that, on the other hand, there are excellent pedagogical uses of the same resources," says the MP's opinion. "In this sense, it would be very controversial to have a judicial decision on the suitability or otherwise of virtual games for children and adolescents, generally speaking. However, the cut of the owner of this action is the use of a mechanism considered as a game of chance and, therefore, admittedly unlawful, the damage of which is implicit in the unlawfulness itself."
The opinion, however, also questions the compensation of R$ 1.5 billion against Garena for appearing to "escape reality", as well as the daily fine of R $ 4 million against the company.
Sought by ‘The Enemy’, lawyer Márlon Reis, of ANCED, declared about the next steps of the action: "It is not a [judicial] decision, so there is no appeal. What happened now is what the Public Ministry agreed with our request, recognizing the illegality of loot boxes by agreeing that they should be suspended. It is now up to the Judiciary to decide."
Worldwide controversy
Brazil is just one of several countries whose government bodies question the nature of loot boxes as games of chance.
In 2018, after the controversies surrounding Star Wars: Battlefront II, Belgium classified loot boxes as illegal, being blocked in games like CS: GO or ceasing to be sold in games like Overwatch.
Other countries that have studied or are studying legislating this mechanics as a game of chance include the United Kingdom, USA, Germany, among others.
A recent study indicates that, by 2025, players are expected to spend up to US$20 billion on loot boxes.
Source: The Enemy
