@Kelly
@lemmy.worldPenalties will vary between states but for NSW the maximum fines for selling games with restricted classifications to underage customers are:
. | MA15+ | R18+ |
---|---|---|
sold by individual | $5.5k | $11k |
sold by corporation | $11k | $22k |
https://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/cfacgea1995596/s30.html
https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/cpa1999278/s17.html
These seem steep enough to encourage compliance.
But G, PG, or M? The customers age is none of their business and I wouldn't expect them to take an interest.
Edit: to put those penalties in perspective the sentencing for supplying alcohol to minors scales up a maximum of $11k and/or 12 months incarceration.
https://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/la2007107/s117.html
But basically, its not a retroactive re rating of any game unless the game is patched to add in simulated gambling or loot boxes.
This FAQ say titles will need reclassification if the modify their loot box payouts, so any ongoing live service game will get an updated classification eventually.
Q. Would changing the rewards within an existing paid loot box, cause the video game to require reclassification?
A. Adding new rewards to existing paid loot boxes constitutes adding new in-game purchases linked to elements of chance and may cause a video game to become unclassified and require reclassification depending on the original classification of the video game.
The clapback:
We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.
At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.
One of the perks of backwards compatibility on the current consoles is that console gamers can still buy and play anything they have released over the last 10 years.
To be honest M can still be sold to anyone of any age. But the text descriptions usually highlight the more highly classified content so sports games with loot boxes will see changes like this:
if I spend money for a currency in a gacha game, and then trade that currency for some character pulls, does that count? [...] Essentially, I paid for a character, and I still get a character, I just don't know which one I will get.
Yes. A real money purchase that leads to randomised rewards counts.
This comes into effect pretty soon. I expect a few titles will get caught in the transition.
McDonalds currently has their Monopoly promotion running and this time it is entirely in app. Purchases have to be made in app with real world currency to be eligible to play mini games to collect randon properties that correspond to real world prizes. This feels like it would be M if classified under the new guidelines
They are still a pretty big deal.
Take-Two Interactive announced in January 2022 its intent to buy Zynga for $12.7 billion. The deal was completed in May 2022.
According to Take-Two Interactive, about 10% of the world's population plays Zynga's games every month.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zynga
For context, that buyout value is $4.5 billion more than Microsoft paid for ZeniMax Media.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_video_game_mergers_and_acquisitions
This is just Polygon's guess of what they think will be nominated - pure crystal ball gazing.
That said on previous years there has been a few weeks between ballots being due and the cut off for a games release date:
Ballots were sent out to outlets on Oct. 29, due back on Nov. 6, [...]. Outlets also had until Nov. 13 to send in updated versions of those ballots, if changes were necessary. [...] To be eligible, the game must be released before Nov. 20 [...]
https://www.polygon.com/2020/11/18/21574150/the-game-awards-nominations-2020-games-list