Oh, Activision (May 2023 edition)

[Spalls Hurgenson]

Do none of the CEOs at Activision ever ask themselves, "why is it the
only time our company makes the news anymore is because we're in
trouble with the law again?" ;-)

This time, it's for lootboxes. Turns out, there are lootboxes and
microtransaction in "Diablo Immortal". No surprise to anyone, except
for some reason Activision 'forgot' to mention it to PEGI (that's the
European version of the ESA in the United States of America; they're
the ones who slap the ratings on the game). So PEGI didn't mention the
inclusion of those nasties in the game's rating.

Now, arguably most people 'should have known' that Diablo Immortal
used MTX. But there are a lot of uninformed customers out there, and
some of them do rely on the ratings to give them an idea as to a
game's content.

Anyway, Activision netted themselves a $5000 fine, which is
ridiculous, but PEGI isn't a governmental agency. They're a trade
organization who counts Activision as one of their members. Activision
and PEGI have a contract that the former provides the later with
correct information, and the (extremely) modest fine is all PEGI could
(and would want) to push on one of its members.

Still, it's such a stupid stunt by Activision. It's not as if this
sort of thing wasn't going to be immediately noticed, and then
corrected. It may have netted them a few victims, but it also got the
world's attention on them again (something I'm sure they don't want
right now as they struggle to get the Microsoft merger pushed
through).

It's just another example of the stupid short-term thinking at the
company. It's not just that they do bad things that's annoying; it's
that they do them so badly.

So all I can say when I read stuff like this is moan - again - "Oh,
Activision..."