The End Of Gacha Games Is Drawing Near! Nintendo Shuts Down Animal Crossing & Fire Emblem In Belgium!

I have waited for this day to come for so long now. Ever since gacha games started becoming popular, I’ve hated that concept. For me, the hatred really developed with Dragon Ball Dokkan Battle. I never understood how people could be willing to spend hundreds of euros (dollars) into a mobile games for a small chance to get virtual units that have no real value in the real world. It’s what led to me adopting a free-to-play attitude. Now, it looks like the end for these types of gacha and loot-boxed type games are at an end. Nintendo had to snap their fingers to erase some of its mobile gacha games from existence.

If you haven’t heard, Nintendo had to shut down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and Fire Emblem Heroes in Belgium, which will come into effect at the end of August. Both are being pulled over Belgium’s recent stance on loot boxes. According to this tweet from the official account:

https://twitter.com/NintendoBE_NL/status/1130750392130842624

Vanwege de huidige onduidelijke situatie in België omtrent bepaalde verdienmodellen van games, zal de service voor Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp en Fire Emblem Heroes op 27 augustus 2019 in België worden stopgezet. https://t.co/8xvDHr0zkO

— Nintendo België (@NintendoBE_NL) May 21, 2019

Translation:

“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 27th August 2019.”

This is a small step but a necessary one to once and for all address this long-standing issues with gacha games, which in turn led to it spreading to console games. It’s bad for the players and has never been anything of positive value, and if more countries would start to implement these strict rules on these gacha games, then we’d be good! Gacha-like games and loot-crate won’t disappear completely but they’ll now have to take a new form, hopefully one that promotes a healthier gaming experience in which you are rewarded properly for the time spent on a game rather than an experience filled with gambling.