The UK government's decision to let technology companies self-regulate gambling-style loot boxes in video games has been called into question, after some of the developers put in charge of new industry guidelines broke their own rules. In the past six months, the advertising regulator has upheld complaints against three companies involved in drawing up industry rules, including the leading developer Electronic Arts (EA), for failing to disclose that their games contained loot boxes. An expert who submitted the complaints said he had found hundreds more examples of breaches but had only taken a handful to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in order to highlight the problem. Loot boxes are in-game features that allow players to pay, with real money or virtual currency, to open a digital envelope containing random prizes, such as an outfit or a weapon for a character. Despite warnings from experts that loot boxes carry similar risks to gambling, the then Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said in July 2022 it would not follow other countries, such as Belgium, in choosing to regulate them as gambling products.

RuneScape is making its way to mobile devices this summer. Although the classic MMORPG has been in early access on iOS and Android for a while, it'll open up to everyone within the next few months. RuneScape will remain free-to-play, with extra skills, quests and other perks for paying subscribers. Publisher Jagex says the game had more than 2.1 million installs on mobile during early access. It also hit a record-high number of subscribers last year, with more than 1.2 million.

The idea that gamers are antisocial grumps who stay up all night eating junk food while playing Call of Duty in their mother's basement is woefully outdated. According to a new survey, about half of all gamers admit they've been playing more since the pandemic started, but nearly three-quarters use it to socialize. Only ten percent of respondents said they munched on junk while gaming, compared to the 37 percent who don't eat at all while playing. Nearly half of respondents kept their gaming to between 8pm and midnight, while just seven percent burned the midnight oil. UK game developer Jagex first came on the scene in 2001 with RuneScape, a popular fantasy massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG).

The Chinese are coming and they're hungry for games companies. They need new content to feed their 560 million avid gamers, who contribute to the biggest gaming market in the world - worth an estimated $24.4bn (£19.8bn) in 2016, according to Newzoo. Chinese firms have already spent more than $111bn on foreign acquisitions this year, according to Dealogic, with some of the biggest deals involving gaming companies. Internet giant Tencent - which owns the WeChat and QQ Games platforms - bought Finnish Clash of Clans mobile games maker Supercell for $8.6bn earlier this year. Tencent already owns League of Legends maker Riot Games, and has minority stakes in Epic Games and Activision Blizzard, the World of Warcraft maker.