Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney delivered a scathing critique of loot boxes and "pay-to-win" games in his keynote address at this year's DICE Summit.As reported by the Hollywood Reporter, Sweeney said that if the company wants to maintain the trust of its audience Sweeney said the industry needs to move away from the "customer-hostile model" if it wants to maintain viewer trust.

"We as an industry have to ask ourselves what we want to be when we grow up. Do we want to be like Las Vegas with slot machines, or do we want to be widely respected as creators of products that customers trust? [We should be cautious about creating experiences where the outcome is dependent on spending money. Loot boxes are all about how gambling works, except that you end up getting more money."

In some jurisdictions, the inability to cash out has prevented some from defining loot boxes as a form of gambling: the UK Gambling Commission, for example, said last year that loot box rewards cannot be officially monetized and therefore cannot be classified as gambling. However, the technical correctness of the definition is being pushed aside by relatively obvious "common sense" concerns, and there are growing calls for some form of regulation.

Sweeney similarly criticized what he called the "customer adversarial model" that is particularly common on social media platforms. He said, "There are companies that profit by doing harm to their customers. Facebook and Google are leaders in this. They provide a free service and then make you pay for that service in the form of loss of privacy and loss of freedom. [Apart from the economic aspects of the business, Sweeney also noted the increasing politicization of discourse within the industry. Sweeney said that games have become "as much a communication platform as an entertainment experience,"

which has created "special responsibilities that must be taken very seriously."

Interestingly, while both game content and game makers (and the conversations about them) have become more overtly political in recent years, Sweeney believes the solution is to remove politics from the equation entirely.

"The world is in a real mess right now. Right now, our political orientation is dictating which fast food chicken restaurant we go to. It's really ridiculous. There is absolutely no reason to drag such divisive topics into the game."

Businesses should be "neutral venues," he said, where employees and customers alike "can have their own opinions and not be judged by us for that."

"Epic's mission is to develop great technology and great games. And we can count on all of Epic, and we can demand that all of Epic's employees unite for that mission. But we must respect their personal opinions on all other issues. They may differ from management's views or from each other's views.

Sweeney said the best way for companies to avoid "controversy over political censorship" from foreign countries is to "detach from politics." [If there is anything that the recent Blitzchung controversy has made clear, it is that a firm commitment to "neutrality" is itself a political position in favor of the status quo. Blizzard's attempt to keep political statements out of esports presentations was undoubtedly the cause of the company's months-long scandal.

If you want to read more on the subject, Tyler, Wes, and Tom from our team have published a roundtable discussion on political representation in gaming.

Update: Sweeney expanded on Twitter about his political remarks in his keynote speech, clarifying that he did not mean that games should be non-political, but that their politics "should come from the heart of their creators." In a separate tweet, however, Sweeney watered down his keynote address by referring to Chick-fil-A, a company known for its opposition to same-sex marriage. 'I don't think a company like that should be taking a position on issues like this. If the company's mission is to produce good food, and they have 1,000 employees who have come together to support that mission, why should they be dragged into an issue that so many people oppose?"

But Chick-fil-A was dragged into something not by the marketing department, but by corporate leadership. And as opposition to same-sex marriage became more public, the choice to dine there or not became an inherently political act. Similarly, Blizzard's decision to punish Blitzchung for his comments about Hong Kong was unavoidably political, and Sweeney's October 2019 statement that such a thing would never happen at Epic Games was.

This tweet seems to best summarize the point Sweeney is trying to make: platforms should not interfere with the creators who use them. The platform should not interfere with the creators who use it. That's fine as a broad principle, but as Valve discovered when it was indifferent to bad behavior on Steam, a lack of standards is asking for trouble.

Update 2: The full text of Sweeney's talk at DICE 2020 is available on YouTube, courtesy of IGN.