Guild Wars 2 has in-game currency purchases removed in Belgium

Guild Wars 2 players in Belgium are reporting they can no longer purchase gems – the game’s currency – since September 19.

Posts on both the GW2 forums and subreddits show the ability to purchase currency has been completely removed for those in Belgium, rendering the in-game gem market non-functional for players in the country.

ArenaNet has yet to comment on the situation, but it appears only players based in Belgium are impacted by the error message – at least at the time of writing. Some players are already getting around the removed functionality using VPNs.

Removing the ability to purchase Guild Wars 2’s in-game currency with real money fits with a pattern we’ve seen emerge regarding how publishers are dealing with the country’s laws on loot boxes and other related in-game purchases. Basically, Belgian authorities aren’t happy with them, and game makers are slowly, but surely, removing them from their titles.

The removal follows the pattern set by other titles in recent weeks and months, with the likes of Blizzard taking out loot box functionality from Overwatch in Belgium, and 2K Sports removing its paid-for elements in NBA 2K18 for both Belgium and the Netherlands.

Similar decisions have come about from the likes of Valve, Warner, and we’ve even seen publishers pre-empting the negative pushback – though not specifically related to the Belgium/Netherlands laws – by announcing there won’t be loot box-like elements in their upcoming games and removing them from existing ones, for example in Forza.

[images from TheSidFlare]