Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to evaluate the (a) implementation and (b) effectiveness efficacy of industry-led measures on loot boxes.

Following the Government response to the call for evidence on loot boxes in video games, the Government has welcomed new industry-led guidance and its potential, if fully implemented, to meet our objectives to improve protections for players.

The Government has agreed a 12-month implementation period for the new guidance on loot boxes and has asked the industry, coordinated by Ukie, to report back to DCMS on the extent to which it has been implemented and on steps taken in areas identified for further work.

We are working closely with industry and academics to ensure robust data is available to support evaluation of these measures, supported by the Video Games Research Framework which was developed and published by DCMS.

We will provide a further update in due course, following the 12-month implementation period and informed by independent academic scrutiny of the implementation and efficacy of these measures.