Today I read something interesting about Pokémon Go. In the game, you can purchase items to enhance your gameplay, like incubators that you use on eggs. By walking a certain distance, you hatch the egg and get a Pokémon. Normally you get one incubator for free, but you can buy more with real money.
Recently, Brazil banned players there from buying these incubators. The reason is that hatching eggs gives you a random Pokémon, which is essentially a form of gambling similar to loot boxes in other video games. To comply with local gambling laws, the company would have to publicly disclose the exact percentage odds of getting specific Pokémon.
Rather than revealing that data, they chose to block purchases entirely for Brazilian players. It’s fascinating that video games can cross into gambling territory, and that companies would rather abandon an entire market than disclose their drop rates. It makes you wonder what might happen if more countries started requiring full transparency on these odds.