The badging should help buyers make “more informed decisions” rather than finding out after the fact, the ESRB said. The previous approach only listed the presence of paid items on a basic level, which could refer to more benign purchases like DLC and season passes. You still had to do separate research if you were worried about loot boxes.

In a sense, this represents the ESRB coming full circle. It said in 2017 that it didn’t consider loot boxes to be gambling, siding with game developers like EA (which has preferred euphemisms like “surprise mechanics”). The board isn’t outright stating that loot boxes amount to gambling, but it’s now willing to accommodate people who believe it amounts to a roll of the dice.

Update 4/14/20 9:21AM ET: Added reference to PEGI's announcement for European game rating labels.