In context: If there's one thing a large, vocal portion of the gaming community dislikes more than almost anything else in the industry, it's paid loot boxes. Though many gamers have come to accept them, whenever an announcement states that this form of microtransactions will be coming to a $60, AAA (or indie) title, there's always quite a bit of backlash.
Some gamers and even world governments have gone so far as to say that loot boxes are essentially the equivalent of gambling; just without all the extra regulatory baggage that would ordinarily come with that classification.
The debate surrounding these microtransactions has gotten so heated that many developers and publishers have outright pulled loot boxes from their games. We've seen it with Middle Earth: Shadow of War, Star Wars: Battlefront II, and now we're seeing it with Rocket League.
Rocket League developer Psyonix announced today that "later this year" they will be removing paid, randomized reward crates from the game. Microtransactions will still be around, but they will exist in the form of a system that shows you the "exact items" that you'll be buying in advance.
So, the new system might function as monetization did (and still does, occasionally) before the loot box craze. Assuming Psyonix doesn't have some unique twist on the idea, it sounds like you'll be able to find something you like and buy it outright with no extra strings attached. Or perhaps the company will opt for a rotating system like you see in Guild Wars 2, where select cosmetics are only available for a limited time before cycling out (and usually returning at a later date).
Psyonix did not elaborate on their decision or explain why they chose to remove the loot crates now instead of earlier. However, the team did say that it wants to create the "best possible experience" for its players "all over the world," so perhaps recent loot box legislation in locations like Belgium is what tipped the developer's hand. That's mere speculation on our part, though.
Regardless of Psyonix's reasoning, this is great news for team anti-loot box. Still, it's probably best to wait and see what Rocket League's final monetization system looks like before getting too excited (or disappointed).
https://www.techspot.com/news/81345-psyonix-removing-paid-loot-boxes-rocket-league.html
