A couple of months ago, in August, the American video game developer Psyonix revealed its plans to fully remove randomized loot boxes in its Rocket League following concerns that video game features such as loot crates encourage children to gamble. Now, the company has shared more details on how it intends to replace them.
In a blog post, the video game developer revealed that in December 2019 there will be a game update during which it is to introduce a new system called Blueprints. The latter is to replace the existing randomized loot boxes and provide customers with more transparency in what they are purchasing. Loot boxes offer gamers the chance to purchase a variety of special in-game items or skins, but players do not know what they will receive in return to their money. That has been exactly the reason why they have been described as gambling by their critics.
As part of the change, after every match, Rocket League players will be provided with the opportunity to obtain a blueprint, which would provide information about the in-game item they are going to get in case they pay. Customers will be able to immediately pay for a blueprint and an item, respectively, or they will be able to stash them in their inventory to buy them later. Special edition items will also be available through blueprints, and the video game developer unveiled a new item shop.
New Blueprints Will Provide Better Transparency When Buying In-Game Items
Psyonix revealed that both the blueprints, which will replace loot boxes, and the new item shop will be rolled out in December. Along with these changes, keys will be replaced by credits as the premium currency game. Credits, however, will not be valid for the esports shop where players will be allowed to use esports tokens only.
In addition, at the time when the change takes place, the video game developer is to automatically convert available crates into blueprints and keys into credits into their customers’ accounts.
Due to increased public and regulatory criticism, some developers have already removed loot boxes from their video games. The beginning of the year saw the popular game developer Fortnite announce that it would reveal the content of the “boxes” so that customers are aware of what they would purchase before they pay for the special in-game items.
As explained by Psyonix, the video game developer hopes that the replacement of loot boxes with the blueprints, which are set to be implemented soon, the change will offer its customers more transparency regarding the digital items they are purchasing. This is how the company is hoping to prevent major criticism faced by loot boxes, as their opponents claim that customers do not really know what items they contain at the time when they pay for the loot boxes.
