Maximum PC - USA (2019-10)

from players immediately after

release. One of the worst offenders

was EA’s Mass Effect 3, which not

only offered a pretty crucial story

expansion for purchase on day

one, but is also credited—albeit in

a dubious sense of the word—with

being the first full-price release to

feature loot boxes at launch. Much

like the loot boxes popularized by

games such as Overwatch and

League of Legends, these “supply

packs” could be earned by grinding

away in Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer

mode, or purchased in bulk with

real-world money.

CHOOSE LOOT

Herein lies a key component of the

archetypal loot box’s design: You

don’t have to pay for them. Almost

without exception, it is possible to

earn loot boxes and their pseudo-

random rewards simply through

sustained gameplay. That’s the

catch—developers can claim that

no content is locked off to players

who won’t shell out their hard-

earned cash; it’s merely time-gated

until they’ve put in the relevant

amount of effort. Overwatch is

a good example: Loot boxes are

awarded upon leveling up and

completing weekly milestones,

providing a constant stream of

cosmetic rewards for regular

players. The game received some

criticism for being a full-price game

that heavily featured loot boxes, but

modern free-to-play games are

THE ORIGINS OF

THE LOOT BOX

Real-world loot boxes have been

around for far longer than their

digital counterparts. Taking aside

actual gambling (a slot machine

is arguably a sort of loot box, but

we’re not going to get bogged

down in semantics here), there

are examples that might not

immediately seem akin to loot

boxes, but effectively serve the

same purpose. Any trading card

game aficionados reading this

will no doubt know about booster

packs, containing half a dozen or so

random cards with one guaranteed

“rare”—a mechanic that carries

over to many in-game loot boxes.

These made the leap successfully

to the digital format, with many

online card games featuring virtual

booster packs.

Another key aspect of the loot

box’s conception was gashapon

toys. Originating in Japan and

also called gachapon or simply

gacha, these are tiny toys and

figurines that can

be purchased from

vending machines,

which deposit a

sealed capsule

containing a

random gift from

a predetermined

collection. A

similar product

is a common

sight in physical

game retailers

across the world:

blind-box figurines, which are

effectively the same thing, minus

the capsule and vending machine.

Funnily enough, gacha toys

would become the basis for the

very first in-game loot box ever

to be implemented. In 2004,

the massively popular free-

to-play MMORPG MapleStory

introduced Gachapon Tickets, a

premium currency purchasable

via microtransactions that could

be spent on rolls at a virtual

gachapon machine to acquire

random items. These were only

available in the Japanese version

of the game, but MapleStory

developer Wizet enjoyed a

modicum of profit from the new

feature. It would be a long time

before the global popularization

of loot boxes, though.

Commonplace

in Japan, you

might also

have seen

these vending

machines

around in

the West.

Below-left:

Destiny 2 has

players going

to a specific

vendor to

unlock their

loot boxes.

Below-right:

Some games,

such as Te am

Fortress 2, sell

keys for loot

boxes earned

from gameplay.

maximumpc.com OCT 2019 MAXIMUMPC 37

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