MOBILE MICRO-
TRANSACTIONS
A huge part of the loot box market
(and the gaming market as a whole)
is found in mobile games, where
things are even more dire than
in mainstream PC and console
gaming. While Google and Apple
have both passed regulations
on their respective app stores to
force game developers to publish
the odds of rewards from any loot
boxes included in their games,
the pricing involved is frequently
crazy, and many games utilize
premium currencies, too, with
some packages costing upward of
$100. In a free game, no less.
One such example is the mobile
port of fighting game Skullgirls,
which features both a premium
currency (dubbed “theonite”) and
loot boxes in the form of relics
that reward random characters
and other items. According to
regulations, the odds are easily
viewable in game, and both relics
and theonite can be earned through
gameplay, albeit at a
hugely slower rate.
The game is free to
play without any
ads, and as such
microtransactions
represent the sole
profit margin for
the developers; a
fair assessment
for gamers, who retain the
ability to “vote with their wallets.”
The problem, however—and an
issue that plagues many mobile
games—is that these relics are
the primary source of characters
and gear that significantly affect
gameplay in a game that does
have competitive elements,
thus giving unfair advantages
to players who are willing to
shell out the extra cash. There’s
also the potential upset caused
by ongoing balancing from the
developers. When a certain
character or move is nerfed orbuffed to change its performance
in game, players who paid to
unlock it may feel cheated. The
worst possible scenario, as seen
in some mobile sports games, is
when paid rewards are removed
from players’ inventories at the
end of a gameplay season. This
is a strategy that directly targets
the “whales,” demanding more
money when the next season
starts if they want to keep using
their favorite athlete.Skullgirls
Mobile does
allow players
to earn loot
boxes through
gameplay, but
it’s easy to skip
over that part
with a loaded
credit card.you even see your rewards, you’re
teased for a brief moment by
lighting effects in the colors of the
well-adopted loot rarity system in
games: white-blue-purple-gold,
with gold being the rarest. Seeing
that glimmer of purple peek out
as the player opens the box drives
excitement, while a lack of rare
colors leaves the player wanting
to open another one before they’ve
even seen their actual rewards.
TAKING CHANCES
The War on Loot Boxes is already
won in some parts of the world.
China’s Ministry of Culture issued
a ruling that required developers to
disclose the probabilities of getting
various items from loot boxes, as
well as new regulations limiting the
number of loot boxes that could be
purchased by a single player each
day, and increasing the odds of
getting a “rare” item from opening
a fixed number of loot boxes. While
not as harsh as a ban, the new laws
had a strong impact, forcing many
developers to work around them.
Overwatch, for example, no longer
features purchasable loot boxes in
the Chinese version of the game,
with developer Blizzard instead
using a workaround: In-gamecurrency can be purchased instead,
with loot boxes received as a “gift.”
Other countries have similar
rules. South Korea, for example,
has restrictions upon developers
who wish to include loot boxes in
their games: Payout rates must
be clearly displayed to the player,
and deceptive practices result in a
hefty fine. Developers have found
their own workarounds to these
regulations; the popularity of PC
gaming cafes (better known as
“bangs”) led Bungie to re-examine
its Eververse virtual store in
the Korean version of Destiny 2.
Instead of loot boxes and premium
currencies, vendor Tess Everis is
replaced by Yuna, a vendor who
can only be accessed in versions of
Destiny 2 played in PC bangs, and
who offers rare weapons and gear
to rent for a small fee, acting as a
replacement for the loot box model.
In Europe, Belgium led the
charge, enacting laws that state
that loot boxes are considered
games of chance, and therefore are
subject to direct legal regulation.
Many developers, including
Blizzard, Valve, and 2K Games,Reward rarity
is a key element
of loot boxes,
typically
utilizing color
coding to make
rare rewards
instantly
recognizable.maximumpc.com OCT 2019 MAXIMUMPC 39