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Developer Psyonix and publisher Epic Games have announced that Rocket League will be removing crates from the game. Crates are the game’s take on loot boxes. This topic has been repeatedly brought into mainstream news recently due to gambling concerns. The Rocket League crates concept was first introduced into the game in 2016, and they have been there ever since.

Rocket League crates

The initial introduction of crates in Rocket League came with an update on September 8, 2016. It enabled players to obtain exclusive skins, decals, trails, wheels, and more through a randomized crate function. Players could unlock crates using keys, which they had to purchase with real-world currency. After being unlocked, the crate would show a spinning animation like a slot machine before giving the player their virtual item. This concept was inspired by Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s case feature, which brought Valve a massive income stream.

While there was some backlash from the community about the loot box format, many players enjoyed the feature. The items they could obtain from the crates were all cosmetic and did not impact gameplay. Psyonix also released a drop rate table for items that could be found in crates. Players had a 55% chance to receive a Rare, 28% for a Very Rare, and 12% for an Import item. Following that, there was a 4% chance for an Exotic Item and 1% for the final Black Market item.

With this tiered concept, there were eventually real-world dollar values attached to each cosmetic item. This is similar to how it worked in CS:GO. Players could then trade with each other using the cosmetic skins. Keys could also be used as a form of virtual currency.

New monetization concept

In the announcement post by Epic Games and Psyonix, they stated that they are “dedicated to creating the best possible experience for [their] players”. They later wrote about how they would remove all paid and randomized crates from Rocket League later this year. The crates will be replaced with a system that shows the exact items ahead of time. The fact that Fortnite’s Save The World game also implemented a similar concept was referenced in the statement.

No more information has been shared about the specifics of how everything will work. That said, this is a good move on Epic Games’ part. Loot boxes have been prevalent in legislation as of late, and the new concept sounds great. What do you think about Epic Games removing crates from Rocket League? Let us know in the comments, and keep up with all of the latest Rocket League news and content here at Daily Esports.