Several publisher have recently committed to disclosing odds on loot boxes. Epic Games follows suit and confirms its plans to make it a transparent mechanic.
Epic will discontinue randomized loot boxes for all of its upcoming titles.
According to Gamesindustry.biz, Epic has already begun taking steps in this direction. Psyonix, which was recently purchased by Epic, promised to remove the loot boxes from Rocket League.
In the wake of statements from other publishers, Epic Games commented:
“Earlier this year, the Fortnite Save the World team made a change that showed players every item that they would get in a paid llama before opening it. Earlier this week, the team at Psyonix announced a similar change coming later this year to paid crates in Rocket League. Going forward, we’re committed to the same transparency for player purchases in all Epic Games titles.”
This policy will apply to titles published by Epic Games. Whether it will affect the games sold via Epic Games Store is still unknown.
Epic Games is a member of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The ESA announced that many of its members have already made it compulsory for developers to disclose odds on loot boxes in their games. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, for example, promised not to release console games failing to comply with this requirement.
The ESA’s other member, THQ Nordic has never even published a game with loot boxes, nor does it plan to release games that have this “casino-styled mechanics”.