Purchasable video game item containing random rewards
"Loot crate" redirects here. For the subscription box company, see Loot Crate.
Mock-up image of opening a loot box in a video game
In video game terminology, a loot box (also called a loot crate or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or loot, ranging from simple customization options for a player's avatar or character to game-changing equipment such as weapons and armor. A loot box is typically a form of monetisation, with players either buying the boxes directly or receiving the boxes during play and later buying "keys" with which to redeem them. These systems may also be known as gacha (based on gashapon, i.e. capsule toys), which is popular in Japan, and may be integrated into gacha games.
Loot box concepts originated from loot systems in massively multiplayer online role-playing games, and from the monetisation of free-to-play mobile gaming. They first appeared in 2004 through 2007, and have appeared in many free-to-play games and in some full-priced titles since then. They are seen by developers and publishers of video games not only to help generate ongoing revenue for games while avoiding drawbacks of paid downloadable content or game subscriptions, but to also keep player interest within games by offering new content and cosmetics through loot-box reward systems. Loot boxes are just one form of chance-based mechanism used in paid reward systems within some digital games, and research has explored their impact on children, youth and families, and the boundaries between gaming and gambling.[1]
Loot boxes were popularised through their inclusion in several games throughout the mid-2010s. By the latter half of the decade, some games, particularly Star Wars Battlefront II, expanded approaches to the concept that caused them to become highly criticised. Such criticism included "pay to win" gameplay systems that favored those that spent real money on loot boxes and negative effects on gameplay systems to accommodate them, as well as them being anti-consumer when implemented in full-priced games. Due to fears of them being used as a source in gray-market skin gambling, loot boxes began to become regulated under national gambling laws in various countries at the same time.
^Ash, J., Gordon, R. and Mills, S. (2022) Between Gaming and Gambling: Children, Young People and Paid Reward Systems in Digital Games, Newcastle University
In video game terminology, a lootbox (also called a loot crate or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised...
that implements the gacha (toy vending machine) mechanic. Similar to lootboxes, gacha games entice players to spend in-game currency to receive a random...
10% due to the lootbox controversy, and had missed their financial targets for the fiscal quarter after release due to the lootbox system being offline...
ceased operations on 26 December 2018.[citation needed] The game pioneered lootbox predatory monetisation mechanics. It featured the now-canonical lock-and-key...
popular in itself. The mode has been often criticized for its reliance on lootbox packs, considered a controversial form of gambling. EA describes Ultimate...
Lootboxes are another form of microtransactions. Through purchasing a lootbox, the player acquires a seemingly random assortment of items. Loot boxes...
Loot Crate was a subscription box service established in 2012 which provided monthly boxes of geek- and gaming-related merchandise. Loot Crate was founded...
pass model gained more use as an alternative to subscription fees and lootboxes beginning in the late 2010s. Battle passes tend to offer free passes,...
called the trailer "tone-deaf", due to being released at a time when lootboxes had become highly scrutinized and regulated under governing bodies and...
a lootbox system that randomizes the progress in a game rather than it being experience-driven and whether a game's randomly generated lootboxes contain...
offered through many games in the form of a lootbox or similar term, depending on the game. Lootboxes are earned progressively by continuing to play...
Gamers and critics negatively responded to the Elite Season Opener Pack lootbox, feeling that EA were aggressively pushing the pay-to-win option of Ultimate...
or WLAN, without needing to be connected to the wider internet. lootboxLootboxes (and other name variants, such as booster packs for online collectible...
industry-wide debate on the use of random-content lootboxes. While other games had used lootboxes, EA's original approach within Battlefront II from...
with lootboxes due to the similarities shared with gambling. Below is a list of restrictions enforced by the NPPA. The contents within a lootbox must...
expensive than the cost to open lootboxes, that players got more items for opening a lootbox, and that in general, the lootbox system felt more rewarding...
of equipment of varying rarity and usefulness. This is a variant of the lootbox mechanic where players spend currency to acquire an entire set of random...
game industry. In October 2017, in response to growing criticism of the lootbox model for video game microtransactions (which grant chances at earning...
include monetization options, such as buying virtual keys to open in-game lootboxes. Valve began earning enough from these revenues to transition Team Fortress...
banning or restricting games with lootbox mechanics due to their gambling nature. Coupled with poor implementation of lootbox mechanics in Star Wars Battlefront...
ranging from $4 to $25. As virtual goods, they have high profit margins. A lootbox system has existed in the game since 2016; these are purchasable virtual...
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