Over the past six months, loot boxes have seen increased levels of concern from fans. EA’s implementation of a loot box based progression system in more than one game brought the focus onto in-game purchases and a number of developers have commented on it since.
From Bethesda to Blizzard to Apple, developers and store curators have been chiming in on the issue.
A new survey, taken during the Game Developers Conference has shed some light on the future of loot box adoption in games. The survey released that one in 10 developers plan on using loot boxes, despite the pushback from gamers.
“When asked to select which business model(s) they planned to use for their next game, nearly half (49%) said “pay to download” and 39% said “free to download.” 23% said their next game would feature paid downloadable content (DLC) updates, and 22% said it would feature in-game items sold for real money. Notably, 11% said their next game would include “paid item crates,” suggesting that approximately 1 in 10 game makers is figuring out how to implement something like a loot box mechanic in their next game.”
Luckily, when asked to elaborate on loot boxes, developers noted that they needed to be implemented correctly and reward players with vanity items, not game changing items. It was also suggested that loot boxes could be used to reward players with items that are available without needing to pay.
It seems as though the developers are being mindful of the implementation of loot boxes.
The same survey detailed growing developer interest in the Nintendo Switch, as well as their waning interest in AR and VR.
