Fortnite CEO explains why other games need to dump \u201cugly\u201d loot boxes Forbes \/ Epic Games\/ EA \/ BlizzardFortnite has famously never had loot box mechanics tied to its battle royale store, despite boasting one of the world\u2019s biggest player bases, and now Epic boss Tim Sweeney has called for the rest of the industry to follow suit too. Loot boxes have long been a hot topic in the gaming world. Global powerhouse franchises like EA\u2019s FIFA series, as well as FPS titles like Overwatch and Apex Legends, have built their in-game purchases around random chance. More and more games have been moving towards the \u201cslot machine\u201d style in recent times, but Epic\u2019s helmsman Sweeney has warned a shift towards the \u201cbad and the ugly\u201d way of making profits in video games should be avoided \u201cat all costs.\u201d According to Sweeney, who spoke about the hot topic during his keynote at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, as reported by the Hollywood Reporter, the gaming industry is in a crunch-time moment, and needs to \u201cget it right.\u201d \u201cWe have to ask ourselves, as an industry, what we want to be when we grow up? Do we want to be like Las Vegas, with slot machines \u2026 or do we want to be widely respected as creators of products that customers can trust?\u201d Sweeney said. \u201cWe should be very reticent of creating an experience where the outcome can be influenced by spending money. Loot boxes play on all the mechanics of gambling except for the ability to get more money out in the end.\u201d He then pointed to Fortnite\u2019s collaborations with pop-culture giants like Disney\u2019s Star Wars and Marvel, and suggested that was \u201cthe future\u201d when it came to making long-term profits. Basically, let hype around the game sell the game. \u201cThe future of this is, if you have an awesome new product, you start releasing free stuff in games and people get [engaged with it],\u201d he explained to the various gaming big-wigs gathered at the Aria Resort & Casino on Wednesday. He added that because games have become a social hub where \u201cpeople meet daily,\u201d the entertainment industry now has \u201cspecial responsibilities\u201d to the millions that log into their titles every day that devs \u201cmust take seriously.\u201d \u201cWe have businesses that profit by doing their customers harm,\u201d he added. Sweeney\u2019s call comes just a year after Epic hooked Loot Llamas from the battle royale\u2019s less-popular cousin . Deemed to be \u201cpredatory\u201d and \u201cdeceptive,\u201d Fortnite devs made the call to change them entirely. The Epic boss has also overseen the demolition of Rocket League\u2019s extensive crate system, implementing item-specific \u2018Blueprints\u2019 after the Fortnite-famous company bought out title developers Psyonix in 2019. His company isn\u2019t the only one that has pulled the plug on the loot boxes in recent times either, with Bungie purging Destiny 2 of all random paid content after their Activision divorce, and Modern Warfare avoiding boxes from launch. Considering Fortnite is one of the global leaders when it comes to gaming, and they\u2019re still making major profits\u2014the title made a whopping $1.8 billion in 2019\u2014many will be hoping Sweeney\u2019s call can spark more movement on the topic. If his words can\u2019t, legal action may. Electronic Arts been pulled into a legal battle with two Parisian lawyers this month. The pair are arguing the sports sim\u2019s Ultimate Team mode should be labeled as a form of gambling. Whether or not that French legal action takes hold, or other titles strip loot boxes out of their online games, it\u2019s clear a tide is turning: if Epic\u2019s top boss is joining the fight, it may only be a matter of time before other companies join the exodus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fortnite CEO explains why other games need to dump \u201cugly\u201d loot boxes Forbes \/ Epic Games\/ EA \/ BlizzardFortnite has famously never had loot box mechanics tied to its battle royale store, despite boasting one of the world\u2019s biggest player bases, and now Epic boss Tim Sweeney has called for the rest of the industry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}