Rocket League has included loot boxes for quite some time now. Though keys to the crates are able to be purchased using real money, they have never included anything that could tip the scales of a match. Instead, they've only included cosmetic items like decals for your cars, goal explosions, cars themselves, and the like.
Well, the developers of the popular car-soccer game, Psyonix recently announced that they're going to be doing away with these random loot crates entirely. The studio hasn't provided an official date that these changes will be made but
their statement does reveal that it will occur later this year.
The discussion and criticism of loot boxes in the gaming industry has never been as rampant as it has been as of late — with increasing amounts of governments deeming them to be a type of gambling and thereby making them illegal. While Psyonix don't provide a reason for the impending removal of the loot crates, beyond them wanting to provide the best possible experience to their players, this is likely why.
Below you can read an excerpt from the developer's aforementioned statement:
Here at Psyonix, and Epic Games as a whole, we are dedicated to creating the best possible experience for our players all over the world. In pursuit of that goal, later this year we will remove all paid, randomized Crates from Rocket League, replacing them with a system that shows the exact items you’re buying in advance. This is similar to changes implemented earlier this year by the Fortnite Save the World team.
They go onto state that
"Rocket Pass Premium, DLC Cars, and Esports Shop items will continue to be offered for direct purchase alongside our new system."