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Eder Ramirez

Dr. Novak

ENGL 101-66

December 9 2019

Cultural Trends (WP#2)

Gaming is a pastime enjoyed by a wide variety of audiences. The media of video

games is one that’s solidified its presence and relevance by presenting its audiences a

wide variety of immersive environments, critically acclaimed soundtracks, compelling

and intricate storylines, and innovative gameplay that aim to reinvent the genre it

represents. It is an endless symbiotic cycle between consumers and developers, where

they both parties rely on each other for the industry to thrive. Should developers continue

to create content and media that cater to the high standards of dedicated game consumers,

whatever they may be; the consumers, in turn, happily purchase and praise the game to

no end, allowing the developers to not only monetarily gain, but to also gain in

reputation. This concept is how successful companies and developers like Nintendo and

Square Enix thrive in the game industry, becoming financial dreadnaughts backed with

incredible amounts of money and reputation.

Occasionally, there may be a new trend that emerges in the industry, bringing

with it a whole tsunami of unforeseen effects, good or bad; examples of such trends

include the “Battle Royale” craze, spawned by the popularity of games such as Fortnite

and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the Renaissance of 8-Bit “Indies” kick started with

cult-gems such as Undertale and Cave Story, and even the trend of “Augmented Reality”
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games like the wildly successful Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

However, one trend has cemented its presence in the Industry within the last few years,

sparking debate amongst gamers and politicians alike. While the trend of “lootboxes” and

“microtransactions” in gaming is not one that may seem paramount in the grand scheme

of the industry, its presence is more broad than one may think.

The emergence of lootboxes is a rather prevalent trend within the mainstream,

“Triple-A” gaming environment. A lootbox is essentially Gaming’s version of a grab bag,

where the player is presented with an option to spend money to obtain special in-game

items via these lootboxes, which randomly decide what the player shall receive based on

an algorithm similar to that of a casino slot machine. Prizes may range from cosmetics to

alter the appearance of say, a character or a weapon; to special in-game items obtainable

only behind this method, like a powerful character or a powerful item that the player may

use against others. Gamers advocate that lootboxes mimic the style of casino slot

machines, where costs are high and payouts are almost never worth the cost thanks to low

percentages of obtaining a desirable item. Now, the context of these arguments mostly

apply to its presence in online multiplayer games, where balance and fairness is a key

component for the livelihood of its playerbase. After all, who wants to play a game that’s

unfair?
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2017 saw the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2, a game developed by AAA

studio, EA. Its lootboxes (Figure 1) were a feature present in the Multiplayer experience,

where players can purchase them for a chance to win items (in the form of gameplay

boosters), weapons, emotes, and characters for use in online battles. The lootboxes,

known as Crates, were bought through a premium in-game currency called “Crystals,”

which were obtainable by buying packages of the premium currency with real money.

For example, 1,000 of these crystals were available for $10, with the most

Figure 1:

SWBF2’s Lootboxes

basic Crate costing 100

of them. Since the

chances of unlocking

characters were based

on luck, the players with

more money were the

ones who had powerful characters, since they were able to buy more lootboxes and play

the chances over and over until they got a powerful character. The game, due to most of

the weapons and character being locked behind Crates, was shunned for its use and

implementation of them, where EA responded on the topic in the game’s Reddit page

when one fan voiced out against it. In a comment responding to the player’s thread, EA’s

Community Team responded with saying “the intent [was] to provide players with a

sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes” (EA Community

Team), which soon became the most downvoted post in Reddit’s history. The media and
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the gaming community judged the game as

they saw fit, which showed in its reviews and

playerbase.

Mario Kart Tour debuted September

25, 2019 on the Google Play Store and the

App Store, developed by Nintendo and co-

developer DeNA. Being Nintendo’s first

time releasing a game from the Mario Kart

franchise on platforms outside their own, the

game was exposed to a general audience.

Among the new tracks, characters, and Karts,

Mario Kart Tour introduced “Rubies.” With

Rubies, Tour’s Premium in-game currency, the player is given the option to launch

“Pipes,” which grant the player 3 random

Figure 2: The Gold Pass

prizes in the form of Characters, Karts, Coins, and Item Boosters for use in gameplay.

Karts and Characters featured in Pipes often boasted high stats and better chances of

attaining an item during races, while Item Boosters altered the quality of items obtained.

Reviewers, due to the egregious implementation of Pipes among other things, found

themselves ridiculing the game. As of writing, Mario, the mascot and main character of

the Mario series, is unplayable without unlocking him from a Pipe, which led to some

jokes being spread around online in mockery of Nintendo. However, the game also
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features the “Gold Pass (Figure 2),” a subscription of $5/month for access to exclusive

characters, karts, and stages, which also received mass backlash.

This trend captured the attention of many groups of people, from loyal players to

the media and even governments around the world. Belgium introduced a heavy

regulation on gambling, which squashed the idea of lootboxes in the country. The United

States has made efforts to regulate them as well, but nothing has gone beyond a proposed

bill due to Lootboxes not violating any gambling regulations. As mentioned earlier, to an

average consumer of this medium, lootboxes have ultimately hindered the gaming

experience, with companies and publishers entering this cycle of nickel-and-diming

consumers for content in the game. This new cycle ultimately quashes the ideal,

symbiotic relationship that consumers and companies truly strive in. It is no longer about

the money at this point, but rather about how a company respects is audiences. The future

of the gaming industry seems like one that relies on these forms of micro transactions. Its

up to consumers and companies to draw conclusions about this craze, and time will tell

what the trend has in store for its industry and its consumers.

Cites:

“r/StarWarsBattlefront - Seriously? I Paid 80$ to Have Vader Locked?” Reddit,

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7cff0b/seriously_i_paid

_80_to_have_vader_locked/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x.

Figure 1: Ben Gilbert, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-

battlefront-2-ea-apologizes-for-loot-box-fiasco-2018-4
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Figure 2: Nintendo, Polygon, https://www.polygon.com/2019/9/25/20883283/mario-kart-

tour-gold-pass-features-price