Lootboxes have gotten incredibly controversial of late, thanks to the random nature and gambling elements they embody, and because of egregious implementations for them in high profile games like Star Wars Battlefront 2. The result of the backlash is that any game with monetization schemes is under increased scrutiny.
That includes something like Rainbow Six: Siege; generally a darling of the community, in no small part thanks to the excellent post launch support it has seen, the game will be getting loot boxes obtainable via only real world money in an upcoming update- which, obviously, isn’t going down well with people.
In an interview with MCV UK, Rainbow Six brand director Alexandre Remy discussed hsi take on loot boxes, and especially in the context of their inclusion in Siege.
“I feel like the loot boxes act like the gift shop after the rollercoaster,” Remy said, also noting that the development team on Siege is very careful to not let any monetization impact the core gameplay loop. “I am feeling very empathetic towards players upset with this, but at the same time I do not feel we are cheating anyone, I don’t think we are being greedy whatsoever.”
Whereas I am generally very critical of loot boxes, an similar monetization scams, I do want to point out on the other hand that Siege has in fact seen great post launch support, and we can at the very least give them the benefit of the doubt until we know more… I just don’t like making loot box payoffs obtainable only with real, actual money, that’s all.