Chinese publisher and developer NetEase Games commented on the concerns of players who suspected that loot boxes would appear in the free-to-play multiplayer team shooter Marvel Rivals.
Image source: Steam
Let us remind you that at this stage, the monetization of Marvel Rivals revolves around battle passes and premium skins, but traces of loot boxes – containers with random contents – were found in the game files.
According to the findings of data miners, the Marvel Rivals files contain not only references to loot boxes, but even materials associated with them (such as icons of different colors and opening animations).
Loot boxes contained items of varying degrees of rarity (gray, blue, yellow, purple, red) and, apparently, could become part of a themed event – the mechanics were going to be limited in time.
The prospect of loot boxes appearing in Marvel Rivals – one of the most controversial monetization tools in recent years – alarmed fans, but NetEase Games dotted all the i’s in a statement to the 80 Level portal.
According to the company, traces of loot boxes in the Marvel Rivals files are a relic of one of the stages of the game’s development, and are not a reflection of the team’s plans. We do not intend to add such mechanics in the future.
Marvel Rivals launched on December 6 on PC (Steam, EGS), PS5, Xbox Series X and S. The game’s audience exceeded 20 million, and the peak online on Steam reached 480 thousand people. The project is an analogue of Overwatch, but with Marvel characters.