Well-liked free-to-play cell sport Brawl Stars is doing one thing a bit completely different. In an period the place it appears each sport is making an attempt to nickel and dime you with increasingly more stuff to purchase, as a substitute it’s eradicating loot containers and all random rewards fully from the sport. It’s yet one more signal that loot containers are more likely to develop into a relic of the previous as lawmakers and gamers push again on the random rewards. However that doesn’t imply Brawl Stars gamers are universally completely happy about their removing.
Launched in 2019 for telephones and tablets, Brawl Stars combined cute characters with MOBA-like gameplay and a few battle royale parts. The top outcome was a enjoyable top-down aggressive motion sport that I performed for weeks and weeks. However since I finished taking part in, thousands and thousands have continued to take pleasure in it: Brawl Stars has revamped a billion {dollars} in revenue for Supercell and nonetheless has an lively participant base and neighborhood. Now, Supercell has eliminated all loot containers from the sport, and response to the change is oddly combined.
Introduced in a Brawl Speak video posted final week, Supercell’s newest replace to Brawl Stars has eliminated all random rewards from the sport. These containers have been primarily used to unlock new characters within the sport. Since its launch three years in the past, Brawl Stars has closely featured loot containers as a part of its rewards. However with yesterday’s replace, that’s now not the case.
“No extra possibilities, no extra random rewards, and no extra taking part in the guessing sport if you unlock Brawlers,” stated the sport’s lead designer Frank Keienburg in Supercell’s Brawl Speak video.
Yesterday, as a part of this replace, all unclaimed containers have been mechanically opened and all of the rewards got to gamers accordingly. Shifting ahead, Keienburg and Supercell say that each one rewards—together with its battle passes—will likely be changed with “completely different, deterministic rewards, a few of that are new to the sport.” Now, gamers have a brand new battle pass-like function, The Starr Street, which lets them unlock all characters without spending a dime through grinding. Gamers can now simply purchase any brawler they need with gems, as a substitute of randomly shopping for dozens of loot containers to possibly get a selected hero.
“We’re making this transformation for a couple of causes,” continued Keienburg. “Primarily, transferring away from possibilities and likelihood, which can make issues extra honest and predictable for you. It additionally offers you clear and thrilling targets each time you play the sport.”
After all, there’s additionally the chance that Supercell and different devs are eradicating loot containers as numerous governments around the globe start cracking down on them with proposed new legal guidelines and rules.
Whereas I believe eradicating loot containers is an efficient factor and one thing price celebrating—particularly as cell video games proceed to be among the worst offenders with even good video games like Marvel Snap together with predatory purchases of over $100 or extra—the neighborhood response is much much less constructive. Whereas some gamers appear completely happy concerning the removing of random reward crates, others expressed disappointment. The feedback on the Brawl Speak video has gamers rallying in opposition to the devs and demanding containers return to Brawl Stars.
Why? For some it appears that evidently the joy of a loot field outweighed the frustration that usually accompanies them. Others prompt they now have little curiosity in taking part in the sport since random rewards are being eliminated. (I believe a few of these folks have to cease and suppose in the event that they actually like Brawl Stars or similar to pulling a digital lever on a slot machine…) We noticed one thing much like this occur with Overwatch 2’s launch, the place some gamers have been indignant on the removing of loot containers and demanded they be returned to the sport. And whereas I agree that development in Overwatch 2 sucks for the time being, I’d moderately Blizzard work out a solution to repair that doesn’t contain bringing again loot containers, even when it did offer you lots of free ones earlier than.
The truth is that as video games proceed to develop into increasingly more well-liked, extra international locations will start investigating the business and the way it makes cash. And loot containers are probably by no means to return in vogue so long as so many governments are main crusades to manage or outlaw them.
