Although some publishers will say differently, the consensus is that buying loot boxes in a video game is the same as going to a casino to gamble. Unfortunately, some games rely on these gambling mechanics to make their publishers a ton of money, which might explain the latest controversy surrounding World of Warships.
World of Warships is ostensibly a free-to-play game. You can pay for cosmetics, premium ships, and MMO-style resource and experience boosters, but up until recently, loot boxes were unheard of. However, as MassivelyOP reports (by way of Kotaku), the World of Warships’ latest summer event leans so heavily into loot boxes that developer Wargaming’s partnered content creators are jumping ship.
To start, the summer event is a confusing mess of using a temporary resource called Summer Tokens to purchase "bundles" (World of Warship's term for loot boxes) that contain an array of cosmetics, with more purchases providing a greater discount. However, Wargaming doesn't make it at all clear what the odds are for getting any particular item or what the discount amounts to.
Related: Australian MP Is Trying To Stop Publishers From Selling Loot Boxes To Minors
But the real issue was the return of the Mighty Mo. The USS Missouri was a battleship that was previously available back in 2016. It’s an average vessel except for one unique bonus: it provides players with a credit bonus after every battle. This bonus allowed players to farm credits and break the in-game economy, leading Wargaming to remove the USS Missouri in 2018.
Missouri is once again available in this summer's event, but only if you purchase those loot boxes. This comes after the developers previously said Missouri could be purchased for Doubloons (World of Warship's premium currency).
This proved to be the last straw for many World of Warships fans, but especially its content partners. According to a recent Reddit post, 24 former members of Wargaming's official Community Contributor program have left in recent days. The Mighty Jingles, a content creator so popular that he's even a playable captain in-game, made it clear he was leaving due to "increasingly aggressive monetization and implementation of gambling mechanics," as well as what he said was Wargaming's "contempt" for its players.
Wargaming's official response was to respect their former contributors' decisions and to provide an "alternative way to purchase" the USS Missouri outside of the summer event’s loot box mechanics.
Next: Everyone Is Thirsting Over Dead By Daylight's New Killer, Pinhead
