Today Spanish Developer MercurySteam announced that its third-person shooter/brawler Raiders of the Broken Planet is rebranding as Spacelords and going the free to play route. Yet, if you’re concerned about the development team implementing loot boxes, don’t be. It isn’t going to happen.
DualShockers talked to Game Director Enric Álvarez at the developer’s headquarters in San Sebastian de Los Reyes, Spain, and he explained why the controversial crates won’t be part of the game’s free to play business model.
“No loot boxes in Raiders of the Broken Planet, and no loot boxes in Spacelords from the next 23rd of August”
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“We never had the slightest intention to implement loot boxes in the game. To put it simply, we don’t like them.”
Álvarez explained that monetization will rely on cosmetic items and boosts to progression speed. Players “won’t need to spend a cent” to progress, and cosmetic items “won’t affect the gameplay at all.”
We also talked with Lead Designer Joan Amat, who added more details.
“A progression system nowadays has to feel good. In the past we would play a free to play game and we would enjoy the content that we were getting for free. We has a public were still developing the understandment of how things are supposed to be monetized. I think there has been this realization about look boxes, and we have learned that people have to feel that things are fair, that they’re engaging on a relationship with the developer, and that relationship has to be honest, and we have to be on a level playing field.
Loot boxes are way too obscure and complicate that relationship in a way that more and more people are realizing that it’s hardly going to be a fair deal if I cannot understand it.
I think this is the biggest part of what we want to do: we want to make sure that the players understand how the progression system works and what they’re getting when they’re spending money.”
So there you have it, straight from the lion’s mouth. MerurySteam is steering well clear of loot boxes.
If you want to learn more about Raiders of the Broken Planet‘s relaunch as Spacelords and see the new trailer, you can check out our dedicated article and Álvarez’s comment about the possibility of a Nintendo Switch port.
The update that will turn the game into Spacelords will be available on August 23rd for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.