Rocket League has slashed its new blueprint prices after removing loot boxes, but players are still in an uproar.
Last week, Psyonix removed blind crates (which is their fancy term for loot boxes) and replaced them with a new system called blueprints. This was done to get rid of gambling mechanics and ensure that Rocket League would comply with incoming laws that made it illegal to include such mechanics in children’s games.
Instead, Rocket League replaced those loot boxes with “blueprints,” which are only sort of random. After each match, players would get a random blueprint that was either rare, very rare, “Import” or “Exotic.” Players then have the option of purchasing that item for real-world cash. This kept an element of randomness while rewarding players for playing the game. Win-win, right?
Well, no. The problem was that Psyonix completely ignored the in-game market for such items and priced blueprints way above market value. A single rare item could cost upwards of $20, even though the market would sell that same item for $2 not a few days before the patch. It also just seemed like a bad deal: $20 used to get you 20 random rolls for 20 items. Spending that $20 on a single item--even if it was an item you really wanted--seemed liked a bad deal.
Naturally, Rocket League players went into full revolt and accused Psyonix (and their Epic overlords) of trying to gouge their players. Social media became flooded with angry tweets and posts from players calling on everyone to boycott the new blueprint system and just not spend any cash.
This must’ve worked, because Psyonix announced yesterday that they’d scale back the pricing somewhat. They cut all blueprint prices in half, pricing rare items at 50-100 credits, very rare items at 100-200 credits, Import items at 300-500 credits, and Exotic items at 700-800 credits.
Still, some blueprints cost an inordinately large amount of credits even after the changes.
It’s hard to tell if the changes have helped stop the uproar. The Rocket League subreddit is still full of posts accusing Psyonix of walking back prices to appear like “the good guys.” Meanwhile, other players are saying that the new blueprint system is still a bad deal compared to the old loot box system.
We’ll have to wait and see if the current price drops are enough to bring the playerbase back to contentment.
Source: Psyonix, Reddit