Rocket League developer Psyonix is bringing a new crate system to the game, a la Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but you’ll be able to easily ignore it if you so wish.
An image from the game (seen above) discovered by a Reddit user suggested some kind of key-and-crate system was on the way, which would mean new microtransactions. Psyonix vice president Jeremy Dunham has since confirmed crates are coming while also offering some reassurances.
“Those assets are, indeed, early pieces of an upcoming system we plan on implementing to fund our esports prize pools and events,” Dunham wrote on Reddit. “We plan on officially announcing it next month at (or near) the [Rocket League Championship Series] Live Finals since it directly relates to that event and other events like it, but since this image came out before our official word, we wanted to clarify some things for you.”
In short, these crates won’t offer players any advantages; they’ll be cosmetic-only and can be completely hidden with an option. They won’t have an impact on the existing item-drop system, nor will they have an impact on future updates; we’ll still see a mixture of premium DLC and free add-ons that introduce new arenas and modes.
Dunham didn’t provide any specifics regarding how the system itself will operate. If it’s anything like the crates seen in Valve’s games (and that seems likely, considering some of the other TF2-esque features added to Rocket League recently), you’ll occasionally receive crates that include a mixture of items inside. In order to open one, you’ll have to purchase a key with real-world money.
One note he did share was that these crates can’t be sold on the Steam Marketplace. “We are definitely aware of the problems related to third-party gambling in other games and we are not interested in taking that approach,” he said, perhaps referencing the ongoing Counter-Strike fiasco.
