Skip to main content

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney calls on industry to get rid of loot boxes

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney had some harsh words for the game industry at this year’s DICE Summit in Las Vegas. During his DICE keynote speech on Wednesday, Sweeney took a firm stance against loot boxes and other pay-to-win practices.

The Epic co-founder called the state of monetization in games a “customer adversarial model,” as he mused about the industry’s continued growth and where he sees it going in the next 10 years.

Recommended Videos

“We have to ask ourselves, as an industry, what we want to be when we grow up,” Sweeney told the crowd, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Do we want to be like Las Vegas, with slot machines … or do we want to be widely respected as creators of products that customers can trust? I think we will see more and more publishers move away from loot boxes.”

While Epic’s own Fortnite includes its fair share of purchasable cosmetics, Sweeney’s problems are with pay-to-win mechanics in games that encourage gambling.

“We should be very reticent of creating an experience where the outcome can be influenced by spending money. Loot boxes play on all the mechanics of gambling except for the ability to get more money out in the end.”

 

Sweeney’s thoughts are consistent with how Fortnite’s approach to monetization has evolved over time. Early last year, loot boxes in the game’s Save The World mode received a major change with the introduction of X-Ray Llamas, which allowed players to see the full contents of a box before purchasing it.

The question of whether or not loot boxes can be considered gambling has become more pressing in the past year. The U.K.’s Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee put out a report in September condemning the practice and calling on lawmakers to catch up with the times.

Sweeney was much more optimistic on the subject of crossplay, which he described as a positive step forward for the development of games as a communication platform.

“What we all really want and need to accept is equal access to all customers and give up our attempts to create our own private wall guard or private monopoly. In Fortnite, the player who spends time with friends plays for twice as long and spends more money. Cross-platform is the future, and we all have to do our part,” he said.

Last year, Epic Games reaffirmed its support for cross-platform matchmaking in Fortnite, telling players that it was committed to making matches fairer for players on all platforms.

Giovanni Colantonio
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
Lego Fortnite is getting a massive update, including a new game mode
Characters fishing in LEGO Fortnite.

Fortnite's various Lego modes have been around for just under a year, but they remain some of the most popular choices for players. With the one-year anniversary coming up, Epic Games announced a series of significant changes coming to the game type.

To begin with, Lego Fortnite will be renamed Lego Fortnite Odyssey. That's because Lego Fortnite will become the hub for anything Lego-related within the Fortnite ecosystem and provide players with an easy way to start up any Lego game mode.

Read more
Fortnite is finally getting a first-person mode next week
Key art for Fortnite's new first person shooter mode Ballistic.

Fortnite Ballistic, the long-awaited first-person mode for Epic Games' hit battle royale shooter Fortnite, will finally come to the game on December 11.

Epic Games first teased a first-person Fortnite mode in March, but now we have a clearer idea of how it will play. Ballistic is a round-based 5v5 mode with no respawns, similar to competitive shooters like Valorant or Spectre Divide. A team of attackers fights to plant and detonate a Rift Point Device in certain spots on the map, while defenders fight to eliminate the other team before they can do the same. While attackers and defenders will swap their roles after six rounds, Ballistic matches are a best-of-seven affair across both ranked and unranked play.

Read more
Epic Games just gave Fortnite veterans the best gift: permanent OG mode
Fortnite OG Key Art

If you're a long-time Fortnite player who can't stop asking where Tilted Towers disappeared to, this update is for you. Epic is bringing back Fortnite OG -- this time, for good. The game mode will cycle through the game's first season and let players revisit their favorite locations and loot just as they remember it from way back in 2017.

And when Epic Games says it's going back, it means all the way back. The mode will initially go through the seasons of Chapter 1, including all the loot changes and feature introductions. Think of it something like a crash course in the evolution of Fortnite; you can experience it just as players did back then and learn as you go. As a veteran of those early battle royale years, I can promise it was a vastly different experience than it is now.

Read more