More and more games are succumbing to the growing backlash against loot boxes. Star Wars Battlefront 2 had to overhaul their whole progression system because of the poor implementation of loot boxes. Middle-earth Shadow of War‘s most recent update took out the out-of-place marketplace system and subsequent microtransactions. And now the Forza 7 loot boxes will follow suit. In an update planned for this winter, the prize crates will be removed from the game. The studio also stated that the upcoming Forza Horizon 4 will not have paid tokens.
Forza 7 loot boxes, although criticized, were never available for real money. Players could earn them by playing, but the common complaint was that it made the progression system a bit too overbearing. Studio Head at Turn 10 Studios Alan Hartman explained the changes in an update on the Forza Motorsport website.
“The overwhelming feedback has been that this system feels out of place in the game. After careful consideration, we have decided to completely remove prize crates from Forza Motorsport 7. Similarly, paid tokens – which were a part of previous Forza games – will not be coming to Forza Motorsport 7 or Forza Horizon 4.”
Uprooting such a core system will take time to correct and implement. This is why the update is coming at some undetermined point in the winter. Turn 10 is now even taking the first steps of removing them by unlocking more than 100 previously locked “exclusive” cars and by taking cars out of the loot boxes in general. Prize crates won’t give players a competitive advantage and only offer cosmetic gear and that will be the case until the loot boxes are removed.
Turn 10 is also offering more than just loot box removal. Future Forza 7 updates will bring experimental drag racing, “track limits, Time Attack mode, drift scoring and enhanced drift steering angle, and our upcoming Forza Race Regulations systems.” No other details were given but Hartman explained that all of these features were developed in collaboration with the community.
