Cosmetic crates in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will not require real-life currency to be opened in the near future, PUBG Corp. announced in a developer letter.
Right now, PUBG players earned locked crates through gameplay and then need to spend $2.50 on a key to open them. That system will be going away entirely in an update on Dec. 18, and crates will be unlockable through the in-game currency called BP, which is earned via gameplay.
PUBG Corp. has changed how crates work a number of times, often lowering the probability of earning a locked crate vs. an unlocked one, but this new change comes after repeated outcry from the community that it wasn’t good enough.
“The value of marketable loot box in PUBG is solely determined by the users and getting items through the marketplace or selling them back is also part of the PUBG experience,” said the dev letter. “However, the value of the locked crates are very low among other PUBG items. This means that paid crates are not an appealing reward to players, making the experience of acquiring a locked crate less enjoyable.”
“More preferred skins” will now appear in lower tiers, and AR category skins will be evenly distributed from top to bottom tiers. Other paid weapon skins will still remain, but crates earned through gameplay will now be unlocked with points also earned through gameplay.
“We have been thinking about this carefully and we want to ensure that we steer clear of revenue models that fail to satisfy fans, especially if they include a low success rate. We will continue to tweak our business model where possible to offer more compelling value for the money you choose to spend with us.”
