So a new plan has been announced for Rocket League when it comes to monetization, and it’s kind of interesting. On the official Rocket League blog Psyonix and Epic Games announced the new plans, and revealed a few more details. This idea has actually been in the works for a few months, having been teased back in August. And it all looks like something that should be applied to the rest of the games industry is finally coming to pass in Rocket League. This change is of course the elimination of loot boxes as match rewards.
The new system is being designed from the bottom up to create both a rewarding system and allow for players to earn plenty of new content. Now, instead of crates, blueprints will be awarded after the end of Rocket League matches. These blueprints will allow players to craft unique rewards, like paintjobs, car addons and other parts, in a replacement for the crate-based progression system of previous iterations. The blueprint will show the player exactly what can be made from it, and it is held in the player’s inventory. Making the item you want is pretty easy, just tick the blueprint and craft your reward.
There’s one major wrinkle though, as the items created from these blueprints can still be bought through RMT with the newly introduced Credits. This setup replaces the Keys from the loot box system, so there’s still opportunity for Psyonix and Epic to monetize the game in this regard. Another avenue for revenue will come with a rotating item shop bring into the sport-racing title, one that’s not all that dissimilar from the item shop in Fortnite. Rocket League will get a rotating cast of cosmetic items in a special cash shop, one which offers unique skins and other cosmetic elements for cars in the game. This is not really surprising, given that Epic acquired the studio a while back, so changes to the monetization scheme seemed inevitable.
Here’s the basics from Psyonix:
A game update in December will introduce a new system called Blueprints. After you play a match of Rocket League, you’ll have a chance to obtain a Blueprint; a new type of drop that will replace Crates. When you receive a Blueprint, it will show you exactly what item you can create from it, for a set price. Once they’re in your inventory, Blueprints will allow you to pay to create the item it offers and receive it immediately; or you can leave it in your inventory and choose to create the item later.
Like the Crate items that preceded them, Blueprints can drop with special attributes like Painted, Certified, and Special Editions.
“We believe our new Blueprint system will give players more transparency in what they are purchasing,” the post said, although the developer has promised that more news about the new system is coming soon.
Rocket League is available on Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
