I am quoted in the Washington Post in a story about the controversy over video game loot boxes. Loot boxes have been much debated in the past few years, with consumers frequently venting their outrage and regulators circling the gaming industry eager for a chance to flex their political muscles. As I’ve argued repeatedly, however, many critics overlook the economic significance of loot boxes and other microtransaction models.
The Post article has to do with upcoming changes to Rocket League that will remove its loot boxes, and what these changes will mean for the thriving black market that’s grown up around the game. These changes are likely all to the good, as they show that the market is working to keep consumers happy: gamers complain loudly about loot boxes, and developers and publishers are changing their revenue models in response. My point, as I’ve been stressing since all this began, is that this process is a small part of a much larger experiment going on in the industry right now in which entrepreneurs try to figure out new ways to keep (mainly AAA) games profitable. Yet despite the much-publicized backlash from consumers, we haven’t heard the last from consumers about what they think the best revenue models are, and we don’t yet know what the industry will look like once the dust has settled.
