Overwatch is a game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. A multiplayer first-person shooter offers its players a wide range of heroes, maps and game modes to choose from. The participants do not have an ability to level up or obtain any additional items during matches. But are given an account level, which is determined by experience, and are offered cosmetic items, in the form of “loot boxes”, as rewards for reaching milestones.

Some examples of the milestones are: leveling up, accessing a seasonal game for the first time, winning a certain game mode for the first time, etc.. The “loot boxes” can also be purchased by players additionally.
The way “loot boxes” work is simple: one gets them by reaching a certain milestone or purchasing it and opens it to discover a set of four items. The items you can get are icons, emotes, sprays, voice lines, victory poses, and skins.

Loot systems are designed to keep the players playing the game even when the initial excitement has worn off. For example Valve’s Team Fortress, a game similar in nature to Overwatch is kept afloat mostly because of the additional cosmetic items. As mentioned previously: Overwatch provides players with free loot boxes for reaching certain milestones. And of course, new hero appearances, emotions and graffitis are always exciting to show off and especially thrilling if you have obtained them by pure luck, without paying any extra money.

While Blizzard Entertainment is known for providing their clients with what they have paid for and beyond, the case with “loot boxes” is a little tricky. The gaming community has been concerned with the price tag for Overwatch ($60) ever since it has been announced. To justify the price Blizzard has promised that they will carry on with development and addition of new heroes, maps and game modes. While they are rapidly adding the new content as promised, the presence of microtransactions is a little concerning, since the ability to purchase additional cosmetic items is a gambling opportunity for some.

It is well known that microtransactions are mostly added to titles that are free to play and while it is understandable that Blizzard it a business and needs to keep their revenue growing, something about the gambling mechanic seems wrong in this particular case. As Paul Tassi, a Forbes contributor, has mentioned in his “The Math Behind Why Overwatch’s Loot Boxes Are Exhausting To Unlock” article: “It feels relatively harmless on the surface due to the focus on cosmetics, but looking at these numbers, and it’s hard not to feel like some pretty effective psychological manipulation is going on here.”

Overwatch’s loot system is designed to get people to not only play more but to spend more money. The chance to get a certain item is randomly determined, which causes many players to end up with dozens of duplicate items in their inventories. And many get frustrated because they do not get the desired item and end up purchasing the “loot boxes”. It is impossible to blame Blizzard for the developed system, since both parties end up benefiting: the players get an item to show off in the end and Blizzard gets more funding to spend on the development of promised heroes, maps, play modes as well as more new cosmetics to include in the upcoming “loot boxes”.