In a proposed class-action suit settlement, Epic Games will be paying in-game currencies and cash to qualified players of Fortnite and Rocket League, after it was sued over the randomized items in Loot Llamas and Loot Crates. The settlement is pending approval from the courts citing that the plaintiffs and Epic are "avoiding expenses and uncertainties associated with litigation".
What Are Loot Llama and Loot Crates?
Loot boxes require little introduction, as the monetization scheme has been at the center of many game controversies in the past few years. The idea is that players spend a given amount of in-game - or real - currency on a package of randomized rewards. Maybe you'll get something particularly rare and valuable, but usually you won't. Widespread implementation of loot boxes drew the attention of gambling watchdogs and efforts to ban them have been successful in many regions.
Loot Llama were Fortnite's take on loot boxes, initially having randomized rewards. As crackdowns on loot boxes became more widespread, Epic introduced X-Ray Llamas, which allow players to see the possible content of the loot box - which now excluded items the player already owned - and imposed a daily purchase limit of one.
Rocket League also had paid randomized Loot Crates that were changed into Blueprints. Blueprints are dropped at the end of matches and can be turned into items by spending in-game currency, with the key difference being that players knew what a Blueprint would yield before investing said currency.
Prior to these changes in 2019, Valve had drastically changed its loot box system in DOTA 2, after intense pressure from regulatory boards from various countries in Europe in 2018. These changes included disclosing what items a loot box might drop as well as percentage chances for each item.
