Hints of a new crate and key microtransaction system for Rocket League have been uncovered. We reached out to Psyonix for comment last week, but heard nothing back, though Psyonix vice president Jeremy Dunham has since taken to Reddit to confirm their existence.
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A Reddit user uncovered the system while digging through the game’s files. The crate was added back in the Hoops update, while the key was added in the Neo Tokyo update. It’s likely you will unlock crates through play, but you may need to purchase keys to unlock them. This will nestle on top of the current item drop system, along with the trading system announced recently.
“Those assets are, indeed, early pieces of an upcoming system we plan on implementing to fund our esports prize pools and events,” Dunham wrote on Reddit. “We plan on officially announcing it next month at (or near) the [Rocket League Championship Series] Live Finals since it directly relates to that event and other events like it, but since this image came out before our official word, we wanted to clarify some things for you.
“Crates will contain cosmetic content only. We have a strict “Don’t Sell Advantage” policy for Rocket League, and we’re sticking with that. There will be no Steam Marketplace integration with crates. We are definitely aware of the problems related to third-party gambling in other games and we are not interested in taking that approach.
“Players who don’t want to interact with this system can hide it entirely with a single checkbox. Also of note, this won’t affect or impact our current item-drop system in any way. We also want to reassure you guys that we are sticking with our approach to keep introducing free new Arenas, Modes, and Items, along with the occasional paid DLC just like we always have.
“Hope this helps shed some light on what we have planned. It’s actually a pretty cool system that we’ll be happy to share detail about next month.”
It’s interesting that Dunham says the Steam Marketplace integration doesn’t exist because of issues with third-party gambling sites. No doubt it would be difficult to integrate it anyway with the game being on console too, and besides, random crates that you spend money on kind of is gambling.
The Rocket League Championship Series takes place on August 6-7, so expect an update soon.