Guild Wars 2 Game Director Talks About Monetization And Loot Boxes

Jason Winter
By Jason Winter, News Editor Posted:
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Guild Wars 2 has loot boxes, as you probably know, and while they don't get anywhere near the hate of those in other games, ArenaNet has made some missteps along the way (and taken steps to correct them).

They, along with monetization in general, are the topic of a conversation between an editor at Gamasutra and ArenaNet's Crystin Cox, who's given the title of "game director and founder of commerce team." The basic tenet of any kind of monetization is there, as Cox said that "Players shouldn't feel bad at any point that they made a purchase." She went on to say that loot boxes can serve a purpose, in allowing players to "get something for a bit of a discount," which is true or not, depending on whether you want a specific item (in which they aren't a discount) or are happy getting almost anything (in which they are).

On the topic of loot boxes in general, and the legislative efforts surrounding them around the world, Cox said that she doesn't "have a lot of faith that that's going to do a lot" and is worried that one or two bad decisions by developers will "end up nuking the entire thing from orbit" by outlawing loot boxes completely.

In addition to their one-on-one comments, you can see the slides for the talk Cox gave at GDC on the Gamasutra site.

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In this article: Ncsoft, Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet, Loot Boxes.

About the Author

Jason Winter
Jason Winter, News Editor

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

More Stories by Jason Winter

Discussion (7)

YeahISaidItSoWhatWannaFightAboutIt 5 years ago
I'll stick with WoW. GW is crap now a days with the loot boxes.

Ravors 5 years ago
Can we please stop advertising this game. I got banned for running quality of life addons. The community leaders are garbage. I played for almost 2 years and there was nothing "fun", everything was a constant grind . The community is not comptenent in doing any content that requires pressing anything other than 1 1 1 1 1 1 1. hey why are we dead... i was pressing the 1 key...

This publisher is living off the fan base it had from the original guild wars games. - New players dont bother.

View 4 replies
Darksmiles 5 years ago
lootbox's should be outlawed, there honestly a cheap gimic and form of gambling that does play on ones addiction. It is known that humans have what we call addictive traits, and its just wrong that companies play on those traits.


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