Rage 2 Won't Have Loot Boxes

We saw the first two trailers for Rage 2 earlier this week, and boy it looked neat. A bit of Borderlands, a bit of Mad Max, a bit of Bulletstorm, and a lot of death, carnage, and good times. However, outside of a basic premise and a whole bunch of rootin’ tootin’ point-and-shootin’, we don’t know a whole lot about this title. Is there multiplayer? And will it come with a battle royale mode? Will it… have loot boxes?

Well, when speaking with a German publication called GameStation (and re-reported by Game Informer), id Software went into a few more details about the game in the broadest sense. There’s still a lot we don’t know, but we do have two solid facts: first, it’s going to take a “games as a service” approach, with director Tim Willits saying he wants “people to play Rage 2 longer.” Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the game will not include loot boxes.

This is a bit strange, as typically for “games as service”, Loot Boxes are the go-to way to ensure people continue to play, grind, and strive for the content they actually want. Even Ubisoft, who typically does “games as a service” right, employs loot boxes liberally. So how they exactly plan to keep people playing without them is a bit of a mystery. Are they going to release new content periodically? Will there be multiplayer components that have seasons and limited-time modes? Rotating cosmetics? There’s no way to know right now.

Not sure if I would call this “good news,” per say, but it sure as heck sounds good. And that’s a good start.