Epic Games Removes ‘Blind’ Aspect of Loot Boxes in Fortnite

Players in the Save the World mode for Fortnite will soon be able to see the contents of its loot boxes before buying, Epic Games announced today.

The new loot boxes will be called “X-Ray” Llamas, previously known as V-Buck Llamas, and will show what is included in the box before players can purchase it. The Llamas will still require the game’s premium V-Bucks currency to buy, despite the name change.

This will apply to all Llama boxes, except Mini Llamas and event Llamas since they can be earned through gameplay. Epic Games said that players would no longer be able to buy multiple Llamas at once since each Llama has to show its contents one at a time, and a Llama’s selection will change with the daily store refresh.

Epic Games further explained a few rules for the new system:

• Llamas prices remain the same, and llamas can still be earned through gameplay.
• The price doesn’t change when the llama upgrades – you can see the upgrade before you purchase, and any item can come from the cheapest Llama. You can wait and find your favorite weapon in a 50 V-Buck llama, with no guessing!
• The items offered are based on your account in order to apply dupe prevention.
  • Dupe Prevention: Introduced in the v5.10 Patch, after the Llama has determined the item rarity and type of drop (Epic or Legendary Hero, Weapon, or Schematic) it will select an item from that category that is not already in your inventory or Collection Book. This applies to Epic, Legendary and Mythic Heroes, Epic and Legendary Schematics and Mythic Lead Survivors.
  • Example: This means that if the Llama picks Legendary (rarity) Shotgun (type), for example, it will give you a Legendary Shotgun you do not already have. If you have all of the legendary Shotguns, it will give you a duplicate Shotgun. It will not pick from another category.
• Specific items can still be directly purchased with earnable in-game resources.

The new system will be coming soon in the Fortnite 7.30 update, and players will receive five free Llama Upgrade Tokens to try it out.

Epic Games is the latest studio to forgo blind loot boxes purchased through real money after Belgium ruled that loot boxes were a form of illegal gambling last year, with other countries currently investigating. Following the decision, Blizzard removed paid loot boxes from the Belgian versions of Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm over the summer.