Electronic Arts addressed one of the big elephants in the Anthem room during a "deep dive" into the game at today's EA Play press event by stating unequivocally that there will be no loot boxes in the game at all.
Cosmetic and vanity items will be available for purchase, but instead of buying a box and hoping that something cool pops out of it, players will know exactly what they're getting up front. And nothing will be available to buy that will deliver any sort of gameplay advantage: As BioWare's Mark Darrah put it, there will be "no ability to pay for power."
Given the uproar over microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and randomized loot boxes in general (particularly the jaundiced eye being cast upon them by regulatory agencies around the world), it's a smart move: Gamers can customize their faces off without feeling like they're getting hosed, and EA stays out of the spotlight and the doghouse.
Anthem is set to come out on February 22, 2019—another little tidbit dropped during the event. Here's a rundown of everything we know about it so far.
