Overwatch’s Loot Box Probabilities Outed Due To New Chinese Law

In case you hadn't noticed, Blizzard's rather fond of its blind loot boxes. Besides Overwatch, its other titles Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone all allow players to purchase packs of cards/chests that contain a random assortment of items, skins, cards and the like - although given their nature, you never know exactly what's going to come out until they're opened. While not exactly gambling (you're guaranteed to get something), the principle idea of hedging your bets on hoping to score big is the same, which explains their appeal.
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In case you hadn’t noticed, Blizzard’s rather fond of its blind loot boxes. Besides Overwatch, its other titles Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone all allow players to purchase packs of cards/chests that contain a random assortment of items, skins, cards and the like – although given their nature, you never know exactly what’s going to come out until they’re opened. While not exactly gambling (you’re guaranteed to get something), the principle idea of hedging your bets on hoping to score big is the same, which explains their appeal.

It’s a system that some love due to the mystery, but there’s undoubtedly just as many out there that hate not knowing what they’re going to get. Thankfully, due to a new law passed by China’s government, games with blind loot boxes are now required to reveal their exact item probabilities, Blizzard included. For those wanting to satisfy their curiosity, check out the exact odds of pulling items of each rarity below, courtesy of PCGamesN (via VG247).

  • All loot boxes opened contain at least one item of Rare (blue) or higher quality (100%).
  • There’s an 18.2% chance of any loot box containing an item of Epic (purple) rarity (on average, one per every 5.5 boxes opened).
  • There’s a 7.4% chance of any loot box containing an item of Legendary (orange) rarity (on average, one per every 13.5 boxes opened)

Do bear in mind, however, that while they’re likely to be uniform across all territories, these rates are specifically for the Chinese versions of each game, and you can find the exact rates for Blizzard’s other titles over here.

Well, there you go, the cat’s out of the bag, at last. Does this make you more (or less) inclined to keep spending money on Overwatch‘s loot boxes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.


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