ALL THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF PC GAMES

News

Valve unveils Dota 2 loot box odds

Valve unveils Dota 2 loot box odds

PC games giant Valve has revealed the odds for content in its hit MOBA Dota 2.

This was announced as a part of an update which added in a load of new bundles to the game, with users able to see the "escalating odds" for goodies in the game.

"We’ve also taken this opportunity to simplify and rework the way we calculate escalating odds for this treasure and going forward," Valve wrote.

"You can now click on the escalating odds arrow next to each of the rare, very rare, or extremely rare drops to see the exact odds of receiving them based on how many you’ve already opened."

Furthermore, consumers subscribing to the premium Dota Plus service will be able to turn digital goods they do not want into 'treasure fragments', which let users claim an extra copy of a specific item… once they have collected six fragments from the same treasure. Oh, and they also get 2000 Dota Plus shards.

In China, companies have had to disclose odds for goods for some time now, but in the West it's a relatively new phenomenon, likely driven by the loot box drama that took place at the end of 2017.

Psyonix has unveiled drop rates for Rocket League, as has Riot Games in League of Legends.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.