When Forza Motorsport 7 was released last year, the game received significant backlash over its loot system. The racing game allowed players to use its CR currency to purchase randomized boxes of unlocks including cosmetics and mods (to earn more CR in races). Some called the game "pay to earn" (a riff on "pay to win") and asked developer Turn 10 to change the system.

Turn 10 did make some tweaks to the game just after launch, including changing the VIP bonuses included with VIP memberships to make them more valuable, thus allowing players to earn more CR. But in a new post outlining future updates, the developer outlined further changes to the loot system, confirming that it would be removing the loot box-esque "prize crates" from the game.

The developer noted that although it has never charged money for the unlocks, they have "continued to be a source of controversy," and there has been overwhelming feedback that the mechanic "feels out of place." As such, the developer will soon remove prize crates from Forza Motorsport 7 altogether. Moreover, paid tokens will not be added to Forza Motorsport 7 and they won't be included in Forza Horizon 4, either.

However, Turn 10 also highlights the "complexity" of the removal process, saying that prize crates won't be completely removed from the game until winter. The Forza Motorsport 7 team has already unlocked 100 cars that previously listed as "exclusive" and it has removed car unlocks from prize crates, though this is just the first step in the overall removal plan. Prize crates that include Driver Gear suits, mods, and badges will remain in the game until crates are removed entirely, says the developer.

Forza Motorsport 7 is just the latest game with randomized loot unlocks and loot boxes to remove them following backlash from the community. Earlier this month, Middle-earth: Shadow of War also removed loot boxes and microtransactions entirely. Similar to the case with Forza, the ability to pay to unlock Orcs was seen as an undermining of the game's core systems.

Star Wars Battlefront 2,  the game which kicked off this latest industry-wide debate about loot boxes (and whether or not they are gambling) also removed loot boxes just days before it launched. With all of the ill-feeling towards the business mechanic, these games may not be the only ones to drop loot boxes after launch. Many more games are also expected to avoid the mechanic this year, fearing a similar backlash.

Forza Motorsport 7 is available on PC and Xbox One.

Source: Turn 10