The Skate reboot development team at Electronic Arts has indirectly responded to a rumor claiming paid loot boxes are being implemented in the game. The report, shared earlier this week, indicated playtesters for the current version of Skate confirmed loot boxes called Swag Bags had been introduced. It was by no means an official confirmation, though. It was just a rumor, and one that the Skate team is hoping to quash before it turns into a controversy.The loot box report said that multiple playtesters had confirmed the introduction of Swag Bag loot boxes into the Skate reboot. These Swag Bags offered a random chance at five items featured within, allowing players to purchase multiple for a better chance at rarer items. Swag Bags are purchased with Stars, an in-game currency, but Stars could be purchased with Taps, which playtesters believed would become a premium currency once Skate launched. There's, obviously, no premium currency enabled for testing.A tweet from the official Skate Twitter account was posted Wednesday evening, seemingly indirectly referencing the loot box rumors. The tweet pointed to a video from the Skate development team last year that promised "NO PAID LOOT BOXES." The message appears to be that Skate is holding to that promise and that the loot box rumors are not accurate.
Since the Skate team's message doesn't directly address the details of the leak, there is a bit of grey area to the subject. Skate could still feature loot boxes, just not "Paid Loot Boxes." EA may also be saying that it doesn't view loot boxes that can be earned in-game, but still purchased with real money, as the same thing as "Paid Loot Boxes." It's also possible that EA is simply testing loot boxes as a reward system, but has no plan to offer them at launch.
It bears repeating that Skate is a free-to-play game. It will rely entirely on monetization for funding, as well as player retention for long-term success. EA may not be able to implement paid loot boxes due to past controversies, but in-game loot box rewards may still be a possibility due to how they encourage players to repeat content. If it isn't loot boxes, it's likely to be something similar.
Skate is also a game without a release date at this point in time. EA is still hard at work on the project, thinking and trying to figure out what will and won't work in a free-to-play skateboarding game. It's good that Skate fans made their voices heard now, though, while EA can still make changes.
Skate is currently in development.