Electronic Arts just shared the official drop rates for loot boxes in Apex Legends. This would give players an idea of how rare Heirloom Shards actually are.
The reason behind the decision is that South Korea recently passed a new law. It requires video game publishers to disclose loot box drop rates. This forced Electronic Arts to share a global communication.
Apex Legends' Loot Boxes Drop Rates
Regarding Heirloom Shards, the company said that they are rare and reflect their very special nature in Apex Legends. The studio said that it previously shared that drop rates were less than 1% but has not shared an even more specific number, 0.045%.
Electronic Arts continued to say that they have built in a guaranteed Heirloom Shards drop for players who did not receive any single one even after opening 500 Apex Packs.
This was meant to balance the drop rate and ensure that players will receive the currency they need to unlock a Mythic item, according to WCCFTech.
The studio also emphasized that these are the lowest possible rates based on the inventory of a player who has not earned any of the Apex Legends cosmetics. Because the game features duplicate protection, players cannot get the same cosmetic twice.
This means that as players unlock more of a cosmetic item type, their chances of getting a different item will increase, even by a slim margin. This makes every account have more or less different odds of getting each cosmetic item.
Despite the reveal of the drop rates and the South Korean regulations that forced it, the developers said that no odds will change for now. The development follows an amendment to the Korean Game Industry Promotion Act that took effect earlier this year, IGN said.
Changes to South Korea Regulations
The development comes as loot boxes have long been a point of controversy within the video games industry. This is due to their similarities to gambling. Regulators worldwide have made efforts in recent years to curb exploitative practices.
These included outright bans in countries such as Belgium and using age-rating systems to warn parents of their presence in nations such as Australia and Germany.
Developer Respawn Entertainment apologized earlier this year for the changes to the Battle Pass and offered a new way to buy one of the passes with Apex Coins.
The changes to the South Korean regulations later resulted in 266 games being found in violation of the amendments. More than half of those games were foreign to South Korea, like how Respawn Entertainment is based in the United States, according to CGMag Online.
