Psyonix shares Rocket League loot box drop rates ahead of progression overhaul

Rocket League dev Psyonix has published a brief post that offers a look at how its systems determine what kind of in-game cosmetic gear players receive when opening a ‘Rocket League Crate’ loot box.

It’s always interesting to see how different devs set drop rates for loot box-based rewards in their games, while the upfront disclosures also offer a bit of added transparency to a system that has, in many games, been criticized for its gambling-like nature.

Players have a 55 percent chance of pulling a ‘rare’ item from loot boxes in Rocket League, followed by 28 percent for ‘very rare’, 12 percent for an ‘import’ item, 4 percent for an ‘exotic’, and a 1 percent chance of grabbing a ‘black market’ item. For loot boxes in Rocket League, a ‘rare’ item is the lowest variety that can be obtained, versus other games like Overwatch that start at ‘common’ and work their way up from there.

There are also additional odds for receiving items with the 'painted' or 'certified' attribute, both of which offer a 25 percent drop rate. 

In Rocket League’s case, the disclosure comes just before Psyonix retools the game’s progression system through the introduction of limited-time Rocket Passes, similar to the Battle Pass popularized by games like Valve's Dota 2 and Epic Games’ Fortnite Battle Royale.

However, Psyonix notes that the loot box rates disclosed today are the same as they were back when Rocket League introduced its ‘crates and keys’ system back in September 2016, and the rates shared in the post have been applied to every kind of loot box featured in the game since. Psyonix also says that, if those rates ever were to change, it would update the blog post accordingly as well.

Psyonix explains the crate system itself uses a three-step process to dole out loot to players, something that is detailed fully in the post on the Rocket League website.