Rocket League’s Crates are being replaced by Blueprints

Rocket League’s Crate system is being removed in favor of a new one: Blueprints. Developer Psyonix announced today that the change is coming in December.

Psyonix announced in August it was removing Crates from Rocket League, following Epic Games’ lead with its removal of loot boxes from Fortnite’s Save the World. In Rocket League, players will have the chance to get Blueprints after playing matches. These items will show what can be made, and then player will choose if they want to create it. Players will have to pay to create the item using Credits instead of purchasing a key to unlock a Crate. Credits are the “new premium currency” coming to Rocket League with the December update. They can be used to create Blueprint items, buy stuff from the new Item Shop, and upgrade to Rocket Pass Premium.

“Like the Crate items that preceded them, Blueprints can drop with special attributes like Painted, Certified, and Special Editions,” Psyonix wrote in a blog post outlining the system.

The idea is that players will know what they’re getting from Blueprints instead of “surprise mechanics” of loot boxes, which have been controversial. In May, United States senator Josh Hawley proposed new legislation that would ban pay-to-win mechanics and forbid companies from selling loot boxes to kids. Psyonix’s switch to Blueprints is one way to handle the controversy. Adding a loot box “X-ray scanner” to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in for French players is another way.

Anyway, in Rocket League, Crates will stick around until the December update, and when it does, Rocket League keys will be converted into Credits. Crates, too, will be converted into Blueprints “of the same series,” Pysonix said.

Before Crates go, though, there’s one last Crate in Rocket League: the Vindicator Crate, which “will feature the new Sentinel Battle-Car and Neuro-Agitator Goal Explosion.” More details on the Blueprint conversion process will come “in the next few months.”

Psyonix also announced changes to the Trade-In system when Blueprints are added to Rocket League. It’ll “disable the ability to use paid content” in the Trade-In system. Anything from Blueprints, the Item Shop, or Crates won’t be able to be traded once the update goes live. Free post-game drops will still be able to be traded.

“We also plan to implement an updated inventory management feature that will allow you to archive items that you don’t want to see in your active list of customization items,” Psyonix said.