8 Video Games You Didn't Realise Broke The Industry

1. Team Fortress 2 - First Major Title To Make Loot Boxes 'A Thing'

Of all the most reviled gaming trends, loot boxes are right on up there with the worst of the worst. They were popularised through titles like Overwatch and went on to be included in dozens of multiplayer games, most controversially in 2017's Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Although that game has since mounted an incredible comeback, the initial controversy surrounding its launch hasn't exactly left it with too many admirers.

But where did this all begin? Loot boxes didn't just materialise out of thin air halfway through the last decade, but their origins seem almost nebulous. One day they were there; the next, they were everywhere. So where did it all begin?

The earliest noted example of loot boxes in a full video game came in Chinese MMO ZT Online, which introduced the feature to ensure the game had a form of monetisation. The game released in 2007, but it wasn't until 2010 when loot boxes would appear in western markets, courtesy of industry good-guys, Valve.

Team Fortress 2 was the game responsible, allowing players to purchase randomised crates with keys, which could be purchased with real-world currency. The rest, as they say, is history. Studios began to adopt the model, and controversy soon followed, with some governments ruling that loot boxes were effectively gambling.