In the beta of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, some players found hints about something that shouldn’t exist anymore – namely loot boxes. Fear of a possible return spread among fans. However, Activision has now reassured them.
What is the loot box find in the Cold War beta all about? The first phase of the open beta of Black Ops Cold War is running until tonight (October 12) at 7:00 PM – currently only on PS4. And there, some players discovered an unpleasant surprise.
Some players saw a pop-up menu during the CoD Cold War beta that mentioned one of the tabs about reserves. There was (at least visually) the possibility to buy reserve crates or whole bundles of them.
Source: ElDubYouLose on Reddit 
Source: ElDubYouLose on Reddit
Reserves or reserve crates were essentially nothing other than the hated loot boxes in Black Ops 4, which could be earned or bought.
Black Ops Cold War is supposed to rely on the same system as Modern Warfare – so a battle pass and free post-launch content for everyone through the seasonal model, as well as cosmetic direct purchases in the in-game shop. Loot boxes should no longer exist.
So what’s going on? Are the controversial loot boxes possibly making a return, which Activision had supposedly abolished with Modern Warfare?
Hint about loot boxes is a bug
This is what Activision says about the reserves in the Cold War beta: The publisher Activision and developer Treyarch have now commented on the matter and are trying to alleviate players’ fears.
Initially, the community manager of Treyarch responded to this in a related Reddit post. It states: “As context: This is a bug where a placeholder user interface from Black Ops 4 remained in a template for the ‘message of the day’.”
Activision also chimed in and explained: “As Treyarch has already clarified, this was a leftover placeholder bug from BO4. That was our mistake, and it has been fixed. The battle pass system in Black Ops Cold War will function exactly like it does in Modern Warfare, which includes free post-launch content and events. We apologize for the confusion this has caused.”
What does this mean concretely? In short: No, the loot boxes are not making a return. So you don’t have to worry that some weapons might only be available through reserve crates (like in BO4).
All gameplay-relevant items such as new base weapons can be earned freely by all players through the free reward branch of the battle pass. The paid branch only includes cosmetics.
All post-launch content such as new maps, zombie experiences, or events will be available to all players on all platforms for free.
Why hated? Even though Black Ops 4 was not a bad game, there was always trouble and tension due to microtransactions, loot boxes, and an aggressive monetization system. Many viewed the game as designed to extract as much extra money from players as possible – and this was, mind you, a full-price title with a paid season pass.
The loot boxes, including the reserves or reserve crates, which could be purchased with CoD points (i.e., for real money) or later earned, were a central element of that. These contained, among other things, weapons that could not be obtained in any other way. The content was always dependent on chance and could not be previewed in advance.
With the launch of Modern Warfare, Activision fundamentally changed the system. There are no more loot boxes; the new model is seen by most as fair and finally as a good compromise. And as Activision has now clarified, nothing will change with Black Ops Cold War. The monetization system from Modern Warfare will also remain in the new Call of Duty 2020.
By the way, this is how you get your first weapon blueprint for CoD Cold War in the beta – completely without loot boxes.
