Without blinking his cold, dead eyes, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said, “We’re going to continue to push forward. We’re always thinking about our players."

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War's in-game currency will be removed and players with unspent gold have until July to make use of it. 

ESRB president Patricia Vance said, "We don’t believe [loot boxes] constitute gambling. We think it’s a fun way to acquire virtual items for use within the game.”

The timing of these comments might seem odd, but last November word was that Cyberpunk 2077 may introduce online elements, and that's caused some concern about loot boxes.

Kind of unsurprising as given that every big game like Call of Duty: WWII, Overwatch or Destiny 2 that Activision releases features microtransactions.

Leave it to Apple to get ahead of any controversy or legal hot water by making a stand early. The company has updated its App Store Guidelines, binding developers to full disclosure regarding the odds of what's inside any given loot box. 

"My addiction is a personal failing of mine," writes reddit user Kensgold. "[It's] the reason I can't in good conscience buy games that offer a loot crate, at all."

"You probably don't want Darth Vader in pink." That's what Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen had to say about how canon played a role in why cosmetic microtransactions aren't  part of the overall monetization plans for Star Wars Battlefront II.

The reasoning behind the investigation, according to the Commission's director Peter Naessens, was to determine if acquiring improvements from loot boxes constitute a game of chance, and if so "[should not be] possible without a permit from the Gaming Commission."

It's a positive turn of events, but concerns remain, especially when EA and DICE are confidently declaring that microtransactions will return "at a later date."