Fallout 76 has had its share of controversy, from not giving away the Collector’s Edition item that was promised to a possible lawsuit. Nevertheless, the one thing developer Bethesda has not gone back on is the studio’s promise not to include substantial microtransactions or, specifically, loot boxes. Now it’s looking possible that the publisher is considering going back on that promise, if the inclusion of Fallout 76 Lunchboxes goes ahead.
User Despotak on Reddit datamined a lot of code from the latest patch for the game, and fellow user JesMaine called attention to the regular appearance of “lunchboxes” in that code. These Lunchboxes all have the prefix code “ATX” in front of them, such as “POST_ATX_LunchBox,” which is usually exclusive to items available in the Atom Shop, the Fallout 76 store where you buy items using the game’s Atom premium currency.
Lunchboxes were actually the name of loot boxes in mobile and PC title Fallout Shelter, which contained items such as weapons, outfits, consumables, caps, pets, and more. While there’s no guarantee Fallout 76 Lunchboxes will behave the same, the way they behave in the game (according to the datamined code) certainly suggests something similar. Lunchboxes will be visible to everyone on a server, so they will know if you open one, and there seems to be confetti, balloons, and special messages too. While we have no clue what will be in these Lunchboxes, it does look like they will offer buffs for players. These include XP boosts, Carry bonuses, Rad resistance, and Damage bonuses.
This is all based on looking at lines of code out of context, so it’s possible these won’t be loot boxes in the traditional sense, or they’ll be a temporary thing. After all the negative PR Bethesda has experienced with Fallout 76, it’s hard to imagine the studio would make things worse by adding loot boxes at this point in the game’s release.
