Games like Overwatch and Hearthstone rely on randomness when it comes to opening loot boxes or card packs. This is meant to mimic real life where if you were to purchase a card pack for a game like Magic: the Gathering, save for the number of guaranteed rares and uncommons, exactly what you get inside a pack is anyone’s guess.
However over in China, the country’s Ministry of Culture seems to think (via Engadget) that this feels a bit too much like gambling. So much so that come March 2017, they will be implementing some new rules in which game developers and publishers will have to post the probability “of all virtual items, props and services” available in loot boxes. Presumably the idea is to force companies to be more transparent so that players don’t feel cheated, and so that developers/publishers looking to rig the system can’t hide.
In-game purchases and microtransactions are some of the more popular ways that developers and publishers are making money these days. Games like Hearthstone and Overwatch are good examples in which if players want additional cards or rares or new costumes, they have no choice but to purchase them and hope for the best.
For the most part developers do allow gamers to make purchases using in-game currency, although they do make it harder and more tedious to come by, thus incentivizing the use of real-life money.
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