Call of Duty: WWII trades mortar shells for loot boxes

The studio is continuing this practice with Call of Duty: WWII, and while this is unsurprising, it's certainly a hot topic as of late.

The new Call of Duty includes a new social space for players called Headquarters. You can watch the video below to see how it works. In the space, with up to 48 players total, loot crates will airdrop in the view of everyone so you can show off your earnings.

I won't make the predictable joke about the historical accuracy of these loot box drops (sorry, Eurogamer), but I will say that it reminds me an bad lot of this, including the nigh-inevitable outcome: You get a hat and then some dick hiding behind a tree shoots you. FInd an open space to throw it onto and the loot crate will drop down from the sky and open up, showing you the cosmetic items you've earned.

This is an interesting shift.

"The whole game really is structured around building tension, building fear, putting players at risk and in jeopardy, and then shocking them with a jump scare or something that really does generate that kind of hair-raising stuff that you see in a really good horror film", Horsley said. It's another way of bringing that economy to the front of the experience in the game's social space.

The process has been showcased online, with people playing Call of Duty: WWII ahead of its November 3rd release.