Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor was one of the games released in the past year which never needed loot boxes to do well, but like many other games, it included them anyway for a quick cash grab in the late game and the game went from being a fun story about developing your ork army into a numbers game which quickly saw those with more cash able to dominate online play. Nearly eight months on from the game's release and Monolith has now announced that it's pulling all loot box and real-world money economies from the game in an effort to restore the experience to how it should have been from the start.
"The core promise of the Nemesis System is the ability to build relationships with your personal allies and enemies in a dynamic open world. While purchasing Orcs in the Market is more immediate and provides additional player options, we have come to realize that providing this choice risked undermining the heart of our game, the Nemesis System," Monolith said in a statement.
With that in mind, it's removing all chests, the in-game gold buying system and the real-money economy entirely from the game. Anyone with remaining gold will have a set period of time to spend it, but after that players will have to sacrifice any remaining in-game currency. But what then of the meat grinder-like end game? How will players be able to keep up with their ever dying orks without being able to buy new ones?
"We’ll be updating the Shadow Wars section of the campaign, where players defend their fortresses against Sauron’s repeated counter-attacks," Monolith explained. "This portion of the game will be improved with new narrative elements and streamlined for a more cohesive experience."
These new additions to the game will take effect on May 8, though players will have until July 17 to spend any outstanding gold they may have before the real changes are made for good.
