The saga of loot boxes continues. If anyone thought that they would go away following the debacles of Stars Wars Battlefield II or Belgium classifying them as gambling, they were wrong. In fact, Youtube has partnered with FACEIT to make loot boxes not just a reality in the real world, but a reality of watching esports.

While Youtube’s name and fame are obvious, their current partner, FACEIT, is not quite as well known. FACEIT’s website claims that it is the premier spot for competing on games, playing with friends, and earning FACEIT points. While this is a bit vague, what it really boils down to is signing up for the site and linking your game accounts. Then, by playing games and competing in FACEIT tournaments and competitions players unlock point which can then be used to buy in-game items like skins. FACEIT also offers real life items such as an Alienware gaming PC or a Fiat 500, albeit at a cost of several million points. After understanding what FACEIT offers, Youtube’s new loot box venture makes much more sense.

By watching major esports tournaments like Rocket League and CS:GO on Youtube, viewers gain access to loot boxes fill with FACEIT points which can then be redeemed on their website. This idea represents an ongoing experiment to raise viewer engagement, one which has been previously tested in the Rocket League Championship Series and CS:GO Majors to fair success. While many of the prizes are particularly tantalizing, especially the PC hardware, Youtube and FACEIT aren’t revealing how much viewers can win from the loot boxes, something we’ve seen from other loot box using companies like Blizzard. Technically, companies have no requirements to reveal how much can be won from loot boxes or prizes, so while the items that can be purchased seem exciting, it could be unlikely to impossible to earn the amount of points needed to unlock them.

This is really just the digital 2000s versions of tickets at an arcade. Any gamers old enough to remember spending weekends at arcades will remember earning tickets from beating games or from playing the Jackpot games. Among ticket prizes, there were always one or two extremely desired items, like a Gamecube or PSP. Quick math would usually reveal that you would spend more money trying to get tickets than you would ever spend purchasing the item itself. While IRL loot boxes don’t require users to spend money, they are probably based around a similar marketing concept. Still, if users are already watching esports, it’s hardly a bad scenario to get a little extra out of it.