Overwatch loot box probabilities revealed — at least for China

Chinese gaming regulations have forced Blizzard Entertainment to open up about what’s hiding inside Overwatch’s loot boxes. The company detailed the likelihood of players getting rare, epic and legendary items with every loot box they open — when playing the game in China, at least.

Blizzard posted the breakdown on the Chinese Overwatch site. Each loot box will contain at least one rare item, guaranteed. As for epic items, those are found in one if every 5.5 loot boxes, on average.

Legendary items are the most difficult to unlock, appearing once every 13.5 loot boxes. Thankfully, players can collect loot boxes for free in a variety of ways: by leveling up, participating in a seasonal event and winning in the arcade mode. This could take hundreds of hours, according to some players’ calculations. The faster way to gather up loot boxes may just be to purchase them, at a rate of $1.99 for two loot boxes.

These rates apply to the Chinese version of Overwatch. It’s not clear if or how the loot drops change from region to region — there aren’t any U.S. laws in place requiring Blizzard to give us that info.

In China, the new rules around online gaming went into effect on May 1. Set by the local Ministry of Culture, they’re meant to better regulate online games, to keep them free of legally objectionable things — like gambling, a major reason for disclosing loot box contents.