Earlier this year, in an interview with Gamasutra, Crystin Cox, Game Director of Guild Wars 2, talked about how ArenaNet monetized its games using a convenience and cosmetics cash shop, along with lootboxes. “Expressing yourself, relating to other people, showing off, making a visual representation of who you are, is hugely important to a lot of MMO players, so that was always very high on our list,” she said.
Regarding the dual currency system, she was proud of the work done: “I think we’ve done incredibly well with the free market because it accurately represents the value of the things that people are purchasing.”
Although lines were somewhat blured when it came to the lootboxes: “Ultimately when it comes to lootboxes, I believe that there are times when lootboxes provide a real value to players,” she said. “They provide something that players want. It is very easy to misuse them, and to use them to satisfy a developer need instead of a player need.”
Find the whole transcribed interview here.