Board 8 > RIP Loot Crate 2012-2019

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https://io9.gizmodo.com/loot-crate-files-for-bankruptcy-and-lays-off-workers-bu-1837204311

Loot Crate was once the go-to company for monthly shipments of geek and gamer gear, but now its stock has run dry. The company is filing for bankruptcy and has laid off dozens of employees, on top of the 150 warehouse workers who were let go last month. Loot Crate plans to ship all remaining boxes to customersbut given how behind it already is, it seems like a tough promise to keep.

In a press release released overnight, Loot Crate announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Reports of financial troubles have been circulating for awhileincluding defaulting on a $21 million loan in 2017even though Loot Crate has about 250,000 subscribers. The plan is to try and sell the company, with one of its investors, Money Chest (who will set the initial auction bid), funneling a $10 million bankruptcy loan to keep operations afloat in the interim.

The bankruptcy filing and overall financial woes have devastated the companys workforce. Last month, Loot Crate closed its warehouse and laid off 150 workers, announcing plans to outsource to a third-party logistics company. An additional 50 employees were laid off last week, leaving the company with just 60 full-time workers. Reports have since surfaced on Twitter that employees were let go without any severance or benefitssomething Toys R Us recently faced backlash for, resulting in a $20 million severance fund for its 30,000 former employees.

Co-founder Christopher Davis promised in the press release that Loot Crate subscribers should expect no changes. Daily operations will continue as usual, unique and exciting fan items will be purchased, crates will be shipped, and all aspects of the business will go on as before the Chapter 11 filing. Our employees will continue to be paid as usual during this transaction, he said. Thats a pretty hard sell, as it hasnt been business as usual at Loot Crate.

According to the bankruptcy filing (as reported by the L.A. Times), the company has been withholding customer billing and still owes at least $20 million worth of shipments to customers. Some subscribers report not having received subscription boxes in the past three months. io9 Deputy Editor Jill Pantozzi, who receives a courtesy subscription for media, says the last shipment that arrived was the May Nemesis box. There have also been complaints of repeat items, lack of interesting exclusives, and boxes filled with disappointing goods.

Fallout 4 fans may end up feeling especially frustrated. If Loot Crate fails to fulfill all of its missing shipments, folks who subscribed to the six-part Fallout Series 2 set (which costs about $228) in hopes of getting a complete Liberty Prime set...could end up never receiving its head.

do you think they'll drop any good loot
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Probably a step in the right direction. Never been a fan of microtransactions in general, and discouraging kids from an early gambling addiction is never a bad thing.
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ZenOfThunder posted...

There have also been complaints of repeat items, lack of interesting exclusives, and boxes filled with disappointing goods.

This is exactly why I never signed up. My money is limited and precious and my walls and countertop space can only hold so much. I'd rather utilize what I have for things I know I will like and keep up for a year or more as opposed to relying on RNG.

ZenOfThunder posted...

do you think they'll drop any good loot

Maybe, but it sounds like the marauders have run them dry.
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I got a year sub once a long time ago as a gift. It was pretty shitty. Of those items I still have a Carnage mug that I use to hold pens and pencils. Pretty sure that's it.
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I got it once as a free trial thing and the shit inside came to me broken lol
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Just went on the site for the first time in years. I thought they just did like a $10 a month subscription and then they sent you shit out each month. Seems it has expanded waaaaay beyond that now

AdmittedFelon posted...

Probably a step in the right direction. Never been a fan of microtransactions in general, and discouraging kids from an early gambling addiction is never a bad thing.

Those are loot boxes
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bryans7 posted...

I got a year sub once a long time ago as a gift. It was pretty shitty. Of those items I still have a Carnage mug that I use to hold pens and pencils. Pretty sure that's it.

Same, that mug is basically the only thing worthwhile I ever got.
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Good riddance. It's amazing they lasted as long as they did
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I bought one once for friends.
They enjoyed the shirt and the glasses. Guess they got lucky.

The best part of their website was the part where you could buy their old stock and know what you get.

Surprising that they built themselves so big that a quarter million subscribers can't keep you afloat.
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Its a business model of literally having to give out stuff worth less than you take in. Always felt it was kind of strange how people would buy into it. Combination of gambling and essentially buying stuff you would never buy otherwise.

I'm going to assume their subscriber count hit a maximum and once the numbers started dwindling there was likely no way to maintain loot quality and profits.
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red13n posted...

Its a business model of literally having to give out stuff worth less than you take in

I mean that's kinda how every business works. I used to get crates and the value was good if you were interested in buying all of the pieces individually anyway but the problem was that there was so much junk it was never great.

It's like sure this wooden Joker toy would retail for 10 dollars but I would never buy it so I can't really factor it into the value of the box personally.
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skullbone posted...

I mean that's kinda how every business works.

I mean that as in with an extra middle man trying to make a profit rather than buying the stuff from just one person taking a profit on you. Theoretically someone already profited from wherever loot crate procured their stuff.

so your in a position where almost certainly you were better off just buying some random junk you actually wanted instead of gambling via loot crate.
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The few people that I knew that had this absolutely hated it and just gave everything away. I have a JoJo hat and a gold Buddha Homer Simpson, and a street fighter comic from such giveaways
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I never understood why people actually signed up for it honestly. Unless you were like a fan of every series out there and liked every possible kind of merch you weren't likely the benefit from it often.

It's funny because I would see people wearing those Primal Rage Winston shirts everywhere and be like "Oh, cool, you play Overwatch?" and they wouldn't know what I was I talking about. It was just because it came from the Loot Crate. And most of the time they didn't even get the crate themselves, they just got the shirt from a friend who didn't want it.
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red13n posted...

skullbone posted...

I mean that's kinda how every business works.

I mean that as in with an extra middle man trying to make a profit rather than buying the stuff from just one person taking a profit on you. Theoretically someone already profited from wherever loot crate procured their stuff.

so your in a position where almost certainly you were better off just buying some random junk you actually wanted instead of gambling via loot crate.

Well no, lootcrate or whoever is getting that garbage at wholesale prices and probably also got an incentive to feature whatever dumb brand they are doing that month.

It's definitely always cheaper than buying the stuff from the store. The problem is it's mostly worthless junk.
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Back in 2013, I noticed a trend where it seemed like every third month had a T-shirt in it, so I signed up for one month, got a T-shirt in mine, then unsubscribed. I still have my Kool-Aid Man dressed as Deadpool T-shirt, but that's all I kept.
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red13n posted...

skullbone posted...

I mean that's kinda how every business works.

I mean that as in with an extra middle man trying to make a profit rather than buying the stuff from just one person taking a profit on you.

Literally how every business works

Lootcrate probably has less middlemen then most
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MrSmartGuy posted...

Back in 2013, I noticed a trend where it seemed like every third month had a T-shirt in it, so I signed up for one month, got a T-shirt in mine, then unsubscribed. I still have my Kool-Aid Man dressed as Deadpool T-shirt, but that's all I kept.

i remember making a lootcrate topic because it was new and you replied and were like "hmm i think a shirt is coming up, i'm gonna gamble on getting one". looks like it paid off.

i still love my deadpool koolaidman
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Yeah I wore the heck out of the Captain America and Link shirts I got but eventually they fell apart. I appreciated some of the unique pop vinyls they had sometimes too. Maybe those will go up in price now
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I've had Loot Gaming since they started doing it. I'm now waiting on three months worth of crates.

But hey, I got some good stuff out of it! Little Monster Hunter Jawblade replica, a cool Metal Sonic figure and a shit load of Skyrim stuff I gave to friends for Christmas and birthdays!
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KingButz posted...

Good riddance. It's amazing they lasted as long as they did

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ChaosTonyV4 posted...

Same, that mug is basically the only thing worthwhile I ever got.

Yaay mug buddies high five.

Kinda wish I got Venom though.
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