''Zhengtu Online'' () was a

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

developed and run by

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

based Zhengtu Network.Gamasutra - The China Angle: Wii Piracy, World Of Warcraft Beaten?
/ref> It was released in 2007 and it became a success in that same year, with a monthly profit of $15.52 million. Also in 2007, the game recorded 2.8 million daily active players and 860,265 peak concurrent users (PCU) on March 23. In 2008 it reached 1.52 million peak concurrent users, becoming the second most popular online game, after

Fantasy Westward Journey ''Fantasy Westward Journey'' () is a MMORPG developed and run by NetEase. It was released for the Microsoft Windows platform in December 2001. The game is the most popular online game in China as of May 2007 by peak concurrent users (PCU), with a pe ...

with 1.66 million peak concurrent users. ''Zhengtu'' ceased operations on 26 December 2018.

Loot box pioneer

The game pioneered

loot box In video games, a loot box (also called a loot crate or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or Loot (video gaming), loot, ranging from simple customization ...

predatory monetisation mechanics. It featured the now-canonical lock-and-key system made famous by

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...

, but would also show you all the loot that a chest could contain on a circle reminiscent of Wheel of Fortune. According to the Southern Weekly article that describes ZT: "Chests will frequently contain the high-class equipment that gamers desire, but the spinning light wheel always passes over them."

References

External links

Official website
Chinese-language-only video games Inactive massively multiplayer online games Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Video games developed in China Video games containing loot boxes {{mmorpg-videogame-stub