These loot boxes sold in Japan do not contain skins or dances, but random graphics cards

Getting a recent batch graphics card is still difficult (and things do not seem to be relaxing in 2022). The scarcity of components, among other factors, is making having a PC with the latest GPUs a daunting task, but if facing such a market was not difficult enough in itself, a amazon japan seller has seen fit to add an extra layer of difficulty: randomness.

How? Selling the graphics cards in random boxes. As if it were a loot box, the user can buy a box for between 104 and 108 euros in exchange and, with a bit of luck, get a new generation graphics card, including an RTX 3090 (or so the seller claims).

Look mom, I got an RTX 3090 on the machine

According to the seller, whose mystery boxes have been sold out for days, the chances of winning with these boxes is 100%. The problem, of course, is that you have a 100% chance of getting any graph, whether it’s an RTX 3090 or less than the GeForce 9 / RX300 Series. A full-fledged loot box. The item in the box is randomly selected and, unsurprisingly, the seller does not accept returns or exchanges.

As detailed by the seller on Amazon Japan, the chances of getting a GeForce RTX 30 or RX6000 is 2%. The GeForce RTX 20 and RX5000 have a 4% chance. The GeForce GTX 1080 and RX500, 8%. The GeForce 9 and RX300, 16%. In total they add up to 30%. The remaining 70% is made up of “other series of graphics cards”.

In the seller’s words, all graphics cards are “real” and “worth the money we pay.” Some GPUs are used and some are new, except for the GeForce RTX 30 and RX6000 families, which, he says, are all “completely new”. A matter of chance, go.

Without a doubt, it is a peculiar and quite Japanese way of selling GPUs. The gashapon, which are those machines with toy capsules that we can find in vending machines, are particularly popular in Japan. The gacha mechanic is the order of the day and, in fact, it is not the first time that we have seen it implemented.

The mystery boxes we can see them implemented in books, comics, soccer jerseys and even in travels. What’s more, there are subscription services dedicated to sending boxes of random goods, such as Matter (“real scientific artifacts,” according to their description), Venture in History (banknotes from around the world), and Cryptid Crate (objects related to cryptozoology and science). paranormal activities).