Final month, developer Pan Studio raised eyebrows with the reveal that its gacha motion RPG Duet Evening Abyss could be ditching the gacha half altogether, slicing the industry-standard banners, drop charges, monetization, and diverse jank. The sport’s producer, who goes by Deca Bear, acknowledges “issues” that this radical pivot may trigger issues elsewhere, however maintains that gutting the gacha is a internet constructive.
Talking with Automaton at Tokyo Sport Present, Deca Bear stresses that “eliminating gacha is helpful for builders too,” even when it does pressure them to provide you with alternate, sustainable monetization modes that service the sport.
“After all, we’ve got the identical issues. However that’s the reason we’re working exhausting on bringing each our content material and our companies to a passable degree,” he says.
Beforehand, Pan Studio declared “we’re fully eradicating all character and weapon banners” and eradicating the progress-gating stamina system, successfully letting gamers off the leash to farm and acquire as they please. We do not but know precisely how lengthy it’ll take to unlock these now-free characters, however acquiring a celebration and gearing them up ought to in idea be much less painful (learn: extra enjoyable) with out gacha weighing you down. It seems you can make motion RPGs that are not gacha video games. We gotta unfold the phrase.
Incredulous, revelatory claims that “getting blocked by stamina limits” may really feel “fairly unhealthy,” or how low drop charges on banners could possibly be disheartening, got here throughout like somebody boldly arguing that you simply should not headbutt bear traps. No person is aware of the pains and pitfalls of gacha greater than gacha gamers. However hey, they have a degree. You should not headbutt bear traps.
Instead of these mainstay mechanics, and “to elucidate why we do not want a gacha system,” Deca Bear factors to “paid content material like skins and character outfits,” that are extra extensively used and accepted even exterior the gacha area.
“We have already established a stable monetization mannequin,” he says.
One main payoff for this new method – that’s, the not-gacha method that not-gacha video games have been trucking together with simply wonderful for many years – is that it makes Duet Evening Abyss much more new-player pleasant than typical free-to-play video games, Deca Bear says.
“By making it so the gamers don’t must spend an excessive amount of time or cash on the sport, there shall be extra newcomers prepared to strive it out. If potential, we’d like to supply extra high quality content material to our gamers for an inexpensive worth,” he tells Automaton.
The implementation of those techniques nonetheless stays to be seen, however as somebody who’s each loved and closely criticized just a few gacha video games for 5 years, I’m not less than thinking about seeing what Pan Studio has cooked up right here. It is coming to PC and cell on October 28.
