Skip to content

ThePawn02

Gaming and Streaming Content

  • Blog
  • Editor's Picks
  • eSports
  • Guides
  • Headlines
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Uncategorized
  • Website Update
Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Watch Live
  • News
  • eSports
  • Blog
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Guild Login
    • Guild Mentality
    • The Zealots
    • Malign
  • Socials
    • Youtube Channel
    • Twitch Channel
    • Kick.com
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • Facebook
Subscribe
  • Home
  • 2025
  • March
  • Early backers of game decry ‘bait and switch’ after it backtracks on monetisation promises, dev chooses to stir the pot: ‘Seeing Reddit lose it today lets me breathe a huge sigh of relief’
  • News

Early backers of game decry ‘bait and switch’ after it backtracks on monetisation promises, dev chooses to stir the pot: ‘Seeing Reddit lose it today lets me breathe a huge sigh of relief’

A Bazaar choice.
ThePawn.com March 5, 2025 3 min read
Early backers of game decry ‘bait and switch’ after it backtracks on monetisation promises, dev chooses to stir the pot: ‘Seeing Reddit lose it today lets me breathe a huge sigh of relief’

A Bazaar choice.

The Bazaar, after seven long years, is finally entering into open beta with a F2P package—and it’s, uh, not going great.

Here’s the rub: In a recent video going over patch 0.1.8’s notes, it was revealed that the autobattler would be receiving a “prize pass”—a battlepass-style earn-via-playing system which’ll allow players to grind card 10-card expansions for certain heroes, providing they’ve paid for the premium version. They’ll be available for the first month, after which you’ll need to purchase them with 999 gems, a currency equivalent to around $10, though gems can also be won with good ranked runs.

If you aren’t familiar with the game, that might all sound pretty standard. However, it’s not landed well with its playerbase for a handful of reasons. Firstly, some have pointed out that when the game’s Kickstarter originally launched back in 2018, it made the following guarantee:

“In my game, you start the game with a couple classes unlocked. Those classes have all the cards in the game for them. Your class is just as balanced as any other. As more classes get introduced to the game, you’ll have the option of unlocking them, either by spending money or in-game currency … Most of the revenue will come from cosmetics—think of it monetizing like a traditional MOBA.”

Now, while it’s pretty normal for a game to make adjustments to its monetisation goals over time, I’m pretty sure card-based expansions are against the spirit of the thing. “Those classes have all the cards in the game for them” feels pretty clear-cut, and these new expansions aren’t making good on that promise.

Others have pointed to past tweets by the game’s creator, Reynad, which promised that the game “has no cards you need to collect at all”. Well, now there are cards you need to collect. Oops. People are none-too-pleased.

“Imagine throwing under the bus all the people that supported your vision and company for five f*cking years lmao,” writes one incensed player in the game’s subreddit. “They willfully led the player base to believe that they were following through on their promises, while they knew that they did not intend to follow through,” writes another in a separate thread, describing the whole fiasco as a “bait and switch”.

Things aren’t much better on the Discord right now, either. As one player points out, a year from now, any new player coming to the game will have to complete about 186 runs of ranked, “assuming this player is an insane flawless god.” Another player writes: “I can’t tell if this is like an insanely long grift, or a genuinely good passion project turned greedy.” Oof.

Reynad hasn’t been helping matters, mostly by stirring the pot. He’s called the entire debacle “a great exercise in showing why we should communicate less. I regret doing a patch note video at all this week. It gives people a day to lie, assume the worst, and doomsay, rather than just experience the new content first hand.”

In another message, he writes: “I was sooooo stressed about monetization over the past few years but seeing Reddit lose it today lets me breathe a huge sigh of relief. I’m pretty confident we’re on the right track now.”

I’m all for developers not basing their strategies off Reddit feedback—but I do think it’s probably wise to respond with grace and not pick random fights when the pitchforks are out. Especially when we’re talking about prior promises. Said promises may have been made half-a-decade ago, and times change, but I’m left scratching my head and wondering just what Reynad and co. thought would happen.

Best laptop games: Low-spec life
Best Steam Deck games: Handheld must-haves
Best browser games: No install needed
Best indie games: Independent excellence
Best co-op games: Better together

About Post Author

ThePawn.com

See author's posts

Continue Reading

Previous: Score Pacific Drive, Homeworld 3, and More in Humble Choice for March 2025
Next: ‘3 hours of my life that I’ll never get back’: A Minecraft modder did the lord’s work, creating a mod that adds Jack Black’s voice to the game

Related News

Rematch launched without crossplay because of ‘unforeseen technical complexities’ and Sloclap is sorry, but it’s a hit on Steam anyway
3 min read
  • News

Rematch launched without crossplay because of ‘unforeseen technical complexities’ and Sloclap is sorry, but it’s a hit on Steam anyway

ThePawn.com June 19, 2025
Stellaris updates are going to start coming more slowly, because new patches are causing new problems and QA testers can’t keep up
2 min read
  • News

Stellaris updates are going to start coming more slowly, because new patches are causing new problems and QA testers can’t keep up

ThePawn.com June 19, 2025
World of Warcraft dataminers dug up its biggest boss ever: A new 3,806-foot-tall horror who could crush its capital cities in one step
2 min read
  • News

World of Warcraft dataminers dug up its biggest boss ever: A new 3,806-foot-tall horror who could crush its capital cities in one step

ThePawn.com June 19, 2025

Latest YouTube Video

Check out these awesome streamers

ThePawn02 on twitch

From Gamewatcher

  • Tempest Rising's First Major Content Update, Rally & Recon, Adds Six New Maps, 2v2 Ranked, Spectator Mode, and More
  • Roguelike 2D Action-Platformer Autogun Heroes: Supercharged Blasts Its Way to PC
  • Chrono Odyssey Preview
  • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review
  • Dune: Awakening Review

From IGN

  • Deals for Today: Nintendo Switch Power Bank, Death Stranding Vinyl, Skytech Gaming PC, and More
  • Nintendo Confirms Pauline's Age in Donkey Kong Bananza — Leaving Fans Wondering Whether It's a Super Mario Odyssey Prequel, and If Mario Will Appear As a Potential Villain
  • Elden Ring Nightreign Latest Patch Shadowdropped Its First Enhanced Boss
  • Donkey Kong Bananza Is Getting an Amiibo, and It's Now Available To Preorder
  • Beat Saber Ends Support on PS4 and PS5 in Yet Another Blow for PSVR2

From Kotaku

  • At Least One Band Is Bummed To Be Cut From THPS 3+4
  • The Nintendo Console Launches, Ranked From Worst To Best
  • Stellar Blade, As Told By Steam Reviews
  • Tips For Playing The Magic: the Gathering x Final Fantasy VII Commander Deck
  • 10 Shark Movies to Sink Your Teeth Into (That Aren’t Jaws)

.

You may have missed

Rematch launched without crossplay because of ‘unforeseen technical complexities’ and Sloclap is sorry, but it’s a hit on Steam anyway
3 min read
  • News

Rematch launched without crossplay because of ‘unforeseen technical complexities’ and Sloclap is sorry, but it’s a hit on Steam anyway

ThePawn.com June 19, 2025
Stellaris updates are going to start coming more slowly, because new patches are causing new problems and QA testers can’t keep up
2 min read
  • News

Stellaris updates are going to start coming more slowly, because new patches are causing new problems and QA testers can’t keep up

ThePawn.com June 19, 2025
World of Warcraft dataminers dug up its biggest boss ever: A new 3,806-foot-tall horror who could crush its capital cities in one step
2 min read
  • News

World of Warcraft dataminers dug up its biggest boss ever: A new 3,806-foot-tall horror who could crush its capital cities in one step

ThePawn.com June 19, 2025
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is adding a card game as the mecha sequel targets an increasingly specific type of guy
2 min read
  • News

Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is adding a card game as the mecha sequel targets an increasingly specific type of guy

ThePawn.com June 19, 2025
Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Watch Live
  • News
  • eSports
  • Blog
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Guild Login
  • Socials
  • Twitch
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Kick.com
Copyright © All rights reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.