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

Hunt: Showdown 1896 goes offline for a day after its latest update caused so many problems Crytek had to remove it completely
3 min read
  • News

Hunt: Showdown 1896 goes offline for a day after its latest update caused so many problems Crytek had to remove it completely

ThePawn.com June 18, 2025
Hideo Kojima says the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 development team is his ‘ideal’ size: ‘They only have like 33 team members and a dog’
3 min read
  • News

Hideo Kojima says the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 development team is his ‘ideal’ size: ‘They only have like 33 team members and a dog’

ThePawn.com June 18, 2025
That Silent Hill 2 Movie Will Hit Theaters In January 2026
1 min read
  • News

That Silent Hill 2 Movie Will Hit Theaters In January 2026

ThePawn.com June 18, 2025

Latest YouTube Video

Check out these awesome streamers

ThePawn02 on twitch

From Gamewatcher

  • Vampires: Bloodlord Rising Release Date - Latest News
  • Chrono Odyssey Preview
  • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review
  • Point and Click Horror Adventure Concierge launches in September on PC
  • Dune: Awakening Review

From IGN

  • How Tomb Raider: The Crypt of Chronos Board Game Came to Be
  • These MTG Cards Have Spiked by Up to 2800% Thanks to New Final Fantasy Synergies
  • Dune: Awakening Review
  • Turns Out Elden Ring Nightreign's Revive Bars Have Some Hidden Mechanics That Make Them Increasingly More Difficult To Whittle Down
  • 'A Bummer We Weren't Invited,' Says Alien Ant Farm After Being Cut From Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 Soundtrack — 'I Feel Like Our Song Was Really Good'

From Kotaku

  • That Silent Hill 2 Movie Will Hit Theaters In January 2026
  • Elden Ring Nightreign Is Lying To You About How Long It Takes To Revive Someone And It's Not Even Close
  • Over 2,500 Nintendo Switch 2 Consoles Were Stolen From A Semi-Truck
  • Elden Ring Movie Director Explains His Secret To Getting Good At Dark Souls
  • Nintendo Doesn't Worry About Donkey Kong Lore And Neither Should You

.

You may have missed

Hunt: Showdown 1896 goes offline for a day after its latest update caused so many problems Crytek had to remove it completely
3 min read
  • News

Hunt: Showdown 1896 goes offline for a day after its latest update caused so many problems Crytek had to remove it completely

ThePawn.com June 18, 2025
Patience Review
4 min read
  • Reviews

Patience Review

ThePawn.com June 18, 2025
28 Years Later Review
6 min read
  • Reviews

28 Years Later Review

ThePawn.com June 18, 2025
Nintendo Switch 2 Camera Review
5 min read
  • Reviews

Nintendo Switch 2 Camera Review

ThePawn.com June 18, 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.