2024-10-08 12:22:29
‘Sonic Rumble’ won’t have any gacha mechanics because they are not popular outside of Japan.
Game director Makoto Tase explained Sega’s upcoming 32-player battle-royale title will omit the feature – wherein players exchange real money for the chance to win random collectable items or unlockable characters – because the mechanics have proven to be “not been very successful” with western audiences.
He told Automaton: “Monetisation models that use gacha mechanics have not been very successful when it comes to games targeted towards worldwide audiences of all ages.
“Also, such mechanics tend to be shunned overseas, so we didn’t think it was the right choice for this project.”
Instead of gacha mechanics, the PC and mobile game will be monetised through a season pass, which will mostly revolve around skins and emotes, while players can also exchange the in-game currency Rings for cosmetic items.
Franchise lead Takashi Iizuka added the decision to move away from gacha was solely made in an effort to ensure ‘Sonic Rumble’ falls in-line with the “global standard” for game monetisation.
He said: ”In the Japanese and Asian markets, it’s common to have to spend tens of thousands of Yen [in a game] until you draw a rare character and finally get to move on.
“But this is not the case in the global market, especially for an action game like ‘Sonic Rumble’, where players should be able to enjoy the game on an equal footing. The starting point of this project itself was to make it a mobile game that would sell globally.
“Therefore, the monetisation model was designed from the beginning based on global standards.”
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