Indie studio, Shiny Shoe, has earned itself a bit of love from players over the weekend with the announcement that it’ll be scrubbing the combination of battle passes and cosmetic microtransactions from its Early Access turn-based tactical roguelike RPG, Inkbound in lieu of more traditional DLC packs.
Shiny Shoe says it’s seen the vibe from players and industry folks toward the kinds of monetisation features it’s been using, recognising that even though it tried to implement them as ‘ethically’ as possible they’re just not what people want.
The studio explained in an update on Steam, “It’s our goal to create games we can invest into and update beyond release. As developers we enjoy expanding our games over time, combining our creativity with community feedback to add new content and fun.
“For that reason, we launched Inkbound with two in-game monetisation features to support the ongoing development of the game – the Leveling Pass and the Cosmetic Shop. We tried to make these as generous and straightforward as possible while simultaneously being 100% optional, cosmetic-only, with no impact on gameplay, and with no FOMO.
“However, it’s clear that industry and player sentiment is trending against the presence of these features. For that reason we are removing in-game monetization completely. Content from the existing Leveling Passes will be turned into cosmetic-only optional “supporter pack” DLCs sold on Steam. The rest of the cosmetic content will continue to be available in-game and earned via playing.
“To anyone reading this who purchased anything in-game – thank you, truly. We hope you’ve enjoyed your time with Inkbound so far and we’ll do our best to release a strong 1.0 sometime next year. Anyone who has made any purchases will receive additional bonus rewards as a part of this transition as a thank you for your support.”
If you’re keen on checking out Inkbound, you can find it right here on Steam.
