Indie developer removing all monetisation in ‘Inkbound’ to agree with “player sentiment”
Shiny Shoe, the developer of the fantasy roguelike Inkbound, has announced that it will remove all forms of in-game monetisation from the game.
In a post made on the game’s Steam listing, the team justified that the original inclusion of monetisation in the Levelling Pass and Cosmetic Shop was to support the development of the game.
Additionally, it was their aim to ensure that the microtransactions were “100% optional, cosmetic-only, with no impact on gameplay, and with no FOMO”.
Yet it said that the state of the gaming landscape led Shiny Shoe to the conclusion that monetisation is not a popular way to fund the progress of the game.
“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 monetisation completely,” the post continued.
“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.”
As a result the content in the Levelling Pass will be available through “cosmetic-only optional ‘supporter pack’ DLCs sold on Steam”. Anyone who owned The Story Begins or The Starship of Terrors premium passes will be given all of the unclaimed rewards from these tracks.
The rest of the cosmetic content and currency will be found in Inkbound and unlocked through playing.
In other gaming news, Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will not include an English dub when it launches on November 9.
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Imogen Donovan
NME
