Sonic Rumble Mobile Game Won’t Use Gacha As “Such Mechanics Tend To Be Shunned Overseas”
Mario Bautista
Remember earlier this year when SEGA announced the strangely Fall Guys-esque free-to-play mobile game Sonic Rumble? Yeah, we do too (unfortunately), but today, we’ve learnt a little more about the game, making it appear somewhat more attractive: namely, there will be no gacha or pay-to-win mechanics (thanks, VGC).
That is according to Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka and the game’s director Makoto Tase who, in a recent interview with Automaton, explained how the team opted against the mechanics due to how poorly received they tend to be in the West.
“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,” Iizuka confessed, “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”.
Tase was a little more specific, noting that such mechanics tend to not go down too well overseas:
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.
To ensure the global market is a little more friendly to Sonic’s F2P escapades, the team decided to remove any random gacha encounters or pay-to-win mechanics from its progression, opting instead for a season pass system focused on skins and emotes (not perfect, but perhaps expected). There will also be a Ring Shop where players can cash in their collectable (or purchased) currency on new cosmetics.
Sonic Rumble is set to speed onto mobile and PC this Winter, throwing the blue blur into a 32-player battle royale. While no console versions have been announced at the time of writing, it feels like one of those formats that might just make it to Switch one day — if the global market is as keen on it as Sonic Team hopes, that is.
