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Last month, developer Pan Studio raised eyebrows with the reveal that its gacha action RPG Duet Night Abyss would be ditching the gacha part altogether, cutting the industry-standard banners, drop rates, monetization, and assorted jank. The game's producer, who goes by Deca Bear, acknowledges "concerns" that this radical pivot could cause problems elsewhere, but maintains that gutting the gacha is a net positive.
Speaking with Automaton at Tokyo Game Show, Deca Bear stresses that "getting rid of gacha is beneficial for developers too," even if it does force them to come up with alternate, sustainable monetization modes that service the game.
"Of course, we have the same concerns. But that is why we're working hard on bringing both our content and our services to a satisfactory level," he says.
Previously, Pan Studio declared "we're completely removing all character and weapon banners" and removing the progress-gating stamina system, effectively letting players off the leash to farm and collect as they please. We don't yet know exactly how long it will take to unlock these now-free characters, but obtaining a party and gearing them up should in theory be less painful (read: more fun) without gacha weighing you down. It turns out you can make action RPGs that aren't gacha games. We gotta spread the word.
Incredulous, revelatory claims that "getting blocked by stamina limits" could feel "pretty bad," or how low drop rates on banners could be disheartening, came across like someone boldly arguing that you shouldn't headbutt bear traps. Nobody knows the pains and pitfalls of gacha more than gacha players. But hey, they've got a point. You shouldn't headbutt bear traps.
In place of these mainstay mechanics, and "to explain why we don't need a gacha system," Deca Bear points to "paid content like skins and character outfits," which are more widely used and accepted even outside the gacha space.
"We've already established a solid monetization model," he says.
One major payoff for this new approach – that is, the not-gacha approach that not-gacha games have been trucking along with just fine for decades – is that it makes Duet Night Abyss even more new-player friendly than typical free-to-play games, Deca Bear says.
"By making it so the players don’t have to spend too much time or money on the game, there will be more newcomers willing to try it out. If possible, we’d like to provide more quality content to our players for a cheap price," he tells Automaton.
The implementation of these systems still remains to be seen, but as someone who's both enjoyed and heavily criticized a few gacha games for five years, I am at least interested in seeing what Pan Studio has cooked up here. It's coming to PC and mobile on October 28.
