Developer Rogue Snail has outlined a series of changes for its Early Access game Legend of the Relic Hunters, and the largest will see the removal of its free-to-play elements.
About the game Steam PageRogue Snail explained that the game's 1.0 launch will turn it into a full-fledged $20 title. Since it no longer has support for Changethe studio realized that it could not keep its Kickstarter promise of not charging for the game.
To be blunt about it, the team also admitted that they “had to focus our limited resources” and “couldn’t spare the effort needed for monetization.”
“New challenges have been presented to various development studios, ours being no exception,” Rogue Snail wrote. “With all these challenges in hand, we needed to come up with a monetization plan for the game that was fair to our players and sustainable for us.”
Along with this news comes the removal of Relic online requirements. With the upcoming 0.11 update, the game will now have save slots and players will be able to manually choose whether or not to play with others.
This “significant change” is already being implemented in the Early Access version, and existing players' progress will carry over directly as soon as the update goes live.
Is free-to-play starting to take its course?
Legend of the Relic Hunters abandoning free-to-play is similar to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp plans in November. Nintendo recently said that its mobile spin-off would be removed from its free-to-play roster, but would immediately relaunch as a premium experience.
While Nintendo may not be as resource-strapped as Rogue Snail, there is an indication that some studios are looking to step back from free-to-play in favor of more well-rounded experiences that come with less baggage and fewer worries about to be predatory.
In Relic case, this is further compounded by a multitude of live service titles go offline or collapse in the last year. Many of these were free to play shooters.
By Rogue Snail's own admission, the conversion of her game into a premium title was not planned and was not even up to her. However, she says she will make the best of her current situation and hopes that the change will bring more eyes (and money) to Legend of the Relic Hunters.
The full list of changes to the game that will be coming with the update and the launch of version 1.0 can be read Here.