KurtzPel Addresses Pay-To-Win Controversy And Makes Game Truly Free-To-Play

kurtzpel elven earsEver since KurtzPel launched a few days ago, KOG’s anime-themed brawler has been plagued with complaints and accusations of being pay-to-win. With two out of four Karma’s locked behind a buy-to-play DLC wall, we understand where the negative feedback is coming from. Fortunately, KOG has heard your cries of outrage and apologizes for the “oversight” in a letter from the dev team.

“With Karma being the core/character content, we’d thought (mistakenly) that Sword Taliah and Dance of Wind would be the best weapon choices to make available for all Chasers; with the other 2 Karmas being unlockable.

However, the realization that this would be perceived (understandably) as pay-to-win didn’t dawn on us until it was way too late. We were still stuck in the Buy-To-Play design mode, and this was something we should have seen.”

To address the issue, the developers will make all previous test launch contents available to all players and will give players the ability to redistribute their stats using in-game currency, a feature currently only available by purchasing a Rebirth Ticket. The Blazing Witch and Diablic Witch Karma DLCs have also been removed from the Steam Store with KOG promising compensation for players who already bought the DLCs.

  • For those who’ve purchased 1 Karma DLC, we will be providing a new, never before seen costume set of respectable value, for free
  • For those who’ve purchased 2 Karma DLCs, we will be giving the aforementioned costume set, and 4 costume weapons, for free
  • This offer is for all Chasers who’ve purchased Karma. This doesn’t only apply to the Karma and Founder’s Pack DLCs purchased on Steam, but this compensation also applies to those who purchased the items via AP/CP
  • The only limitation to the compensation being offered: We will provide comp to all Chasers who’ve purchased the Karmas from the start of Early Access, up until the point that the content becomes free, and we remove the DLC packages from our Storefront

The costume and weapon sets are now currently in development and should be ready in time for the game’s European launch on June 5th.

“From the moment our KurtzPel team came together… 3 years ago, we were determined to develop a game that was neither Pay to Win, nor Grind to Win. This belief has not changed,” adds KOG. “From now on, we hope to provide services that demonstrate our conviction to this design philosophy. [. . .] And though we know that not every decision can make everybody happy, all the time, we will do our absolute best to make the best game that we can.”

Head over to the KurtzPel Steam Community page to learn more.