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Is Sonic Rumble pay-to-win? Sega answers in interview

Sonic Rumble Shadow the Hedgehog

With Sega planning to launch a new Sonic the Hedgehog game for mobile devices, titled Sonic Rumble, there are naturally concerns that it will feature pay-to-win mechanics.

Sonic Rumble was announced earlier this year and is essentially Sega’s take on Fall Guys. Fans get to play as cute, little toy versions of Sonic characters and compete in various platforming and racing challenges for up to 32 players. It’s scheduled to launch this winter and will, unsurprisingly, be free to play.

Since it needs to make its money somehow, Sonic Rumble will allow players to spend real money to acquire new items. But will any of these items offer inherent advantages to those able and willing to put the money in?

Is Sonic Rumble pay-to-win?

Sonic Rumble will not include pay-to-win mechanics at launch, Sega representatives stated in an interview.

Sonic Rumble director Makoto Tase and Sonic franchise head Takashi Iizuka discussed the matter in an interview with Automaton. The only items available for purchase will be additional skins and emotes; neither of which affect the character when equipped.

While these skins and emotes are designed to be eye-catching, players can’t buy items that will make their character run faster. If players want to win, they’ll need to simply hone their skills.

Will Sonic Rumble have loot boxes?

Sonic Rumble will not have loot boxes or any gacha-like mechanics. This means players won’t have to hope to unlock any specific skins they want; they can simply acquire them from the in-game Ring Shop.

Rings will serve as Sonic Rumble’s main currency and can be earned through play. There will also be a season pass that rewards players with items, which will serve as the main monetization model. As demonstrated by a previous beta test in the summer, players can earn items for free from a standard season pass. However, a paid premium pass will offer even more rewards.

Tase and Iizuka explained how they deliberately avoided implementing gacha mechanics. This is because such mechanics have proven to be very unpopular in the global market.

“Monetization 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,” Tase said.

While it’s good to know there’ll be no random chance involved in unlocking items, time will tell how player-friendly Sonic Rumble’s monetization is. Even if currency can be earned in-game, it’s possible certain skins will require a ludicrous amount that will demand hours upon hours of grinding and risk pressuring people into dropping loads of actual money on acquiring them.

Written by Michael Beckwith X Twitter Logo

Michael Beckwith has been a fan of video games ever since he was given a Game Boy Color and a copy of Pokémon Yellow. Since then, he's become well versed in a wide range of game franchises and genres, but his all-time favorites remain platformers like Sonic the Hedgehog and RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles. He has previously written for multiple gaming sites including Dot Esports, Destructoid, and Techraptor. You can follow him on Twitter at @Brawler1993.

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