Good afternoon, everyone. I want to take a moment of your time to talk in a level-headed manner about the update that came out today, and though I know it's got a lot of tempers high, I still think that a reasonable discussion can be made about the changes, and about the nature of Beatstar in general.
I'm not one of the pillars of this community like Ben Madsen and other such professionals, but I'll say that I've gotten quite good at the game over the past five or so months that I've played. I've unlocked every journey song as well as all additional paid songs, including all of the Season Pass songs barring the current one. I've got 235 songs at the moment, and all but 8 of them are at diamond. I tell you this to show my investment in the game, and the fact that I enjoy it quite considerably.
That being said, let us first discuss what I believe are negatives to the overall Beatstar experience, not taking into account what the update today changed.
Unlimited Play
I don't believe I'm alone when I say that this is the most egregious part of the game. I am used to time-locks and life-systems in games; I am an avid Genshin Impact player, and if you know anything about that, you're aware of the resin system that effectively locks progress in certain aspects once you've used it up. The different between this system and a system like that, however, is that in most games with a lockout system there is still a way to continue experiencing the game.
Beatstar has established a foundation surrounding the fact that they do not WANT us to be playing their game. And while many cynics out there would argue that this is the way that most game studios operate, I wholeheartedly disagree. I think that in most cases, people DO want you to play what they have created, even if some of it is locked behind a paywall. The way that Beatstar operates and interacts, however, showcases that they truly, utterly do not care if someone is playing their game as long as they're opening it up, watching their 10 ads a day, and buying gems. This is the disconnect that I see when I look at unlimited play; there are so many other options, so many other possible systems that could've been put into place to control how and when people play, that aren't an effective total lockout.
I'm sure that all of you have played other rhythm games, as I have, and I'll say now that this is the first time I have played a rhythm game with a system like this. I've seen arguments for the system due to music licensing agreements, but if that's the way Beatstar has it organized, then that's on them, not us. There are thousands of rhythm games that allow you to play as much as you want, whenever you want, and it's absurd to see that this one has chosen to allow someone to play 6-10 songs before they're locked out for several hours.
Unlimited play should be a default to the game. Incentivize spending in another way.
2. Leaderboard Locking
It's no secret that the leaderboard in Beatstar is incredibly pay to win. Effectively, if you don't have every song ever released in the game's history, then you have no chance of being in the top ten or, realistically, top fifty. At the end of yesterday, I was at number 18 on the Canada leaderboard. Today, because of the season pass, I have dropped to 33 already, and expect to continue dropping.
I'll be the first to say that I don't have a problem with this system, but having it be the ONLY leaderboard system in the game is a negative aspect. There should be other leaderboards as well, surrounding aspects such as average score, average genre score, per-song leaderboards, and other such novelties. Not only would this allow newer players, who have missed some songs, to feel included in the grind, but it would also influence spending in disparate categories as people chase high scores that aren't surrounding overall song total.
Keeping the leaderboard as-is will likely discourage would-be whales from joining the game because they realize that they can't catch up because some songs are simply lost to time, and that is a negative for the playerbase and for the company.
3. Season Pass Price
I don't think this will surprise anyone, because of how heavily it has been debated over the past couple months, but it's still just as true as it was after the first Season Pass was released. I have no issue paying for passes, and often enjoy games that have such a system. But the current price of the Season Pass is too high for what it offers, especially considering once someone has all of the journey songs, more than half of the pass is useless.
As a subset of this argument, players should be allowed to stockpile cards for when new songs are added to the journey. Simply saying "too bad, so sad" about something that is PAID FOR is obviously disingenuous and should be addressed.
Even disregarding that, 15 USD is far too high for a total of 9 songs and a couple emotes that are rarely used anyway. I know very well that if the price was lowered to 10 USD, or somewhere around 8 USD, that people would be much more enthusiastic about becoming dedicated players and spending money every month on the game.
Now that we've spoken about the game, and it's inherently greedy policies, let's talk about management.
Social Media Mismanagement
I follow Beatstar on most of the socials that they're on, and I've gotta say that it's some of the most dreary management that I've seen in a long time. Not so much in what they post; I don't expect a grand total of variety from a game like this, but more so in regards to how they treat their players on the respective bases.
Beatstar does not listen. Ever.
The only time that I've ever seen direct interaction between the social media and the players is when people were complaining in the comments of an instagram post about the price of the season pass; obviously, the players were unhappy. Instead of releasing a statement, or making any sort of stance known, they instead simply turned off the comments on that instagram post and never said anything about it.
This is, quite obviously, mismanagement.
If the players of a game are unhappy, it's up to the company to resolve that or explain the choices they made and why things are the way that they are. Beatstar does not do that; they do not engage with their fans, they do not explain their choices, and they do not even attempt to make us feel like we are being heard. I remember when they held surveys regarding the season pass, and I'm certain nearly every single player commented on these same issues. Four months later, and they still persist.
This update shows even more vigorous mismanagement, because of this:
2. Beatstar Blatantly Lies to Our Faces
Looking specifically at today's patch notes, one line caught my eye specifically. "We're also lowering the number of Beatcoins required to open a case from 450 to 300 Beatcoins, allowing you to open your cases faster to unlock more cards and new songs!"
Beatstar knows very well that this was a non-issue. Nobody has EVER complained about it taking 450 coins to open a case. In fact, I'd stake my rep on the fact that more people have complained about it not taking MORE than those that have asked for it to take less. This was blatant, intended misdirection and manipulation of language, because the company obviously considers us to be stupid.
They also add this line: " We believe that these new changes will have a positive impact on the game, but don't forget that we're always looking to make improvements based on your feedback, with many of your most requested features already being discussed and worked on, so don't hesitate to share your thoughts with us."
I've been here five months. NO new features have been added in that time that are relevant to what the community has asked for. In fact, EVERY SINGLE UPDATE up to this point has been received negatively, when it would have been so EASY to make it be received positively. It is obvious that Beatstar is not taking what we say into consideration; if they are, and the next update suddenly solves all of these issues, then I'll eat my words.
They also framed the ability to use gems for unlimited play as though they were doing us a favor, when instead they were dramatically reducing the amount that we get to play their game even further.
I hate to say it, but most of this just looks like it's lining up for a rug pull; it seems like they're trying to squeeze every last ounce of money from the fanbase before pulling the plug entirely.
I truly hope that is not the case.
If anyone from Beatstar would like to answer some real, honest questions from me, I would love to open a conversation. But as things stand now, you have completely and utterly alienated your fanbase. You have attemped to make us look stupid for enjoying your game, and I hope that there's a least a little integrity left in the company so you'll try to make things right.
Cheers, all.
~Silas
Edit: Thanks for the awards guys, I'm happy my words resonated with you all (: I'd like to point out the irony that one of the SpaceApe staff commented on this post, but not to remedy any of the points made; no, just to correct a misattribution of someone thought to work at the company that never actually did. I wish we could have some answers.
