The gaming industry is no stranger to a spot of exaggerated anger, but fans of Disney Speedstorm may be entitled to be irritated. The free-to-play racer, despite some sturdy kart racing gameplay, has been on a rocky road for a while, due to the way its gacha system works. Effectively, you need to collect shards to unlock and upgrade racers, and this can lead to an unbalanced online experience.
Despite the issues, though, fans were generally looking forward to the new season of Wreck-It Ralph content, as well as some streamlining of the crafting system, which meant you’d no longer need specific materials to level up racers. However, a Community Pitstop teasing some changes to Season 7 has stopped the community in its tracks, and honestly, the backlash is beyond anything we’ve seen before.
Players are talking about taking legal action, and developer Gameloft has been branded as “thieves”. So, just what exactly is going on?
Well, at the headline level, the changes seem smart: requirements have been reduced for the title’s Battle Pass system, Golden Pass – and content from previous seasons is making a comeback as part of a new single player Tournaments mode. Great updates, we’re sure you’ll agree. The problem is that the studio is tying everything to new subscription-like business models.
So, for unlimited attempts at the new Tournaments, you’ll need to purchase a Vault Pass for $7.99, otherwise you’ll only be able to attempt four of these per day. Meanwhile, the Golden Pass will now be split into two parts, each costing $9.99 a pop, meaning the total cost of unlocking everything per season will be at least $27.97. Gameloft argues there’ll be much more to earn in the Golden Passes, hence the price hike.
But the thing that’s really driving fans crazy is that Golden Passes will no longer be purchasable with in-game currency, meaning you’ll need to pod out real cash to access the premium rewards tracks. Many had bought Founders Editions of the game, or simply saved up their tokens, in order to unlock future Golden Passes.
It means some fans are now considering legal action against Gameloft, or giving up on the game entirely. Obviously, we’ll need to test out the changes first-hand before we truly get a sense of how much damage the developer has done here, but Disney Speedstorm was already on thin ice, and this uproar is not going to help. It’s unfortunate really, because the core game is pretty great.
Laura Adams is a tech enthusiast residing in the UK. Her articles cover the latest technological innovations, from AI to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
