On Steam, the free-to-play team shooter has achieved impressive player numbers. However, the ratings paint a less positive picture
On September 3, the comic-style 3v3 shooter was released on Steam and aims to compete with the likes of Counter-Strike 2andValorant. Only recently officially announced, it only took a few weeks for the first players to get their hands on the game for free. Now it is slowly becoming clear how Spectre Dividewill be received. Let’s put it this way:There is reason to be displeased
Good numbers, bad numbers
If you just look at the player numbers on Steam, you might think that the launch of the tactical shooter was a complete success. Spectre Divide peaked on the day of its releasewith just under 40,000simultaneous players This is particularly impressive when you consider how little time there was between announcement and release.
However, if you take a look at the ratings, you get a different picture. At the time of writing, the proportion of positive reviews on Steam is just 47 percent And the reviews also clearly show why this is the case
- Steam-Usersemiloker writes: “I participated in the closed beta and since then only the following has changed: It takes ☻15 minutes to find a match with 30,000 [players] online and I haven’t found one yet […], and from day one a skin costs $10 and the set costs $80! Update: I can’t even cancel the match search.”
- Conair writes: “Charges more for skins than Valorant and is pretty disappointing. Played the beta and am now just unhappy with the full version. The game is just trying to cash in on Shroud’s name.”
In addition to common teething troubles such as long matchmaking times and bugs, the pricing policy of the Free2Play title is a particular source of displeasure With the launch of Spectre Divide, the in-game store also went live, which is not unusual at first. However, the fact that the prices in it are so high went down particularly badly with the community
The developers react
If you want to buy weapon skins in the game, you pay for them with Spectre Points (SP).For 5 euros you get 500 SP Some of the bundles in the game, which contain several weapon skins, cost up to 9000 SP on the day of release, i.e. the equivalent of 90 euros Even for a Free2Play title that is financed through the sale of cosmetic items, these prices are unusually high
The developers at Mountaintop Studions responded quickly to the backlash with anannounced price reduction of 17 to 25 percent on the bundles
In a post on Steamthey apologized and promised players who had already made purchases that they would be refunded 30 percent of the SP spent. Even if you have purchased the Founder’s Pack or the Supporter Pack of Spectre Divide on Steam, you will get extra SP credited to your account as compensation.
In the comments under the post, however, many fans were not yet satisfied. Some would like to be able to buy more standalone weapon skins instead of having to pay such high prices for the whole package. Even after the price reduction, the “Cryokinesis Bundle”, for example, still costs 70 euros, which is the price of a full-price game.
