Marvel Snap‘s unpopular Nexus Events are officially done and dusted.
Marvel Snap developer Second Dinner will refund all the gold players have spent on the game’s divisive Nexus Events. In addition, all players will receive the Jane Foster base card, previously only available as a Nexus Event reward, regardless of whether they took part in one or not.
An update regarding Nexus Events pic.twitter.com/QQcReZ8Xr4
— MARVEL SNAP (@MarvelSnap) August 2, 2022
Second Dinner removed Nexus Events last week following continued player pushback over the mechanic’s aggressive monetisation. Also, a source of frustration is what players feel is a misrepresentation of the odds involved in pulling high-level rewards. All of the game’s best rewards — including the aforementioned Jane Foster card — were locked behind a meager drop rate, meaning players would have to funnel hundreds of dollars into the game if they wanted to secure big-ticket gear.
Stoking player ire further was a feeling that the game’s marketing did not satisfactorily convey what a Nexus Event was.
The situation was made worse by the studio’s statement, only months ago, that players would be able to accrue “every card in the game over time, without paying anything.”
It feels like Second Dinner should have been seen all of this coming. When you’re telling players that they can eventually get every card for their deck and then only months later keep a powerful card locked behind a paid drop randomiser… yeah, your players are going to get upset.
How Marvel Snap‘s approach to monetization changes after this remains to be seen. Monetization will return because the game has to make money somehow. For now, it’s a game of wait and see.
Second Dinner is the brainchild of former Heartstone game director Ben Brode, who co-founded the studio after departing Blizzard in 2018. Beyond the monetization grips, most players seem to really like the card game within Marvel Snap so far Matches have a fast tempo, and it promotes strats and synergies that tickle the brain in all the ways Heartstone did at its best under Brode.
Marvel Snap is currently in closed beta in Australia on iOS and Android. Second Dinner says the game will eventually make its way to PC too. Beta access is slowly rolling out in various territories ahead of wider release.