Spectre Divide lowers the skin prices just a few hours after launch. 'We thought that this would be the best way to support us and the game. We swung too high.

Spectre Divide's Lee Horn, the game director, says Mountaintop Studios "heard" your feedback about the high costs of the characters and weapon skins in the game and has reduced them by 17 to 25 percent, depending on which skin or bundle is in question.

Morgan Park, a staff writer at Spectre Divide, brought the "feedback" mentioned by Horn into sharp focus yesterday. He pointed out that Spectre Divide’s "Cryo Kinesis skin bundle" cost an eye-watering $90.00. This "insulting" amount was made even more outrageous by two factors: First, the skins aren't that great and second, he couldn’t get into the game due to matchmaking bugs. No, there is no direct link between the two, but it's easy to imagine that people will be more sensitive to high-priced cosmetics if the game they belong too isn't functioning properly.

He wasn't the only one who felt that way. Many Spectre Divi players on Reddit, as well as the community Discord, felt the same and didn't hesitate to express their feelings. Some players pointed out that these prices are comparable to those of Valorant which offers skins that are notoriously high priced (some would even say obscenely so). Others countered by saying that Spectre Divi shows a lot potential but it's not Valorant.

Redditor tehrink wrote that the Cryo Kinesis Bundle was $20 at best on a good day. This pricing implies that it is a direct competitor of Valorant, and it's miles away in terms of features (64 tick servers; no ranked mode at release?) "This pricing implies it's a direct competitor to Valorant and it's clearly miles away both in terms of features (64 tick servers, no ranked mode on release?)

The negative reaction was enough to prompt price reductions and an automatic partial refund in Spectre Points (the in-game currency), for those who purchased the items prior to the price cuts. Here's the price reduction:

• Cryo Kinesis Masterpiece Bundle with a Melee Weapon: 9000 SP to 7000 SP
• Medusa Prestige bundle: 4500 SP -> 3400 SP
• Eternal Guard Prestige Weapon Skins: 1500 SP -> 1200 SP
• Mako Elite Weapon Skins: 1000 SP -> 800 SP
• All Masterpiece character skins: 1800 SP -> 1500 SP
• All Prestige character skins: 1300 SP -> 1000 SP

Spectre points can be purchased in the game for $5 per 500, with discounts increasing as you purchase larger bundles. For $100, you'll get 11,500 points, which is a bonus of about $15.

Horn said Mountaintop Studios decided on the original price because Spectre Divide was a free-to play game and "90%+" of players never spent a penny on it.

"We love free players, but we have to pay for servers on which they play (as well the massive cost of initial and ongoing development), so 'freedom' comes at a price to us," Horn wrote. "Being an independent studio that is brand new and has limited resources can be difficult. We are self-publishing so every dollar that you spend directly funds Spectre, and makes the game even better. We took a swing we thought would be best for us to support the game. We swung too high and are now adjusting our swing to better reflect your feedback.

All of these are valid points. It's a shame, but it's the way our system works. People who make games have to make money. Even though a 25% reduction in price is significant, $70 still represents a high price for a collection of weapon skins that are best described as "white" and "grey." For the same price you can get Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. While I don't necessarily recommend it, you could also buy Assassin's Creed Shadows or Stalker 2 along with a nice sandwich.

Spending money on other things might not be as appealing to die-hard competitive shooter gamers. But, I think that the comparison of "you could buy five weapon skins, or a whole-ass, big-budget video game" is something to consider. I think Mountaintop hoped its players would come from the Valorant and Counter-Strike crowd, who are more than willing to spend triple digits for cosmetics. Evidently not.

The response to the price reductions has been mixed. Some players are happy with it and appreciate that Mountaintop Studios is willing make adjustments to address player complaints. Others, however, feel that the prices are still high for a new game.

Redditor Kripes8 wrote: "The value is just not there and it's insane watching people try to justify it by saying, 'free game. free game'. "Yes, the game is free. But 70 dollars for a bunch of weapon skins? That's absurd." I'll take the 70 dollars and spend it on several different games.