Spectre Divide's launch includes outrageous $90 skins, which makes its broken matchmaking even more frustrating

I have 41 minutes left in the launch version. This new tactical FPS by Mountaintop Studios has been a hit with Valorant and Counter-Strike fans through its closed and public betas. Normally, 41-minutes is plenty of time to play a game of Spectre. However, due to unfortunate matchmaking issues, I was stuck at the menus. I can't get a match, despite the fact that 30,000 people are playing. Once I start a game queue, I cannot cancel it without closing it.

Mountaintop Studios, the developer, has acknowledged this issue and is working to fix it. The latest update from Discord's official website: "If you have been in a queue for more than 11 minutes, restart the client and try again."

While I was waiting in my unstoppable line, I tabbed the Spectre Divison store and found a familiar eyesore. A $90 skin package sat above a skin bundle for $45 The Cry Kinesis ($90) bundle could be considered Spectre’s flagship microtransaction on launch day. It adds sci-fi greebling, blue "cryo", and a glowing handaxe to four of the shooter’s most popular weapons. These gun-fits would be cool if they weren't so outrageously priced.

Some people in the burgeoning Spectre Divide Community are also having a hard time with Spectre Cosmetics.

Dovawin, a user on the Spectre Divide Subreddit, wrote: "I'm a loser who buys skins immediately but... these are too basic for me to even consider buying them." "What a pity."

JasoniPepperoni wrote in the same thread: "I'm not going to spend $100 on some basic skins.

Mountaintop's monetization decisions are not defended by many, but players who have played Valorant's competitive FPS, which Spectre is the closest to, won't be surprised at the prices. Riot has not done anything to change the reputation of Valorant, whose skins are notorious in the FPS world.

Several Valorant players have pointed out a detail in Spectre that is less friendly to the customer: In Valorant it's possible for customers to purchase individual skins within a bundle at a lower cost, but Spectre bundles are currently either all or nothing. Just some stinky decisions being made.

It can feel like you're in a different country, with a different culture. In most places, you would be thrown out of town if you tried to sell a weak sci-fi AK-47 as part of a $90 bundle. Riot Games shares a border in its country with the Republic of Valve. These prices are not uncommon. Mountaintop, the company next door, is doing the same thing. They are proudly displaying cosmetics that are almost as expensive as my two-week shopping trip and claiming it's worth it. It's insulting to me as a beta tester who was excited for the full version. But, in general, it's getting harder and harder to enjoy anyongoing game without feeling exploited. I've noticed a growing trend in free-to play studios to charge their long-time players more. The most recent example was Apex Legends' confusing, greedy battle pass that was partially walked-back in July.

When I interviewed Lee Horn, the game director, in July, just before Spectre's reveal date, he told that he thinks Spectre is a great value.

"One of our core values is that we don't charge for power and you can pay us absolutely nothing." "You can compete at the highest levels [without paying]", Horn said. "We support this by creating the coolest possible content. The players will hopefully see that it's worth the money and want to support this."

Mountaintop wants us to believe that we are the ones who have the deal because we get a free-to play game so good that we're going to want to play it for 10,000 hour. Even if you take the most generous view and imagine that I should feel fortunate for playing such a high-quality piece of software, isn't that a bit premature? Mountaintop doesn't have the pedigree to be the biggest MOBA in the world. It's a new startup of shooter developers making its first game.

Spectre hasn't been able to defeat the greed allegations yet, but a good place to start would be to get the game working correctly. Once I can play a match without having to wait for an hour or more, these bundles may be easier to ignore. I'll then just enjoy Spectre's gunplay and "Duality hooks".