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Marvel Snap to reevaluate Nexus Events following backlash

Players aren't happy with Marvel Snap's Nexus Events, seeing resemblances to predatory monetization schemes like loot boxes.

Ozzie Mejia

July 22, 2022 2:50 PM

Marvel Snap

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Over the past few weeks, the team at Second Dinner has been teasing new ways to play the upcoming Marvel Snap. However, not all of these new ways have gone over well. In fact, a specific one drew the player base's ire. Nexus Events were implemented as a premium way to play Marvel Snap and pick up random card variants and avatars through the use of in-game Gold or real money. Many players immediately saw this as a loot box mechanic and rejected the idea soundly. On Thursday night, Second Dinner founder Ben Brode issued a formal apology while noting that the team is reevaluating its approach.

Here is the statement from Brode that was posted to the Marvel Snap Discord (also taken from Brode's Twitter account):

Earlier this week we shipped the latest release of MARVEL SNAP to players and launched in New Zealand and Australia. With that release came a new monetization feature we wanted to introduce and test: Nexus Events.

It's clear that a lot of you are disappointed with Nexus Events and we hear you. We missed the mark on this. Internally, we're having discussions around next steps and how we can act on your feedback. We're here for the long run, and are focused on creating a great game that is fair and that you'll love. Stay tuned to hear more from us.

Participating in Nexus Events costs 180 Gold. While Gold can be earned through natural gameplay, a bundle of 300 Gold sells for $4.99 USD while users can purchase as much as 8,000 Gold for $99.99. In itself, the cost of the Nexus Event isn't terrible. It's the drop probability that has players infuriated. The team at Out of Cards crunched the numbers, obvserving that a whopping 89 percent of rewards are common Credit and Booster drops. To get an actual Base Card or Variant Card, players either have to shoot for 1.5 percent odds or hit the guaranteed drop at 50 opens. Playing the Nexus Event 50 times costs 9,000 Gold or, looking at the currency conversion from the in-game shop, a hair over $100. On top of that, God help you if you don't pull the Base or Variant that you're actually looking for on that guaranteed pull.

Players are righteously outraged and they'll be looking to Second Dinner to see exactly what results from their reevaluation of Nexus Events. If there's a positive to this story, it's that it's come so early in the game's life cycle that many people haven't even had a chance to try it yet. Indeed, the game is still in closed beta on Android and gradually opening up to new regions. The game will eventually open up to iOS and PC users in the future.

We're hoping for the best from Marvel Snap, but a story like this has everyone feeling wary for its future. We'll continue to follow this story at Shacknews and post any updates.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?