Ninjala Will Be Free-To-Play When It Launches Worldwide This May

I've been wondering what happened to this game. Can't wait to try it

Excited for this one. I'll be able to grab it at launch since it's free.

Ninjala ! 😀
The only Switch game caught my attention from Mini Direct.
Hopefully it will get physical release in the future.

@RPGamer
Oh, gosh!! 🤪
I didn't realized if it was an ONLINE only game and free 2 play. 😱
😭
I thought it will be able to be played Offline and have physical release.... 😢

If it supports voice chat, it's already better than Splatoon.

No $60 entry fee already makes this Superior to Splat 2. I'm in, at the very least to test it out. And who knows what may be added if it takes off and gets good ratings.

@Broosh I agree. While no game on earth is better than Splatoon 2 (scientifically proven ), a game like this that isn't made by Nintendo more than likely wouldn't work or get a sufficiently large player base if it wasn't free to play.

@BenAV @RPGamer why

As I prefer melee to guns I'm looking forward to this. Splatoon has a lot of style and polish but I'm not a shooter fan so it doesn't hold my interest. Hoping this will be a nice alternative.

@Vepra I can't speak for them but for me, the fact that it's free means they will try and get my money some other way.

I'd rather pay upfront than be nickle and dimed later.

@RPGamer how does making it f2p make you loose intrest

@nab1 splatoon 1 is better than splatoon 2

OK so it's free? So what? Doesn't mean it's not going to be good, fortnite, warframe, apex legends, destiny 2 are all fantastic games and free and only require money for cosmetics and a battle passes which have no effect on pay 2 win

@RPGamer microtransactions are mostly cosmetic and optional and have no advantage in the actual gameplay. I haven't spent a penny in apex legends or fortnite and still enjoyed them

I doubt that's the game, it fits with the "following Splatoon and Fortnite" mention, but this definitely doesn't pushes Switch to its limits. If we were talking about such a title, I would say it's Rogue Company, or maybe wasn't revealed yet.

But the art style looks really lovely, like Splatoon

Sounds great. Will give a go as it’s free.

Cant believe a game being free is a issue now xD.

@playstation_king
Warframe was hella grindey without micro transactions.
Fortnite...meh
A friend of mine said he got bored with Apex legends fairly quickly.
But we all have different tastes. And we all have different expectations of different games.

My opinion of this is there will be several f2p games out soon for me: PSO2, Blue Protocol, Genshin Impact, etc. I might try it if others are a letdown.

@Anti-Matter 😢 Let me join you with the sadness.

Looks fun! And to all of you complaining that it's free... GOOD GRIEF!
Give it a chance. Some F2P games are really good.

Remember that new "action game epic to follow Splatoon and Fortnite" which was hinted at in Japanese monthly CoroCoro comic?

Yeah, but it's not this because this game was already known about.

@Damo The video appears to be unavailable?

I'm actually glad this is free because I'm still a bit skeptical as to how fun this will be. I like the style enough, but the movement looks a little slow/clunky to me from the trailer.

Time will tell

Free to play!? Okay now im interested.

@RPGamer @Kalmaro If done right, microtransactions will only be purely cosmetic, thus not giving you any ingame advantage. This works well for games like Fortnite, Smite, Paladins, etc.. Don't really see a problem with it nor a reason why people should lose interest once they've heard free to play mentioned

@Vepra Any microtransactions they add could just have easily been available for purchase up front instead of being free to play. Splatoon did that, I didn't mean working for stuff.

@Kalmaro I still don't understand why that bothers people. I mean it is additional content that has no effect on the gameplay itself, completely optional. Splatoon is a Nintendo game, its not really a fair comparison because if Im not mistaken then Ninjala is made by an indie studio that if they'd release the game as buytoplay with no microtransaction, it might not generate enough money for them to be able to support it after release. Free2Play has few good things about it for the devs. No price to play means more people will try it and might actually end up playing regulary. More players = less waiting time for a match = better chance at fair matchmaking = more people playing regulary. Selling cosmetics for people that want to support the devs and look different in the game will generate money throughout the games lifetime thus providing a paycheck for the devs and gives them a reason to keep the updates rolling. I do understand why people are sceptical about F2P games as there is a chance they'll might end up pay2win, but I just don't understand why people are against F2P games in general.

@Vepra With something that's upfront, you know what you're getting upfront, there's no concern about having to pay more later (usually) and what you see is what you get.

With something f2p, they have all the motivation to do everything possible to put the gamer in a position to pay a money pretty much indefinitely.

There's just been too many games where f2p games like to create problems and then charge you for a solution.

At least if I pay up front, I'm done and I don't worry about any suprises.

I’m honestly pretty excited to give this game a try! Splatoon but melee only with ninjas sounds like a good idea to me!

I'm definitely going to give it a try!

@Kalmaro
Asphalt and Warface are both F2P and neither require a penny to be competitive against other players.
I haven’t found a need to pay any money in either and have great fun and never feel under powered or hindered by others’ (paid) equipment.
I’ve paid money in both just to support the developer but frankly don’t even use what I paid for...

Hoping this is the same, and I’ll likely pay a bit to support if so.

@Vepra totally agree. See my post above!

@TimboSlice I'm happy you're enjoying yourself. I find that f2p games tend to be predatory in how they get money from the consumer, which makes some sense as they are giving away a free product.

@Kalmaro I respectfully disagree. Making a F2P game isn’t by nature a predatory practice. That’s ignorant.
The F2P model is a different type of model, that’s it. The idea is that you get someone hooked into the game and make it something they love to play, and when faced with an option to purchase an item (cosmetic or game-influencing) the player makes that choice.

A prime example of this was many many years ago, the game Jetpack Joyride.
It started on mobile as a paid purchase, but after a while they changed their model and reduced the price to FREE, and added micro transactions.
In the first several months, based on small micro transactions, the game made twice as much money as it had in the year or so prior. (I may not be exactly correct but you get the jist of it)
This proved that with a free game you can lure more people to try your game, and once they own it, those that enjoy it will have a high chance of paying a bit of money into it.
Compared to releasing a cheaper priced game and hoping they buy it, this model seems to work.

@TimboSlice I respectfully ask that you read my comment again. I did not say f2p games are predatory by nature. I did say though that the tend to engage in predatory methods to get money. That's been my issues this entire time and I've said as much.

Like in another comment when I mentioned how they often will introduce a problem and then make you pay for a solution.

@Kalmaro I don't see the problem with F2P games. I've been into Apex Legends for a year now and neber once spent money on it. All you need is self control

@liljmoore The self control argument doesn't work with me. I could just as easily turn that around and say that dev's don't need to be greedy when making f2p games by abusing stuff like loot boxes and whatnot. All they need is self control.

@Kalmaro You got make money somehow. Whether it's the old fashion way or the f2p way. Its works.
If people want to pay for skins or loot boxes that's on them. Want it to stop don't buy it. Its as simple as that

@liljmoore I know they have to make money, I just prefer they do it upfront instead of with f2p. Usually with f2p comes practice lsd that I find predatory.

@Kalmaro Same. But it is what it is. Its what some folks like to spend their money on.

And we saw that Ninty tried it that way for mobile and it didn't work.

@liljmoore Unfortunately, there's no denying that f2p can be absurdly lucrative.

@Kalmaro That is understandable. Hopefully Im not coming off as aggresive or anything, I was just really curious. It just kinda makes me sad for the devs when people don't want to try a game out because of its model but I do respect your opinion

@Vepra Nah you're fine, and I do think that making something f2p does not instantly mean that the devs are scumbags. I've just seen it happen too often where greed ruins things so now I don't trust anyone.

@Vepra conversely, prior to f2p these items would be unlockable, greatly extending gameplay. it wasn’t until f2p became more widely used that the argument that devs can’t make money without it. in theory it’s great, try the game out and only spend money if you want but in practice the psychological factor almost forces people to pay. i personally would personally rather drop $60, or even $80 and have no micro transactions with a bunch of unlockables.

I will be skipping this game myself, at least until i watch some streamers or videos and it looks interesting to me then. As it stands now, categorizing splatoon 2 and fortnite as the same type of game means they have missed what made splatoon great (not being yet another shooter). I’m not interesting in yet another BR or shooter, it’s time for innovation and cute isn’t innovative

@BenAV @RPGamer I actually kind of get it. When a game is 60 dollars I feel like devs go out of their way to make it worth the money (I mean, unless we're talking Amiibo Festival) however, when it's free to play they often lack depth just due to the fact that they are free to play. I will still give this one a shot but my hype was a little lessened when I heard it was free to play simply because I fear it may be a strictly surface-level experience.

I hope they prove me wrong.

They're going to make their money somewhere and consoles aren't the best platform for denting in advertising so they're probably going to milk us for all the little expansions Splatoon gave us freely. Clothes, weapons, alts, specials, maybe even maps for custom matchmaking.

Now it might not be so bad. If clothes options might be too diverse to create the haves and have nots culture of full skins (randomize the outfits for new players would help too). Weapons and the like can be survivable if the basics per combat style were available and the meta remained balanced. The map thing would only be a jerk if everyone had to have the same one. If they were a shared pool it'd be okay.

This is all assuming items are up for grabs at a shop. Not if they lean into some form of loot boxes or multiple currencies.