Inkbound is removing all in-game monetization, including its Leveling Pass, later this month. the change is towards a more user-friendly game, making almost everything available just by playing the game.
Developer Shiny Shoe made the announcement along with details on how it will work, the impact of community feedback, and how players can continue to support the development of the game. All in-game monetization goes away as of the October 27th update, with new structure to come.
“Content from the existing Leveling Passes will be turned into cosmetic-only optional “supporter pack” DLCs sold on Steam. The rest of the cosmetic content will continue to be available in-game and earned via playing.”
For those who already made purchases, Shiny Shoe offered their thanks and a promise that there would be some additional bonuses for those customers.
The shop will be known as the Cosmetic Vault and Shinies will be renamed to Vault Dust. The ability to buy Shinies will go away, and any you have will be converted to Vault Dust. If you’ve purchased currency, they’ll award you 2x Vault Dust for the amount you bought.
Everything in the Cosmetic Vault will be earnable in game. Whenever you defeat a guardian, there will be a chest with a random cosmetic reward from the Cosmetic Vault that you don't already own.
In ending premium Leveling Passes, if you owned either or both of the first two premium passes, you'll be granted all unclaimed rewards, and 1,000 Vault Dust for each purchased pass. The premium pass cosmetics will move into Steam “Supporter” DLC packs, that you can buy to help with development.
When the update arrives, expect a brand new free rewards track for all with Vault Dust and cosmetics. Previous free track rewards will be added to the Cosmetic Vault and still be available to earn. At the end of a season, those rewards will also move into the vault. Instead of temporary items that will go away permanently or temporarily, you'll still have an opportunity to earn any of those items by being lucky after defeating Guardians or by just leveling up and earning enough to get them.
