GungHo’s upcoming 3D arena “chanbara action” game Ninjala is going to be free-to-play, so how is monetization going to work? In the latest Developer Diary released by GungHo, the developers explained the Ninja Medals and Shinobi Cards equipment system that will affect your playstyle, as well as the optional paid Ninjala season pass, known as the Ninjala Pass, that has extra rewards to earn via missions.
Regarding the equipment system, Shinobi Cards and Ninja Medals are earned by simply continuously playing the game, as one might expect. These are passive skills that can help you in battle, such as the ‘Sudden Burst’ card that lets you activate S-Burst once even with low S-Energy. These passive skills are limited by cost and can be powered up via Assist Codes. These are all ways you can improve your character as you continue to get better at the game.
As for Ninjala Pass, the developers describe it as “essentially being like a season pass,” and it will give you additional rewards for completing missions as part of a tier system, which goes from 1 to 100. That said, updates aren’t tied to the Ninjala Pass and instead will be handled in seasons, with each season lasting 8-10 weeks. New weapons, stages, and game functions will be added as the game cycle goes on.
Check out the full Developer Diary below:
Ninjala will come to the Nintendo Switch on May 27, 2020. It will be free-to-play and not require Nintendo Switch Online. The Ninjala open beta will run from April 28-29, 2020. Check out the previous Developer Diary here.
