If you’ve never played Clicker Heroes, you can pick it up for your phone or on Steam right now; it’s a lightweight little idle game like Cookie Clicker, except with MMORPG-inspired classes, leveling, and zones. It’s pretty great. And it has a sequel in development, Clicker Heroes 2, which is not going to be free and use a microtransaction model. That’s kind of a swerve in the other direction, and the developers have taken the time to explain why a studio with a successful free-to-play game would develop a pay-to-play sequel.
The letter explains that while the free-to-play model always worked, it also led to some people spending thousands of dollars on the game, which led to concerns about people spending money they couldn’t afford to spend on the game. It also meant that no changes could be made to invalidate real-money purchases, which meant sometimes awkward patches on the game’s systems over time. While no changes will be made to the original, Clicker Heroes 2 will have a box price that the studio hopes can also support mods and enjoyable gameplay.
