A new currency for KARDS
Hello fellow Generals and dear KARDS enthusiasts,
We are introducing a new currency for KARDS and redesigning how you can get items for real money from the store.
In this blog, we want to
- present what we are going to do
- explain the reasoning behind this plan
- illustrate the change with examples
- provide an outlook on the benefits of this change
- talk about the transition to the new system
- invite you to collaborate and provide feedback
Since this is a significant change, we want to have enough time to collect your feedback. Our plan is to go live with the new system in March.
Please read this blog to the end, where we'll invite you to collaborate with your feedback.
Before we continue, let's be crystal clear:
This change does not impact the way you play for free. You still get gold and use that gold for packs, draft tickets, and other interesting items in the same way. This change is exclusively about real-money purchases.
[h3]Summary:[/h3]
- We plan to introduce a premium currency to KARDS in March
- The new premium currency will allow the team to avoid prohibitive administrative overhead when launching mobile and being live on new platforms
- Instead of purchasing an item directly from the store with cash, you will pay using this premium currency which you can buy for real money
- When we transition to the new system, everyone will get a free gift of the new currency
So, that being said, let's go into the details without further ado.
[h2]What we are doing: A new currency for KARDS[/h2]
We will unify how you can get items from the KARDS store for real money by introducing a premium in-game currency: Diamonds.
- All offers and items in the Kards store using any real currencies will be replaced with offers using this new in-game currency.
- All offers and items using the current in-game gold currency will remain.
- This does not impact the way you play for free. This is exclusively about real-money purchases.
The only change here is on real-currency purchases. Instead of using cash directly to buy a real-money offer from the store, you will use Diamonds. If you have insufficient Diamonds, you can buy them from the store for real money in various quantities and with various discounts.
Read ahead to learn more about the reasons why we want (and need) to implement this system.
Before we go further into how exactly this is going to work, let go over the reasons why a change in the current system is becoming necessary, why we chose this system, and why we think this is good for everyone.
[h2]Why we are doing this: Getting ready for mobile and cross-platform[/h2]
Right now, life is easy - at least in relative terms when it comes to creating offers, discounts, and special bundles in the Kards store for specific events and special dates.
With the advent of the mobile versions (Android + iOS) and expanding to new platforms, things will become considerably more complex.
Whenever you add a real-money offer to the mobile stores (and changing the price for a temporary discount is technically a new offer), this offer needs to be submitted, reviewed and authorized by the store owners (Google, Apple, etc.). If you have a large team with hundreds or thousands of employees, this is no big deal. For smaller studios, such as 1939 Games, this extra administrative work can become quite significant.
However, if you have a set of bundles for premium in-game currency, then everything becomes easy. You can change in-game currency prices easily and without the above mentioned review process. Adding discounts and attractive offers then becomes very easy.
This change allows us to:
- Keep offering attractive special offers in multiple currencies and date-based discounts on all platforms without excessive administrative overhead.
- Help you purchase items in KARDS for real money on any platform fairly and transparently.
We cannot emphasize enough our core philosophy that only a game with a fair and transparent purchase system has a long-lasting life in the free-to-play market. We are going into the details in the following sections.
[h2]How this works: The design and examples[/h2]
The way you can purchase items for real money in the store is changing with this design: Instead of directly paying for a store item with real money, you’ll get it for diamonds which you get for real money. We want to keep this as transparent as possible, so as a rule of thumb, you can look at 10 Diamonds = $1 (details below).
We also move the discounts from specific items/bundles to the diamond bundles.
The overall discounts on items and bundles will stay similar. As explained above, this is not about changing the pricing but introducing a fair, transparent, and future-proof system that is easy to use across many platforms.
Let’s have a look at some of the bundles we have envisioned (we will also add a small bundle S for probably $4.99 and possibly another bundle that falls in between L and XL). All numbers are still subject to small adjustments:
Bundle size
Amount of Diamonds
Cost in USD
M
100
9.99
L
210
19.99
XL
570
49.99
XXL
1300
99.99
Bigger bundles will give you more significant discounts. This is how it currently works as well.
Let’s see what this will get you in the store and look at some examples of popular items. The exact numbers are still subject to (minor) change:
Item
Costs in Diamonds
Cost in USD
Costs in Diamonds converted to USD
Standard pack
15
1.25 - 1.48
1.15 - 1.50
Card back
30
2.95
2.31 - 3.00
Officer pack
45
3.50 - 4.45
3.46 - 4.50
World at War
200
19.95
15.38 - 19.98
World at War Premium
500
49.95
38.46 - 49.95
The price ranges are the result of discounts. The price per pack depends on how many packs you buy. For example, do you buy 1 Officer Pack (more expensive per pack), or do you go for the large bundle with 20 Officer packs that comes with a discount (cheaper per pack)? Same with the Diamond price range: Did you get the Diamonds from the standard bundle or with a discount from the larger bundles?
[h2]Why this is beneficial: Transparency, extra perks, and variety[/h2]
By now, you should have a good understanding of what we are doing and why. If anything is unclear, you are most welcome to ask in the comments below.
What might be not so clear yet is the benefit you get from this and if there is a benefit at all for you. We are aware that some implementations of premium currencies carry a bad reputation.
To be completely transparent here, if KARDS stayed on just one single platform without any ambitions for many more years to come, we might not have changed anything at this time. But we already have exciting goals with the mobile versions and more platforms in the near future (and that is just this year alone).
We can see at least four major direct benefits for you:
- Increased variety: We can and will add low-cost items in the store (e.g., XP Boosters). This is something that wasn’t feasible before.
- Freedom of choice: The purchase discount can be used on any item(s) you want and on as many items as you wish at any time. You are no longer locked to a discount on a specific item.
- Fairness: You get the same value regardless of the platform. With full cross-platform play coming up, you will be able to use your purchase anywhere else (again, irrespective of the platform).
- Future-proof: Having premium currency in your account means that you are future-proof for any additional platform KARDS might become available on. You also don’t need to worry about missing discounts or specials in the shop across platforms.
[h2]When the time is ripe: How to transition from old to new[/h2]
We plan to go live with this new system in March.
As a reminder, this does not impact the way you play for free at all. You still get gold and use that gold for packs, access draft, and other interesting items in the same way as before.
When we launch the new system, we will do the following:
- Add Diamonds as new premium currency to KARDS
- Convert the current real-currency price tag of store items to Diamond prices
- Add Diamond bundles to the store as new purchasable items
- Give every player free Diamonds as a gift from the team
All of the above will be done automatically. You don’t need to do anything extra. Especially adding a real-currency gift is now extremely easy! All your existing items will, of course, stay unchanged.
[h2]Brief excursion: History of Diamonds in WW2[/h2]
But why Diamonds? Do they belong in a WW2 game? Absolutely! In fact, Diamonds played a major role in converting civilian industries into war machines. Only they were hard enough to stamp out the millions of precision parts necessary for mass-producing airplane engines, torpedoes, tanks, artillery, and the other weapons of war.
Diamonds were critical in drawing the fine wire needed for radar and other instruments. And only diamonds could provide the high-precision bearings for stabilizers and gyroscopes for submarines and planes. Besides that, diamonds were used in espionage and clandestine operations.
[h2]Provide feedback![/h2]
After all these explanations and with our best intentions, you still might have some burning comments and important feedback.
This is a significant change in how we sell items in KARDS; this can seriously impact financing the development of KARDS and 1939 Games. Obviously, it is critical that we get this right.
Keep in mind our core philosophy of having KARDS as a long-lasting free-to-play game. This requires, in our opinion, a fair and transparent purchase system which we hope to have presented here.
As this potentially impacts all of us, we are excited to hear your feedback and look forward to a good, constructive discussion.
