Introduction
In this thread I’m going to be talking about my thoughts, my hopes and my concerns about the recent Beta Games updates. I’ll be making this mostly as a feedback thread, but some of it will be background info or speculation. I’ll be breaking this down into a few chapters, each chapter will be about either a certain game or major mechanic.
In this thread I’m going to be talking about my thoughts, my hopes and my concerns about the recent Beta Games updates. I’ll be making this mostly as a feedback thread, but some of it will be background info or speculation. I’ll be breaking this down into a few chapters, each chapter will be about either a certain game or major mechanic.
I am really concerned about how Beta Games is being monetised. I’m fine with the idea of Beta Games being monetised, but a subscription is an odd choice, I understand that it’s a limited time rank for a limited time game. So that you don’t buy the rank, but then the game gets fully released shortly afterwards. But it still doesn’t feel right to me.
But what’s even more important is the price, it’s currently 660 Minecoins for 1 month. Which is €4, or $4, or £3.50, I’m not sure about how much it is in pounds. That’s €48 a year, which is the price of 5 lifetime ranks. That’s absurdly expensive, especially since the rank only offers Map Voting and Gamemode Voting. Whereas each one of those 5 lifetime ranks would give you tons of cosmetics.
It's no secret that Cubecraft isn't turning as big of a profit as it used to. We know this because of the layoffs at the start of Q1, but this isn't the way to solve it. The average age of a Cubecraft player is about 10 or so, no 10 year-old can afford a €48 yearly subscription for beta modes in a Minecraft server. The price is way too high and barely anyone wants to buy the subscription rank, that's why it's very rare to see the other modes in Pillars of Fortune.
There's 2 solutions to this problem, the first is simply dropping the price to €1 per month, which is €12 per year. That's still more expensive than a lifetime rank, but it's manageable. along with this I also think some cosmetics should be added, maybe just some prefixes and a few cages, nothing fancy.
The next solution is far more radical, but it has been done before. Release desperate ranks for each beta game, but do it before they fully release. This was done with Lucky Islands back in 2020, when the rank came out about a week before the game was fully released. The only issue with this system is what if you release a rank, but the game ends up being scrapped. The solution to this is also simple, release the rank about a month after the game enters Beta. That way you can gauge how popular a game is before it's monetised.
But what’s even more important is the price, it’s currently 660 Minecoins for 1 month. Which is €4, or $4, or £3.50, I’m not sure about how much it is in pounds. That’s €48 a year, which is the price of 5 lifetime ranks. That’s absurdly expensive, especially since the rank only offers Map Voting and Gamemode Voting. Whereas each one of those 5 lifetime ranks would give you tons of cosmetics.
It's no secret that Cubecraft isn't turning as big of a profit as it used to. We know this because of the layoffs at the start of Q1, but this isn't the way to solve it. The average age of a Cubecraft player is about 10 or so, no 10 year-old can afford a €48 yearly subscription for beta modes in a Minecraft server. The price is way too high and barely anyone wants to buy the subscription rank, that's why it's very rare to see the other modes in Pillars of Fortune.
There's 2 solutions to this problem, the first is simply dropping the price to €1 per month, which is €12 per year. That's still more expensive than a lifetime rank, but it's manageable. along with this I also think some cosmetics should be added, maybe just some prefixes and a few cages, nothing fancy.
The next solution is far more radical, but it has been done before. Release desperate ranks for each beta game, but do it before they fully release. This was done with Lucky Islands back in 2020, when the rank came out about a week before the game was fully released. The only issue with this system is what if you release a rank, but the game ends up being scrapped. The solution to this is also simple, release the rank about a month after the game enters Beta. That way you can gauge how popular a game is before it's monetised.
Pillars of Fortune has the least to talk about, mostly because of how simple the game is. My main concern about the game is that it can't really be updated. It's hard to create new content in Pillars because of how simple the premise is. You can create new maps sure, but apart from that the only updates it can get are new items with every Minecraft update, or adding custom items.
But generally, the game is fine as it is. All it needs is some small bug fixes and minor changes, but apart from that it's perfect. Also Rising Lava is really janky on Short, the lava reaches you in about 10 seconds.
But generally, the game is fine as it is. All it needs is some small bug fixes and minor changes, but apart from that it's perfect. Also Rising Lava is really janky on Short, the lava reaches you in about 10 seconds.
I don't know how I feel about Bedwars, the game itself is fine, it's just very similar to Eggwars. I've said this before, but after the hype dies down, Bedwars is either going to kill Eggwars, or be killed by Eggwars. I honestly think it's a bit of a pointless game, I'd love to be proven wrong about this, but I am pessimistic about the game.
I do have to applaud the team on how well they've taken feedback regarding Bedwars. People complained that Blastballs were op, so they needed them. I said that the generators were to slow, so they buffed them. Changes are being made quite quickly, which is great to see. Though I do think that Blastballs have been overnerfed, they did need a nerd, but the need they got was a bit too harsh.
The last point I have about Bedwars is about The Hive. It's no secret that Hive has been planning to revamp Treasure Wars into Bedwars for a long time and it's taken them over a year to do it. With the release only a few days away. It's no coincidence that Cubecraft released Bedwars only a few days before The Hive; so that Cubecraft could steal the spotlight! I find this a bit petty, but Cubecraft are well within their rights to make Bedwars. Since the game has been around since at least 2012 and it's unknown who first invented it. It's even more of a blow to The Hive seeing as it took Cubecraft around 2.5 months to make Bedwars, whereas The Hive took almost a full year.
I do have to applaud the team on how well they've taken feedback regarding Bedwars. People complained that Blastballs were op, so they needed them. I said that the generators were to slow, so they buffed them. Changes are being made quite quickly, which is great to see. Though I do think that Blastballs have been overnerfed, they did need a nerd, but the need they got was a bit too harsh.
The last point I have about Bedwars is about The Hive. It's no secret that Hive has been planning to revamp Treasure Wars into Bedwars for a long time and it's taken them over a year to do it. With the release only a few days away. It's no coincidence that Cubecraft released Bedwars only a few days before The Hive; so that Cubecraft could steal the spotlight! I find this a bit petty, but Cubecraft are well within their rights to make Bedwars. Since the game has been around since at least 2012 and it's unknown who first invented it. It's even more of a blow to The Hive seeing as it took Cubecraft around 2.5 months to make Bedwars, whereas The Hive took almost a full year.
There is currently 1 new game left to be added. This is similar to what happened in 2020, where 3 games were added to Beta in quick succession and then released over the next 6 months (except Line Dash). As for what the next game will be, there are a few theories. This part is purely speculation, I have no concrete proof for any of this. The first Beta Game was Pillars of Fortune, which is a brand new game. The second game was Bedwars, which is a famous game. Which leaves the 3rd game, which I think will be a returning game. There are many candidates for returning games that have existed on Java before. Such as Tower Defense, Among Slimes, Wing Rush, Layer Spleef, Slime Survival, Archer Assault, Paintball, Battle Zone, Barn Brawl, Bingo, Assassination, Money Walls and UHC.
This isn't even a complete list, but it's a long enough list. Out of this there are only a few games which might return, those being Tower Defense, Among Slimes, Wing Rush, Bingo and UHC. Tower defense has a thriving community on Java right until it was removed, though it may be to complex for most Bedrock players. Among Slimes is Among Us in Minecraft, which would be very popular on Bedrock, though it would be very difficult for controller players to type in chat. Also moderation would be a nightmare for it. Wing Rush is based off of Glide, which was extremely popular on Legacy Console, so it would probably get a good few players on Bedrock. People always ask for Bingo to return, half seriously, half as a joke. But it would be quite fun to play on Bedrock, especially with all the new content that's been added to Minecraft over the last decade. Yes 1.9 was almost 10 years ago now. As for UHC, it would never see massive player counts, but it would have a very dedicated (and sweaty) community if it were to be added. It's also highly requested to return
Personally I hope either Bingo or Tower Defense is the 3rd game, but whatever it is it's coming out soon. So the game has already been decided and we just have to sit and wait for its release.
This isn't even a complete list, but it's a long enough list. Out of this there are only a few games which might return, those being Tower Defense, Among Slimes, Wing Rush, Bingo and UHC. Tower defense has a thriving community on Java right until it was removed, though it may be to complex for most Bedrock players. Among Slimes is Among Us in Minecraft, which would be very popular on Bedrock, though it would be very difficult for controller players to type in chat. Also moderation would be a nightmare for it. Wing Rush is based off of Glide, which was extremely popular on Legacy Console, so it would probably get a good few players on Bedrock. People always ask for Bingo to return, half seriously, half as a joke. But it would be quite fun to play on Bedrock, especially with all the new content that's been added to Minecraft over the last decade. Yes 1.9 was almost 10 years ago now. As for UHC, it would never see massive player counts, but it would have a very dedicated (and sweaty) community if it were to be added. It's also highly requested to return
Personally I hope either Bingo or Tower Defense is the 3rd game, but whatever it is it's coming out soon. So the game has already been decided and we just have to sit and wait for its release.
TLDR;
The Subscription is too expensive, Pillars is perfect, Bedwars will compete with Eggwars and was made to steal the spotlight from The Hive.
Outro
Anyway, those are my thoughts of the new Beta Games and how they're being handled. They're mostly great, but there are some serious flaws with how Cubecraft is handling their monetisation. That's all folks!
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