In a mobile gaming world with titans the likes ofPokemon GOandGenshin Impact,Cookie Run: Kingdomhas released early this year as the newest sensation from the popularCookie Runfranchise by Devsisters. After the success ofCookie Run: OvenBreak, it’s only natural thatKingdomhas followed in its footsteps and has become a hit, growing in popularity over the last few months. One of the things that bolstered its popularity was a collaboration event featuringSonic the Hedgehog.
TheSonicevent was fairly simple; it featured an event stage and daily gifts that handed out rings, used to roll in a special “item box” gacha that would either giveSoul Stonesor the Chaos Emeralds, used to eventually obtain the event-exclusive Sonic and Tails Cookies for players to put on their teams. While this seems great in theory, the way the event was scaled hurt the idea in practice.
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Mobile Games Should Be Welcoming To New Players
Cookie Run: Kingdomuses a Power Tip levelon stages to act as a hint of how strong players need to be to beat the level. For reference, the final boss of the game’s second world has a Power Tip of 13,014, and can be beaten by starting players easily. The first stage of Sonic’s Green Hill Zone was over a hundred thousand from the get-go. The event also had its own energy in order to play, with Sonic’s Speed Shoes restoring one automatically every half-hour. With the default cap of sixty Speed Shoes, that meant players needed to wait 30 hours to be at full energy - at least ten hours for the twenty Speed Shoes required to play the beginning levels of the event stage.
Cookie Run: Kingdom’s Update Came Too Late
With how many fans disliked the event hurting the new players it was meant to invite,Cookie Run: Kingdomissued an updatelowering the Power Tip and overall difficulty, but this update was issued with only 15 days left in an event requiring players to wait more than a day to play. Devsisters gave out several compensation items, such as rings and Speed Shoes, and even increased the sixty event energy cap to ninety, but the wait was still roughly ten hours to let fans have enough energy.
The damage had already been done, and many fans who joined to get theSonic and TailsCookies already deleted the app off their devices and moved on. Since this issue was known when the event began, if the fix had come faster there’s no telling how much player numbers would have changed. While the event may not have slowedCookie Run: Kingdom’spopularity, being more friendly to new players could have kept some around who were eager to play.
For a game that only recently came out, the poor handling oftheSoniceventwas a bad first impression. As much asCookie Run: Kingdomhas a loyal playerbase, newcomers may only associate the game with tricky events made to bolster download counts, rather than keeping frequent players. Not to mention, alongside theSonicevent were plenty of microtransaction packages made to make the event easier for real currency, which appeared “pay to win” rather than eager to invite new players.
Even though theSonicevent was frustrating for new players, the game is filled with fun content. It has two dedicatedCookie arena modes, several challenging side-story modes, and player-friendly gacha rates. Devsisters also rewards frequent players with constant in-game presents that encourage them coming back for more throughout the day. TheSonic the Hedgehogevent shouldn’t be looked upon as a failure, but as a learning experience to makeCookie Run: Kingdommore welcoming for the next event. After all, it has plenty to offer for those that are willing to give the game a second chance.
Cookie Run: Kingdomis available now for Android and iOS devices.
