It's pretty basic for an in-game economy, but once you're invested, it never feels like a waste to spend money on. Perhaps that's a point in the game's favour - you never feel you need to spend money, but when you do, it actually adds to your experience and improves your progress. And it's not hard to reach that point without spending money. I found value in it because I'm a truly invested player, now regularly partaking in its post-game content. This isn't exactly whale money, but it's no small investment in a lightweight, casual game like this, and I fully intend to spend again further down the line.ĭoes that mean Pokemon Cafe Mix has good or bad monetisation? It's hard to tell. I have, at time of writing, made three purchases of Acorn bundles in Pokemon Cafe Mix, totalling over £20. Pokemon Cafe Mix's currency packs are predictably priced, but do offer value to invested playersĪnd yet, I have a small confession to make. Sometimes you'll lose a "friendship bonus" for failing a level, but this bonus won't be desirable to every player. Fail a level? That's fine - just wait until your hearts recharge and try again. As I've stated in a different article, with a little bit of luck and skill, you can clear every single level available without spending a cent. That said, if you're not so invested, there's little incentive to pay. Pokemon Cafe Mix isn't so hard that you'll find yourself stuck all that often, but this means that when you do get into a tricky puzzle, you've built up a momentum getting to that point, and losing that momentum can really sting. Sweets Pikachu is largely useless in the grand scheme of things, but he is absolutely adorable, and he's a permanent mark on your collection if you don't buy him.īut is this actually valuable to the player? Sort of. New players can also pick up the "Special Pikachu" pack, which unlocks a unique Sweets Pikachu character along with a bundle of items. New, time-limited packs are slowly being introduced as well, offering slightly more Acorns and power-ups than the existing offerings. There's also some unique packs, with one offering party vouchers for free Cafe Invite refreshes and another offering 900 Acorns every day for 30 days. These start at £0.99/$0.99 for 1,200 Acorns and go up to £49.99/$49.99 for 70,000 Acorns, plus a heap of in-game power-ups to help you with trickier levels. Naturally, you can turn to the shop to buy Golden Acorns should you ever need them. You can earn these Golden Acorns in game - each completed level grants you 50 Acorns, multiplied by the star rating of the level, plus an extra five Acorns per unused move.īut you'll need 900 Golden Acorns to buy extra moves or refresh a life, meaning you'll need to complete at least 18 levels before you can afford to use them for something more meaningful than a Cafe Invite refresh. You can also restore lives with your Acorns, or refresh the randomised "Cafe Invites", which give you the chance to earn stars for specific Pokemon that you're trying to acquire for your team. Should you run out of moves, you can use Acorns to give yourself another three moves, with the cost of this growing as you continue to fail the level. There's only one currency in the game - Golden Acorns - and this has a very limited number of uses. So, predictably, the monetisation on offer is fairly straightforward as well. Linking things together feels a lot like LINE's Disney Tsum Tsum, albeit with the ability to move your icons around the screen, and the objective-based gameplay is common in just about every matching game there is. It's all pretty standard mobile puzzler fare. Instead, your screen fills up with little Pokemon heads, and you need to swirl your finger around to stick them all together.Įach level comes with various objectives, like destroying a certain number of objects, reaching a certain number of points, or creating a certain number of high-value links. Unlike most cafe or cooking-themed games, Cafe Mix doesn't involve any culinary action. Get enough and they'll join your staff, offering up different power-ups to use when making food and drinks. It's your job to create dishes and serve them to hungry Pokemon, which in turn earns you stars with each of the critters. Pokemon Cafe Mix sees you taking ownership of a small cafe which caters exclusively to the many creatures found in the Pokemon universe. This time we're looking at The Pokemon Company's colourful, light-hearted puzzle game Pokemon Cafe Mix. In each instalment, we consider how well a developer has designed its in-app purchase retailing to work alongside the overall gameplay and metagame experience. Welcome to The In-App Purchase Inspector – our regular look at free-to-play mobile game monetisation from the consumer's perspective. This article is part of our Monetisation Month 2020, brought to you in partnership with AudioMob.
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