Deep Dive Drama: Reverse: 1999's Surprise Banner Drop Leaves Early Players Feeling 'Backstabbed'

Reverse: 1999 officially launched on May 31. Beforehand, the developers released a schedule for the first month’s banners, including beginner and rotation-based rate-up banners. Players had planned their resources around this clear, limited roadmap.

However, on June 9, the studio dropped a surprise announcement for a new set of characters and a banner, scheduled for release on June 15. The lack of prior notice left the player base blindsided, triggering significant community backlash.

According to community discussions, because the launch rate-up characters were perceived as weak and the game demands high power levels for endgame content (Artificial Somnambulism/Abyss), many players spent their currency on the permanent banner to pull stronger DPS characters. The surprise drop of a powerful, semi-limited banner made these players feel they had been 'backstabbed' by the developers.