You'd think a discount sale would make players happy, right? Moonlight Night's dev team proved otherwise — they managed to anger literally every camp simultaneously. This is what happens when you run a sale, then cancel it as an 'apology,' achieving a spectacular double-kill against both existing buyers AND bargain hunters.
For those unfamiliar, Moonlight Night (月圆之夜) used to be known as a single-player roguelike deck-builder. But last year, the devs launched a PvP auto-battler mode inspired by Hearthstone Battlegrounds, complete with an aggressive monetization rollout: piece skins, hero skins, new game boards, avatar frames, and a battle pass. Individual skins run about 15 RMB (~$2) each, with the battle pass around 30 RMB, but the sheer volume is staggering — practically every game piece got its own skin. The single-player side also has paid DLC, which started at 6 RMB per character and later jumped to 18 RMB.
With that context set, here's where it gets spicy. A few days ago, the official account announced a flash sale — they'd be selling virtual cosmetics through a livestream on Douyin (China's TikTok equivalent).
So far so good — discounts on cosmetics are generally welcomed. But then came the twist: the devs posted an official apology notice, announcing they would CANCEL discounts on certain items.
The apology claimed that 'discounting recently released items created a bad experience for players who already purchased at full price.' The OP immediately pointed out the absurdity: if you think existing buyers got a bad deal, why not just compensate them? Or better yet, just stay silent and let it blow over? Instead, they chose the one option that screws everyone — pulling the discounts entirely.
The comment section erupted. One player noted that the S2 season is almost over, these skins have been sitting in the store for over a month, and anyone who wanted them already bought them. Canceling discounts at this point accomplishes nothing. Others pointed out that hawking in-game cosmetics via a Douyin livestream is already cringe enough without this follow-up.
A dedicated fan (reply #7) who genuinely enjoys the game lamented that Moonlight Night's mechanics — equipment, attachments, transformations, spells, and front/back row positioning — actually make it more interesting than Hearthstone Battlegrounds, with constantly evolving strategies. 'I don't need this game to be a massive hit,' they wrote, 'I just want it to run smoothly and stop pulling these stunts.' Unfortunately, the ops team seems determined to keep self-sabotaging.
Players also dug up other monetization red flags: a board skin selling for dozens of yuan, and the Necromancer piece where purchasing a skin only changes the main unit — the smaller minions summoned by its Deathrattle effect still use the default skin. The upcoming 'Little Hero' feature and deluxe battle pass also got flak, with players comparing it unfavorably to TFT's Little Legends and calling Moonlight Night's versions completely unappealing.
The thread also unearthed the game's rocky history: the devs once posted that they were 'too broke to keep going' and raised the base game's price, then the lead dev ('Little Carpenter') announced they'd stop updating Moonlight Night to work on a new project — only to come crawling back to milk the existing game further. One commenter even alleged the game was plagiarized from Dream Quest, an indie roguelike deck-builder, and questioned the team's ability to create original content.
The community response was overwhelmingly sarcastic. The top comment is simply 'Wow, what legendary wisdom' — dripping with irony. Others followed with 'This is earth-shattering genius right here.' Some compared the situation to Azur Lane's infamous skin discount controversy, while others blamed so-called 'fairness warriors' — a term for players who complain when others get better deals — and cited how similar groups have ruined monetization in FGO and Azur Lane.
Speculation about the devs' motives ran wild too. The apology letter literally mentioned 'gaining more exposure' as part of their reasoning, leading some to suspect this was a panicked KPI-driven decision. Whatever the cause, the result is a perfect disaster: players who waited for discounts got nothing, and players who paid full price got no compensation either. A flawless victory in achieving a lose-lose-lose scenario.
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