The mobile MMORPG Bless Global received a PC version on March 1, 2023, and appeared on Steam. However, just a few days later, it was no longer listed. What’s going on?
Bless Global is one of many MMORPGs in the Bless series. New games keep coming out, only to fail miserably. The community reacted with amusement to the release.
This time, the game made a big blunder right during one of its relaunches.
Developers attempt to bribe players, Steam reacts
In order to receive positive reviews on Steam, the developers attempted to bribe players. They wrote a message in Discord and announced a giveaway: Those who positively review the MMORPG on Steam and post a screenshot will enter the prize draw.
Prizes included BLEC, which stands for Bless Global Credit – the game’s cryptocurrency that can be exchanged for real money. NFTs and in-game items as prizes were also meant to encourage players to leave positive reviews.
In a tweet, someone publicly shared a screenshot of the Discord message:
Here’s how Steam reacted: Rewarding players for reviews is prohibited on Steam. Therefore, Steam removed Bless Global from the list when the incident became known. The MMORPG can no longer be found on Steam when searched for and is absent from any listing.
However, the game is not completely gone from Steam. Those who search for it on Google or have the direct link can still access the Steam page and launch Bless Global from there. All reviews, however, have been deleted.
Here you can see the trailer for Bless Global:
Play2Earn only in the mobile version
Those who play the MMORPG on mobile can earn cryptocurrencies and thus real money. However, this is not allowed on Steam. Prohibited are “applications that are based on blockchain technology, that facilitate or allow an exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs,” as stated in the developer guidelines.
Bless Global circumvents this guideline by advertising for cryptocurrencies but not directly offering them in the Steam version. Players who want to use the currency are redirected to the mobile version. There are Play2Earn mechanics there (via MMORPG).
What do you think of Bless Global’s bribery attempt? Have you played any of the Bless MMORPGs or are you actively involved? Do you think it’s right for the game to remain on Steam anyway? What do you think of cryptocurrencies in MMORPGs in general? Feel free to write it in the comments here on MeinMMO!
A new MMORPG without cryptocurrency is set to be released in 2024:
New MMORPG on Steam has been in development for 6 years – Finally reveals details about gameplay
