The gacha community has been shaken by recent drama surrounding Black Beacon, the new game from Ex Kuro Games developer —the same developers behind Punishing: Gray Raven and Wuthering Waves. Despite the hype and anticipation, the game’s early days have already been marred by controversy, especially with its global player base.
Shortly after launch, players encountered bugs and server issues. That part was expected, as most new games go through a rocky start. But the situation escalated due to how the developers handled compensation. Players from the Chinese server received a generous five-star character selector along with free pulls. Meanwhile, global players only got the free pulls. This unequal treatment didn’t sit well with many, who felt ignored and sidelined.
Reddit and Other Forums Wants to Boycott Black Beacon!
The backlash was immediate. Reddit and other forums lit up with criticism, boycotts, and accusations of favoritism. Many fans started review bombing the app on the Play Store, and for good reason. While review bombing can sometimes seem harsh, players argued that this was the only way to make their voices heard after being treated like second-class citizens.
Adding fuel to the fire, Black Beacon limited emulator support to the official Google Play Games app. Popular emulators like BlueStacks and MuMu were suddenly blocked. Although switching emulators might not be a big deal to some, it raised concerns about freedom of choice. On top of that, Chinese players seemed to still have access to all their preferred emulators, making global users feel even more excluded.
What really hurt was the timing of events. The global version actually launched before the Chinese one. Yet, it was the Chinese server that got a special in-game event first. Some hoped it was just a timezone issue, but for many, it felt like the last straw. Some creators even considered quitting their content efforts altogether.
Eventually, The Ex Kuro Games developer responded by extending the same compensation to global players. But by then, the damage was already done. Many questioned why such a decision wasn’t made from the start. The delay suggested that the devs only acted once they saw the backlash, not out of genuine fairness.
This situation points to a bigger issue—global communication. Some fans suggested that maybe the devs couldn’t keep track of what global players were saying due to platform differences between China and the rest of the world. But that theory fell apart when a Black Beacon mod posted fluent English replies on Reddit, proving they were fully aware.
It’s sad to see a game with so much potential stumble this hard, especially so early in its life. Whether the team can regain the trust of the community remains to be seen. For now, many players are stepping back, watching from a distance, or quitting altogether. There’s still a chance to fix things—but that window is closing fast.