u/suncyan_sara

Dear Players,

We will be performing scheduled server maintenance.

 

Please check the details below for more information.

 

📅 Maintenance Schedule

2026. 8. 20. (Thu) 11:00~12:00 (KST)

※ The maintenance period may be extended depending on the situation.

 

📝 Maintenance Details

Application of the 7.6.130 Update

https://www.reddit.com/r/thespikegame/s/rA3T5L2Qvj

 

🚨Please Note

• The game will be temporarily unavailable during maintenance time.
• If maintenance begins while you are in the game, the game may be forcibly closed.
• Please make sure to safely exit the game before the maintenance starts.

 

Thank you for your continued support.

If you experience any issues after the update, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@suncyan.com.

 

See you in the game!

Dear Players,
We would like to inform you of the major changes included in the update.

 

🆕 WHAT’S NEW

1. Presets have been revamped.

https://preview.redd.it/g2yi1h7bbakh1.png?width=2622&format=png&auto=webp&s=ea68423f6b57a6b465cc34747f7f45d6e31ba481

https://preview.redd.it/capneg7bbakh1.png?width=2622&format=png&auto=webp&s=26d46638364961980f2669744475b395b11fa4f5

• A Preset Management screen has been added.
• You can now set names for your presets.
• The maximum number of presets unlocked based on your tier has been increased.
• Presets have been added to the Master 1, Master 3 and World 3 tier rewards.
  • Master 1: +1 Preset
  • Master 3: +1 Preset
  • World 3: +1 Preset

※ If you have already claimed the rewards for these tiers, the presets will be granted automatically.

🪄 IMPROVEMENTS

1. Event Match Improvements

- A new interface now displays your real-time Coconut Point total in Faction Battle team matches and Dave's Hell Training.

- Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause the game to close unexpectedly when switching between UIs on the Event Match Preparation screen.

- Fixed an issue where the title at the top of the Event Match Preparation screen overlapped with the currency display.

2. Timeout Screen Improvements

- Added a feature that allows you to immediately apply owned Synergy from the Synergy Tab.

- When both teams have the same player combination in Practice Match, the combination will now be highlighted in a different color in the Player Synergy tab.

3. Sound Settings Improvements

- Added an option to adjust the overall volume.

- Sound Settings options have been reorganized into more detailed categories.

4. Practice Match Balance Mode Update

- WS Sara's Gust will no longer trigger slow motion when Balance Mode is enabled in Practice Matches.

- Increased the default Team Stamina in Practice Matches from 100 to 150.

- Added Balance Mode 1.0.3.

5. Fixed awkward expressions in Story dialogue for certain languages.

6. Updated the Match End screen presentation.

7. Added Match Focus Mode to the Colosseum, allowing you to skip Ability Card animations during dialogue and at the start of a match.

8. Added a minimap that shows the positions of opposing players during Serves.

https://preview.redd.it/hgwkcx2ctakh1.png?width=2556&format=png&auto=webp&s=ecbe3b1ddd9434622fb205c23f6de0000e92ea5a

9 Added ‘Dynamic Joystick’ option to the Button Layout on mobile devices.

10. Improved the visibility of the Login screen interface.

11. Serves that score due to an Out of Bounds call will now count as Service Aces.

12. The remaining number of Free Rerolls and Round Time Extension Tickets will now be displayed on various Nightmare Arena screens.

13. Added an option to apply or remove a skin directly from the Skin Preview pop-up. You can also view Signature Motions and other skin information.

14. Improved the Player Collection in the Guide to retain the previous scroll position when returning from a player's details screen.

🐞 BUG FIXES

1. Fixed an issue where watching Rewarded Ads could occasionally result in an error or prevent the reward from being granted properly.
2. Fixed an issue where some match-related buttons remained visible for a short time after the Match End screen appeared.
3. Fixed an issue where the camera could behave abnormally in certain situations involving an interaction between WS Sara's Typhoon and SE Sara's Critical Toss.
4. Fixed an issue where Ryuhyeon’s Azure Dragon visual effects would not display correctly when his Trait was fully charged and interacted with SE Sara's Critical Toss while she was wearing the Water Splash skin.
5. Fixed an issue where the jump effect of the ‘Sky High Spike’ round skill did not apply to Yongsup in the Faction Battle Event.
6. Fixed an issue where Wing Spikers were not discouraged when returning Zero's Spotlight Toss with a Slide or Block.
7. Fixed an issue where Sliding while Blocking could trigger a Receive judgment in matches using the Counter Receive rules.
8. Fixed an issue where Condition rates were not displayed correctly for players who cannot trigger certain Conditions.
9. Improved an issue where gamepads were not immediately recognized again after logging out with a gamepad.
10. Automatic Mode Sliding Improvements

• Fixed an issue where players would occasionally slide in place without moving while using Automatic Mode.
• Fixed an issue where consecutive Slides with a Middle Blocker in Automatic Mode could prevent you from controlling the player until the next rally began.

📆 Update Schedule
The 7.6.130 update is scheduled to be applied across all platforms on Aug 20, 2026 (Thu).

🚨 Please Note

• The update schedule may change depending on the store review process.
• Depending on the store environment, the update may be available at different times for some users.

 

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
We'll continue doing our best to provide a more stable and enjoyable gaming experience.

Thank you!

📢 Second Half of 2026 Update Goals (1)

6. Beginner Player Recruitment & Additional Starter Players

Recently, we added additional Players who are provided for free during the early stages of Story Mode so that new players can adapt to the game more quickly and comfortably.

(Jihoon, Saya)

While these Players do not have the same level of performance as S-grade or higher Players, we designed them to be useful enough for challenging content while also being relatively inexpensive to develop.

We also plan to introduce a Beginner-Only Player Recruitment option with a lower Scout requirement, allowing new players to obtain a useful S-grade Player early in their journey and establish themselves more comfortably in the game.

This recruitment will be provided through the early Story progression.

Players who have already completed the relevant Story stages will also receive access to it.

7. Replay Feature

https://reddit.com/link/1vg0hrz/video/kuwkbgg0dihh1/player

Thanks to the introduction of variable frame rates and the stabilization of our physics system, we are finally able to move forward with the Replay feature that we have been preparing for a long time.

However, automatically playing a Replay after every rally could interrupt the flow of a match. Therefore, we plan to allow players to freely enable or disable the feature through individual settings and Friendly Matches.

We also plan to strengthen our ability to detect and take action against the use of unauthorized client modifications by utilizing the gameplay data accumulated for the Replay system. Although this may look like a simple feature on the surface, it has required a significant amount of time and effort internally.

The ability to reproduce the exact movements of a game means that we now have the foundation to record and restore match data.

Once this data can also be transmitted through the server and the progress of multiple players can be synchronized, this can eventually lead to the implementation of multiplayer. For this reason, the Replay feature is more than just a convenience feature. It is also an important technical step toward our long-term development goals.

We would love to introduce it as soon as possible, but the feature is not yet at a sufficient level of completion and there are still several bugs that need to be resolved.

We will continue working on stabilization and testing so that we can release the Replay feature within the second half of the year.

8. Detailed Spike Log & Stronger Anti-Cheat Measures

https://preview.redd.it/th16olc2dihh1.png?width=1408&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a007d242f42eb0bd6d15c722375a1076c9bb39d

Just as we previously added more detailed explanations for Traits, we are also strengthening our logging system so that we can internally record and analyze exactly which effects and values are applied to a Spike and how the final result is calculated.

Based on this data, we plan to build more sophisticated verification logic for Spike speed, allowing us to more accurately detect and respond to client modifications and abnormal gameplay.

In the long term, we also want to provide players with a way to directly see which factors were applied to their Spike and how those factors resulted in its final speed and power.

9. Additional Growth System + Endgame Content

https://preview.redd.it/g4orh843dihh1.png?width=1903&format=png&auto=webp&s=26254d695324fd5edff5c7e37c863766c756e2e1

We are currently designing and developing new growth systems that will allow players to further develop S-grade Players and customize their performance according to their preferred playstyle.

For example, with Nishikawa, players could choose to lower the activation requirement of Thunder Spike while reducing its power, or increase the activation requirement in exchange for greater power.

Similarly, for Players such as Atis, whose recovery from a slide is relatively slow, players could improve recovery speed or sliding protection.

We are considering a Skill Tree-style system that would allow players to choose which strengths or weaknesses of each Player they want to adjust.

Through this, we want to create a deeper development experience that goes beyond repeatedly obtaining Credits and EXP, combining farming with meaningful choices in Player growth.

We are also preparing new matches and content through which players can obtain these growth elements, as well as new challenges designed for Players who have been developed and strengthened through these systems.

However, please note that the images shown here were created using AI for illustrative purposes, and we are still discussing the specific system and values internally.

Therefore, the system shown here should not be considered finalized at this stage.

10. More Preset Slots & Quality-of-Life Improvements

One of the reasons we have not significantly increased the number of Preset Slots so far is that the existing Preset management UI has not been convenient enough.

Under those circumstances, we felt that simply increasing the number of slots without improving the management experience would not be the right approach.

We are currently developing a dedicated Preset management screen that will allow players to manage multiple Presets more conveniently.

We also plan to automatically load the last Preset used for each type of content, reducing the inconvenience of having to change Presets every time you enter different content.

We also want to add a feature that allows players to assign names to their Presets, so they no longer have to distinguish them solely by numbers.

The default number of Preset Slots will be increased from 2 to 3, with additional slots unlockable up to a maximum of 8 upon reaching higher tiers.

We are prioritizing a quick implementation of these Preset improvements and plan to introduce them before the next major large-scale update.

11. New Leagues

We are also planning and developing new stages beyond League 14.

In some Leagues, we plan to provide new types of rewards such as Titles and Profile Items in addition to the existing currency rewards.

Rather than simply offering higher difficulty, we want these stages to provide players with a way to showcase their achievements and experience new goals worth pursuing.

12. Gift Boxes

We are preparing a system where Gift Boxes can appear at a certain probability in various types of content, such as Tournaments, Nightmare Arena, and Volleyball Coliseum, similar to Snow Raid.

There will be a weekly limit on the number of Gift Boxes that can be obtained.

The boxes will have a low chance of containing development resources, Social Items, and customization items.

Through this system, we want to give players an unexpected additional reward to look forward to whenever they win in repeatable content, while adding more excitement to collection and reward acquisition.

13. Season 3 Story

We are currently planning and developing a new story and new Players for Season 3.

We also plan to gradually work on remaking the early Chapters and revising existing Story scripts.

However, considering that the official Story has not continued for a significant period of time since the conclusion of Season 2, our first priority will be to properly move forward with the next canonical storyline.

We are also preparing our new Players in a variety of directions so that they can bring unique personalities and fresh abilities that feel distinct from existing Players.

We hope you will look forward to the new story and Players that will be introduced in Season 3.

14. Improved Sound Quality

Internally, we recognize the importance of SFX in the overall game experience.

We plan to actively exchange feedback with the sound production company we are currently working with, while also expanding our collaboration with additional studios and partners.

Through these efforts, we will put more focus into improving the quality of our sound effects and preparing a richer overall audio experience.

Closing

That covers some of the major update directions we are aiming for during the second half of the year.

There are also many other projects currently being prepared internally beyond what we have introduced in this post. For the second half of the year, rather than presenting a roadmap in the same format as the first half, we wanted to focus on sharing the direction we are aiming for and the work currently in progress.

We fully understand how important it is to provide a clear roadmap with specific schedules so that you can understand our plans and have confidence in our development. However, during the first half of the year, there were times when we focused too heavily on meeting predetermined schedules and did not give enough attention to QA and communication.

We also recognize that there are still many areas where our development and operations processes need to improve. Providing events and updates at a frequent pace is also an important part of operating The Spike Cross.

 

However, we believe that we should not repeatedly sacrifice quality, stability, and communication with our players simply to meet a schedule. For these reasons, we sincerely apologize that we are unable to provide a roadmap with fixed schedules for the second half of the year.

While we cannot promise exact release dates for everything at this time, we will do our best to steadily accomplish the goals we have shared throughout the second half of the year. Going forward, we will also continue strengthening our internal development processes, QA, and communication so that we can become a development team that earns even more trust from our players.

 

Thank you, as always, for your continued support, patience, and love for The Spike Cross.

This post is from CEO of SUNCYAN Oh Jun Kwon

Hello, everyone.

 

In this post, we would like to share some of the things we are currently preparing for the second half of 2026! Just as we have been working hard throughout the first half of the year, we plan to keep moving forward without slowing down in the second half.

 

We hope to show you an even more polished and diverse The Spike Cross throughout the rest of the year!

🚨 Please note that the videos and images included in this post are from works in progress and are not final versions.

🚨They may be changed before the actual updates are released, so please keep in mind that some of the features shown are still unfinished.

🚨Also, the numbers below do not indicate the order in which the updates will be released.

1. Spine Animation for Dialogue Illustrations

Dialogue Screen

https://reddit.com/link/1vg0gfh/video/6xd26spekihh1/player

We plan to apply animation to all dialogue illustrations so that they are no longer static and can feature smoother movement.

Applying animation to the illustrations of every character at this stage is not an easy task, especially as we are also continuing to remaster existing illustrations.

As a result, this work is taking longer than originally expected compared to the first half of the year.

Our goal is to complete and implement this feature within the second half of the year.

2. Sharing Developer Comments & Conducting Surveys After Major Updates

In the second half of the year, we plan to expand the ways in which we listen to your feedback and more actively share our development direction and comments based on that feedback.

1. We plan to conduct regular surveys for players in Korea, Japan, and English-speaking regions.
2. After each survey, we will share our responses to major feedback and provide updates on how we are addressing it.
3. We will also share developer comments and the design intentions behind major updates to strengthen communication with the community.
4. Smaller updates and minor improvements may be bundled together and addressed alongside major updates.

3. Expanding Social Features

https://preview.redd.it/dghywvjc5ihh1.png?width=1935&format=png&auto=webp&s=606e2c3fc81d112b9b7ce08defea8b787642b84b

The materials shown here were created using generative AI for illustrative purposes.

Building on the social features introduced toward the end of the first half of the year, we plan to further expand the ways players can connect with one another.

We are planning to allow players to exchange gifts with friends, as well as introduce content where you can load a friend's Player data and have your respective teams compete against each other through AI-controlled matches.

This will allow players to indirectly interact and enjoy the game together even before multiplayer is officially introduced, while giving us the opportunity to develop the game's social features in greater depth.

4. Improved Match Backgrounds & Enhanced UI Animation

3D Background Example 1

Depth Example

We plan to improve our visual presentation to overcome some of the limitations of a 2D development engine, allowing backgrounds and objects to convey a greater sense of depth and dimensionality similar to 3D.

Through this, we aim to further improve the sense of space during matches and the overall visual quality of the game.

As part of this work, we are also optimizing our overall visual effects.

Our goal is not only to improve the quality of graphical effects, but to do so in an optimized way that minimizes performance impact—or potentially improves performance where possible.

This will allow us to utilize a wider variety of sophisticated visual effects in both Story Mode and matches.

5. Introducing Korean Voice Acting First

Voice Acting Introduction Video 1

Example Video 2

We are currently actively working with voice actors and casting talent to bring the Players of The Spike Cross to life in a new way.

It will take more time before we can introduce voice acting across all languages and regions, but we expect to be able to introduce Korean voice acting within the second half of the year.

The system is still in an intermediate stage of development.

We are working to ensure that voices do not overlap unnecessarily and that the volume of other Players can be adjusted depending on the situation.

We also plan to add additional presentation features, such as displaying a smaller version of the Player's illustration when a long line of dialogue is being played.

Just as we previously added more detailed explanations for Traits, we are also strengthening our logging system so that we can internally record and analyze exactly which effects and values are applied to a Spike and how the final result is calculated.

Based on this data, we plan to build more sophisticated verification logic for Spike speed, allowing us to more accurately detect and respond to client modifications and abnormal gameplay.

In the long term, we also want to provide players with a way to directly see which factors were applied to their Spike and how those factors resulted in its final speed and power.

📢 Second Half of 2026 Update Goals (2)

📢 Looking Back at the First Half of 2026 (1)

We also organize opinions conducted in Q&A format at the Player Invitation Event site together.

​

1. Lack of content, repeated content, endgame content: what are you going to do about them?

Looking back, while last year we attempted various content of forms different from existing matches, such as Faction Warfare and Water Balloon Fight, this year it seems we failed to sufficiently showcase new play experiences. As large-scale system overhauls became major development tasks, finishing updates within fixed schedules was made the most important goal. In that process, we approached new challenges and experiments overly conservatively, leaving regret that we did not sufficiently ponder over giving distinct enjoyment to users. Accordingly, in this event, while utilizing match elements unique to The Spike, we added a new mini-game that can be enjoyed with a different sensation from before. Although presenting a mini-game of this scale in every short-term event will be realistically difficult, in future events as well, we want to steadily ponder ways to provide new experiences beyond simple repetitive play. Meanwhile, internal deliberations regarding the direction of endgame content are also continuing. Currently, in The Spike Cross, the value of growth currencies Credit and EXP has dropped significantly compared to before, and reaching a stage where most players are cultivated to maximum stats before starting has become natural. Since the achievement felt in the cultivation process even after acquiring a new player is not large, the long-term goal of the game has also become a structure focused on collecting new players rather than growing the players one possesses. In order to provide more diverse content in the long term, we believe appropriate rewards and purposes for growth must also be prepared together. An environment is needed where users can invest more time and resources into players and teams they cherish, and feel achievement from that process itself. However, currently, even if new content is added, the means to provide sufficiently attractive rewards are lacking. Simply adding harder stages makes it difficult to become meaningful endgame content. Unless the reason to challenge and suitable rewards are provided together as difficulty increases, it is difficult to sufficiently convey the important challenge and reward experience in the game, just as experienced in Nightmare Arena.

Accordingly, we are internally preparing additional cultivation elements, content where these can be acquired as rewards, and endgame content that can be challenged with sufficiently grown players. In addition, we are also developing new match rules that add new variations and play sensations to existing Counter Receives. We will prepare to present them as quickly as possible in line with the start of Season 3.

​

1. Will you allow users to feel the core fun even at low breakthrough states?

In order not to induce excessive payment burdens, our basic direction is to allow users to fully experience the core fun and individuality of players even at low breakthrough stages. However, we are also deeply concerned that if this direction is overly emphasized, users may not sufficiently feel changes or positive feedback according to growth even if they proceed with breakthrough. Therefore, while allowing users to fully enjoy the inherent fun of players even at low breakthroughs, we are pondering a direction to prepare elements together so that users holding high-breakthrough players can feel growth perception and satisfaction corresponding to it.

​

1. What are you going to do about event downtime?

In the second half of the year, even if the scale is small or part of the composition is repeated, we want to reduce downtime by conducting events that can be enjoyed lightly more frequently. In the first half of the year, there were not many types of pick-up players yet, and it was difficult to conduct reruns of S+ players in short cycles, so downtime frequently occurred between events. However, once the "2026 Second Half Pick-up Player and Skin Recruitment System Overhaul" is applied, room to provide event currency distribution or additional benefits widens, so we expect to be able to attempt more diverse forms of events. As the scale of the game grows and usable mini-games and pick-up players gradually increase, we want to show improved operation starting from Season 3. However, according to the schedule currently organized for the early part of the second half, it seems there may be some gaps between events until October. Immediate complete improvement may be difficult, but in the long term, we will prepare with the goal of steadily providing things to enjoy without downtime as much as possible.

​

1. What are the future release plans for PVP?

Rather than stating an exact release timeframe, we would like to first share the multiplayer development roadmap currently planned internally. The various large-scale overhaul tasks conducted in the first half of the year were major steps to prepare the foundation necessary for multiplayer development beyond simple system improvement. Although we have completed several preliminary tasks so far, processes like those above still remain until completion. Because unexpected technical variables or additional work may occur during the development process, it is difficult to confirm and state a specific release schedule at the present moment. Personally, my goal is to showcase a prototype within this year, but as there are still many remaining stages, it is difficult to guide this as a confirmed schedule either. However, I would like to say that we are proceeding step-by-step with necessary tasks toward the completion of multiplayer. We know very well that it is a content many users are waiting for, and we also have a strong desire to showcase it as quickly as possible. However, we want to prepare sufficiently so as not to miss completion quality and stability in the process of rushing. We would be truly grateful if you could watch over us with a little more time.

​

1. What are your plans regarding tier, ranking, and matching systems in PVP?

The multiplayer currently being prepared aims primarily to develop friendly matches that can be easily enjoyed together even in a mobile environment by connecting directly with friends. Therefore, at the initial release stage, we have no plans to introduce automatic matching, ranking, or tier systems together. In order to stably operate competitive PvP, not only matching and ranking, but also server environment, anti-cheat response, inter-player balance, and continuous operating systems must be prepared together. Accordingly, we are currently researching and testing related structures internally, reviewing methods suitable for The Spike Cross. First, we will focus on stably completing the friendly match feature. After the release of multiplayer, if we monitor game stability and user response and judge that it is technically and operationally feasible, we will also more actively ponder competitive PvP content including automatic matching and ranking. However, please understand that specific development plans or schedules are not at a confirmed stage yet.

​

1. How are you responding to hack users?

The spike speed record feature and replay feature prepared with the goal of the second half of the year will serve as a foundation to record and analyze various play data generated during matches in more detail beyond simple convenience features. Based on this, we intend to establish an environment where we can check tamper status of hack users through data recorded on the server and restrict corresponding play. Through this, we will continuously strive to establish a fairer and more stable game environment.

​

1. What do you think about opinions that Arena difficulty and systems are unreasonable?

Arena was thought from the planning stage to potentially have mixed opinions as it requires using multiple players at a challenging difficulty. Therefore, initially, we also considered a method where only wanting users purchase entry tickets to play, but we released it as current fixed content so that more users could experience new content. Arena is one of the attempts to provide a distinct, colorful play experience clearly distinguished from existing content. Personality-filled content of various types may be added in the future as well, and reactions to Arena will also be referenced in future content design. The overhaul update was also conducted in a direction to make Arena's identity clearer, while simultaneously preparing mechanisms to ease play burden, such as providing rental players and lowering the stats of low-difficulty opponent teams.

​

1. It seems difficult to utilize certain players in Arena; are there plans for improvement?

Because rules and environments differ per content, it is somewhat inevitable that the utilization value of players is not uniform. In future content as well, situations may arise where some players cannot fully exert their strengths. However, this does not mean that we intend to purposefully create restrictions on player utilization to cause unpleasantness. In the case of Nightmare Arena, rather than sacrificing the content's identity, improvement was conducted in a direction to ease the frustration felt during team building by adjusting scores of some matches. Moving forward, we will continuously monitor so that such unique characteristics of content do not excessively harm play diversity.

​

1. Are there no plans to add tournament tiers or league tiers?

We plan to add both tournaments and leagues. The next tier of tournament is intended to be crafted not by simply raising opponent team stats, but by having more diverse teams appear and allowing each team to utilize different strategies. As necessary systems and content must be prepared together for this, it seems more time will be needed until showcasing it. For leagues, we plan to add new leagues in a relatively short period. As league rewards are high, we are also considering that if added in excessively fast cycles, the game's internal currency supply could increase significantly. However, this is not the main reason league addition speed is slow. We hope new leagues become content that provides experiences different from before through new players, backgrounds, and new match methods, rather than repetitive content with merely increased difficulty and rewards. Therefore, we commence full production when sufficient new elements and match ideas are prepared. Due to this direction, it will be difficult for leagues to be added in fast cycles in the future as well, but we will prepare so that clear individuality and the fun of new challenges can be felt in every newly introduced league.

​

1. How will you resolve the gap between old players and new players?

The occurrence of a certain level of performance inflation as performance of newly released players gradually becomes higher than existing players is a part that is completely difficult to avoid due to the nature of live-service games that must continuously provide new experiences. In addition, as new players and content must be steadily showcased within limited development headcount and schedules, there are realistic difficulties in continuously checking and improving all existing players. However, we believe a situation where a cherished player becomes difficult to utilize for performance reasons, or where the value of existing players is severely damaged due to excessively fast inflation, is not desirable. Accordingly, aligned with timing when existing players draw attention again—such as skin reruns or major pick-up recruitments—we are continuously reviewing work to overhaul traits or supplement performance of players whose charm has lowered significantly. However, this is not an intention to pull specific players up to match the peak performance of other players, but places focus on preparing an environment where existing players loved for a long time can also be utilized again.

​

1. High breakthrough has a large impact on PvP; how do you plan to respond?

Designing high-breakthrough stage players to exert corresponding strengths in PvP as well was an intended matter. This is because we judged that growth and performance differences must be sufficiently perceived as much as invested in breakthrough. However, as Remote Play is currently utilized mainly for friendly matches between users, we also fully understand the opinions of those who wish to compete in skills under conditions as equal as possible regardless of holding players' growth levels. Accordingly, in future balance modes, separate from the method where existing breakthrough effects are applied, we are reviewing a direction to provide a selectable option to proceed with matches by adjusting both sides' players' breakthrough effects to similar levels. Those who wish to battle with players' inherent performance including breakthrough can play in the existing way, and those who wish to compete in skills under fairer conditions can select the correction feature. Through this, we intend to establish an environment where each can enjoy PvP in their desired way while maintaining holding players' growth value and users' right of choice.

​

1. How will you solve the preset shortage problem?

As new players are continuously added, work to expand preset slots is currently underway, and we wish to apply it as quickly as possible. Rather than simply increasing slots, we are preparing overall feature and convenience improvement work for presets. This will be described in detail during the second half update plan.

​

1. How are you conducting internal QA? What will be your bug measures?

After the April user survey, to strengthen QA and bug fixes, we hired internal QA staff from among users who loved The Spike Cross for a long time, strengthening the internal QA team. The current structure designs TestCases according to changes per version, and manages occurring issues through an issue tracker. In addition, issues identified through emails or community reports are also verified by the QA team, registered in the issue tracker, and checked and fixed by the development team. Moving forward, we will observe and respond more meticulously so that game play is possible in a more pleasant environment.

​

1. What are your release plans for Setter Play?

Realistically, we do not have it in our plans. It is difficult to draw charm and fun in a PvE environment, traits of various unique S players already released did not consider playability, and after Setter becomes allowed as playable, traits of newly worked Setters would also be heavily restricted, making it very difficult to release Setter Play at the current stage.

​

1. What is the status of merchandise releases? Do you have plans to open a pop-up store?

Currently, rather than aiming to make a profit through merchandise, we are producing and distributing them to grow The Spike Cross IP and for game branding. We are continuously putting effort into producing digital goods such as emotes and wallpapers usable in community environments, as well as products that can be gifted to users when holding exhibitions, external events, or community events. However, in the case of pop-up stores, we consider ourselves to be at a stage of focusing on game development and advancement, so we are not considering it yet. We wish to proceed when a more stabilized period arrives or when better opportunities are seen.

​

1. How will you compensate users who own the old Steam version?

The process of loading purchase data of another game from Steam requires accurately checking existing purchase records and account information, and as the related logic is complexly configured, it is a task requiring careful verification. If applied incorrectly, problems may occur in compensation targets or distribution details, so rather than proceeding quickly, we are developing cautiously prioritizing stability and accuracy. For those who used the existing Steam version, we are preparing in a direction to provide small profile titles and simple costumes or skins through which memories can be felt as compensation. We will present it after sufficient verification so that meaningful rewards can be delivered to waiting users.

Scenario Section Q&A The answers below are parts directly answered by the scenario writer.

1. What do you think about the lack of volume and proofreading compared to the story update cycle?

To further expand the IP of The Spike, we have conducted various projects over the past year. However, as a limited staff simultaneously handled multiple tasks including voice actor auditions, script writing, recording directing, emote, and animation planning, there were parts where scenario production and proofreading schedules were not sufficiently secured. In addition, we believe the inability to quickly fix setting or translation errors discovered late in the process of providing services in 12 languages made the problem even bigger. We take setting errors and lack of proofreading very seriously. Currently, to improve these problems, we are additionally hiring scenario writers, and rather than simply reducing ongoing projects, we are preparing in a direction to reinforce the scenario team's headcount and work system. In translation and proofreading processes as well, we are increasing intermediate checking procedures to improve so that errors can be discovered and fixed at earlier stages. Moving forward, we will stably overhaul internal production and proofreading processes to strive to show users stories with higher completion quality and reliability.

​

1. Reason why Sara appeared suddenly in Chapter 11?

Sara's appearance in Chapter 11 was planned from the early stage of planning the Phantom League. As an example of this, in Chapter 9, we introduced Jenny first, a character connected to Sara. However, we judge that the process of convincingly building Sara's narrative was somewhat lacking. We have a problem awareness regarding that part, and plan to supplement it by adding additional narratives in stories to unfold hereafter.

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1. In what direction will the story unfold in the future?

Regarding the main line of the story, please understand that there are not many details we can tell you in advance currently. However, as promised after the end of Season 2, Jaehyun will actively play a role at the center of the story moving forward. In addition, we plan to gradually deliver player stories that could not be fully unpacked in Season 2.

Art Section Q&A Below are contents directly answered by The Spike Cross's original artist.

1. Do you have plans for player model overhauls?

https://preview.redd.it/e2tn4biivhhh1.png?width=1452&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7aeb193e9c0680987f14e8ea8f2c6a963cfebcf

As we proceeded with model improvements in February this year, currently there are no additional overhaul plans. However, based on the currently improved model, we are continuously improving to showcase higher quality. We will strive to show good appearances in the future, so please look forward to it. In addition, we are currently developing accessories that can further heighten the expression power of current models. We will strive to showcase more diverse directions by revealing them in a short time.

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https://preview.redd.it/rggu2stjvhhh1.png?width=1972&format=png&auto=webp&s=c3f8e79ced772d31ecbaac53ce329dfc8daf5efd

1. Through what process do you design character designs?

First, when designing a character, we start from visually unpacking keywords received during the planning stage. As an example, we introduce Kelly.

Kelly's representative keywords were tea house owner, former 5th Spiker, mature woman, and elements opposite to NN. Like this, we select elements that can best express the character among received keywords with priority to proceed with design.

https://preview.redd.it/16agglskvhhh1.png?width=1746&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e92ff7cc5eb1305fcfc1916e7f33cea1f7f0bee

https://preview.redd.it/0fduilskvhhh1.png?width=2137&format=png&auto=webp&s=bb5478f0e57422bf3ece4e5fe9846fc4d782b137

Initially, we designed a character with long hair, white hair, and a soft impression, focusing on 'elements opposite to NN.' However, in the process of reviewing drafts, it felt somewhat cheerful rather than a mature woman, and to supplement this, we created drafts in several directions while modifying hair length or color. Afterwards, when a design best matching the character's image is decided, we enter full-scale illustration work. We refine clothing textures, props, and human body expressions in detail to proceed with work so that the character can feel more lively.

https://preview.redd.it/zwhfo8qlvhhh1.png?width=2680&format=png&auto=webp&s=e1effb72f40880dc3ac58a68d1c36294ed4de170

Skin production also has a basic process similar to character design. For example, Zero skin's concept is 'graffiti.' In the initial draft (top left), we approached in a direction different from the existing concept to check various possibilities, and afterwards, developed drafts (bottom left) while organizing direction in line with the concept. In the case of Maid Hongshi, considering the balance of the character silhouette, we added weight to the lower body, while designing hair style in a direction to maintain the existing Hongshi image. (top right) In addition, reviewing various poses associated with volleyball together, we finally completed it in a direction that can best highlight the charm of the character and skin. Moving forward, we will strive to present attractive designs and skins so that each character's individuality can stand out even more.

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Additional Suggestions

The point that Middle Blocker players cannot participate in quick attacks after sliding

A player being unable to participate in quick attacks immediately after sliding is an intended matter. In this structure, we judged that Yuri, who has a fast wake-up speed, can have clear strengths and charm as a playable player. Yuri lacks abilities to seal opponents, raise team attack power traits, or provide stable two-hand tosses, but is a player with great playable strengths through fast speed and defense assistance. Like this, as we view that different pros and cons per player can lead to individuality and charm, currently we plan to maintain that structure.

 

Reviewing allowing trait activation keys to be set as separate key settings in Windows environments

We will ensure this matter is reflected.

 

Adjusting Sara's gust so slow motion does not appear during balance mode matches

We will ensure this matter is reflected.

 

What are future collaboration plans, and what is the current progress?

As this part has many ownership issues entangled, please understand that it is difficult to speak publicly at an unconfirmed schedule. However, positive discussions are currently taking place with a Japanese manga we hoped to collaborate with since we started developing The Spike Cross, and we are discussing schedules together. Besides this, we are receiving many collaboration proposals from multiple companies. We will seek partners who can exert good synergy with The Spike Cross to proceed step-by-step. Please look forward to it!

 

Please add a feature to turn off ally blocking

In volleyball, a team sport, the fun of operating a team that players cannot fully control is the very element The Spike has pursued. However, we also understand that frustration can arise in situations where the game advances and difficulty increases. However, we have no plans to add a feature to turn off ally blocking behavior itself. We are pondering update directions to respond to such situations by improving features that allow customizing blocking sustainability or blocking AI per player.

 

When do you plan to incorporate limited players into permanent players?

Incorporating limited players into permanent player recruitment after a certain time is not being considered currently. Especially when skins or related products of limited players were sold, if incorporated into permanent recruitment later, the value of existing products and limitedness could change. In the future, the number of limited players will gradually increase, but correspondingly, we intend to bring each player's rerun cycle shorter than now to provide opportunities for users to re-acquire more frequently. Instead, when releasing new players in the future, we are preparing updates with plans to mark limited players and players scheduled for permanent incorporation in advance.

 

Colosseum is content with great fun when completing strong card combinations, but there is an opinion that reroll costs are high, making it difficult to attempt desired combinations. I wonder if there are plans to lower reroll costs or expand card selection opportunities.

We also fully recognize that great accomplishment and pleasure can be felt when sequentially gathering conditions and effects of multiple cards to complete a powerful final combination. However, we worry that if adjusted so that desired cards or powerful values can be reached too easily, tension in the process of completing combinations decreases and content fun can be consumed quickly as well. Currently, we are providing opportunities to select new cards through rerolls, and Colosseum is content where building strategies according to given choices and random elements itself constitutes important fun. Therefore, simply lowering reroll costs or making desired cards easily acquirable can weaken the charm of choice and variation unique to the roguelite genre. However, we think there is a separate need to look into opinions that there are cards with excessively low utilization failing to function as practical choices. While maintaining choice tension, we will continuously check overall value and utilization so that each card can become a meaningful choice depending on the situation.

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Expected Effects and Implications After the Player Invitation Event

Under pressure that we must make a good game and show it quickly, we ran hard looking forward. Looking back in this process, suddenly too much time had passed, and we deeply reflected on the fact that we missed communication with users and feedback reflection on the game. While it will be difficult to frequently hold events of the scale of the Player Invitation Event in the future, we hope to strive to make a better game by directly listening to and reflecting various stories with users in this form, and hope this place and time become the cornerstone for the start of greater development of The Spike.

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...In Closing

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Through this first half of the year, we put in much effort to develop The Spike Cross long-term and service it stably, but showed lacking appearances several times in that process. Looking back at parts where we failed to sufficiently live up to users' expectations, I myself am reflecting a lot. I do not know if it will be fully conveyed through this text, but there is one mindset that has not changed from the beginning until now. It is the heart that wants to make The Spike Cross a better game.

 

We want to make a work equipped with PvP content many people are waiting for, graphics of higher completion, rich stories, and deep game quality. Although there are still many lacking parts and the road ahead is far, all developers including myself sincerely cherish this project and are doing our best in development every day.

 

Currently, over 4 million users on monthly average are playing The Spike Cross. Continuing service over a long period, the appearance and direction of The Spike Cross changed a lot, and reasons for liking the game also became diverse. Someone expects the fun of collecting and growing players without burden for a short time, someone wants to enjoy video-game-like deep action and high-difficulty challenges. There are also those who enjoy PvP with other users through Remote Play, and those who continue to play because they like attractive characters and stories even if not accustomed to controls.

 

Even if liking the same game, as the ways each enjoys and expectations held differ, we always feel that satisfying everyone with a single update and decision is not easy. We also want to listen to diverse voices as much as possible, but sometimes there are moments where we must make choices different from directions someone wished for.

 

Such choices are by no means to treat users' opinions lightly or to insist only on our thoughts. We know very well that all sent opinions originate from hearts that cherish The Spike, and we are listening seriously as well. However, if we continuously change directions according to numerous differing opinions, the path the game should take becomes blurred, and rather greater confusion and disappointment could be given. Even if all opinions cannot be reflected as they are, after sufficiently listening and deeply pondering, we will responsibly select directions most necessary for The Spike Cross.

 

Our judgments may not always be perfect. Sometimes decisions different from what was expected may be made. However, we hope you believe that there is no heart inside to ignore or look away from users even a little. We will not lose the heart to make a better game. Always remembering the fact that sent interest and opinions are never to be taken for granted, we will strive steadily without losing our original intention so that we can show better appearances and more satisfying experiences in the future.

 

Thank you.

 

This post is from CEO of SUNCYAN Oh Jun Kwon

To everyone who loves The Spike Cross,

 

It feels like we only just wrapped up the Beast Spiker event, but somehow, we’re already at the end of July. Looking back, I feel like time has passed especially quickly this year.

The first half of this year was, in many ways, a very eventful period for us. There were parts of the roadmap we announced at the beginning of the year that we weren’t able to deliver as planned. And while doing our best to stay on schedule, there were also many moments when we didn’t pay enough attention to your feedback or share information about our updates as carefully as we should have.

In the past, we often shared development stories and the reasoning behind our updates before and after they went live, and had opportunities to talk with you about the direction of the game together.

But at some point, I became more hesitant and cautious when it came to communicating with the community. Looking back on that, I personally have a lot of regrets and feel that there are things I wish I had done differently.

So today, I’d like to take some time to look back together at the journey The Spike Cross has taken during the first half of 2026.  I would also like to share in detail the thoughts and considerations we had while preparing each update, as well as the intentions behind the decisions we made regarding the direction of each update.

 

I also want to openly share, in as much detail as possible, what we were thinking about at the time, what concerns we had, and what led us to make the decisions we did when planning each update.

 

January: Tiger Eyes Event

Major Changes

• Added the side-story chapter “Ready to Scout!”
• Remastered in-game backgrounds
• Remastered the effects and illustration for the Black Thunder Nishikawa skin
• Improved Hongshi’s Traits
• Improved Nishikawa’s Traits
• Added a Signature Illustration selection feature

 

Major In-Game Background Remaster

https://preview.redd.it/r7vi5830qhhh1.png?width=1497&format=png&auto=webp&s=640feccd4248663e5dafac6dc0ef3fd8a57e3719

https://preview.redd.it/rof53n52qhhh1.png?width=2732&format=png&auto=webp&s=3ed77ed9a77f2673829633a31be4a757b61399ed

https://preview.redd.it/e0pl3fz3qhhh1.png?width=2333&format=png&auto=webp&s=e1e5007c8bdaf174eb3d354b2cfddef5133e5a5c

Last year, we put a lot of effort into improving the overall quality of our illustrations. This year, however, we also wanted to improve the quality of the in-game visuals themselves, so we spent a lot of time discussing how we could raise the overall visual quality of the game.

As the first step, we decided to recreate backgrounds that had been used for a long time and had gradually begun to look somewhat different from our current visual standards.

We improved aspects such as resolution, depth, and visibility, with the goal of creating a more immersive experience for everyone playing the game.

 

“Black Thunder Nishikawa” Remaster

https://preview.redd.it/pg8x7me5qhhh1.png?width=1135&format=png&auto=webp&s=0357cccbc73d05dc15c55059c56de28ea222ea01

It has been about two years since the Black Thunder Nishikawa skin was first released in 2024, and we continued to receive requests from players who wanted to see it return.

As we prepared to bring the Black Thunder Nishikawa skin back, we felt that, given how much time had passed since its original release, its visuals no longer felt as consistent with the skins of our current S+ players. We believed this was something we needed to improve.

The original illustration was focused mainly on the upper body, some of the animation movements felt unnatural, and the shading around the neck and nose also felt somewhat awkward. We felt that these issues prevented Nishikawa’s youthful charm from coming through as strongly as it should.

For this reason, we remastered the illustration and animation as a whole. We also created new sound and VFX, since the original skill effects were largely limited to simple color changes.

Our goal was to bring out Black Thunder Nishikawa’s unique personality and raise the overall quality of the skin.

 

Hongshi Trait Improvements

https://preview.redd.it/pjxkyb77qhhh1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab9766f79f5851f6c24ca11403700aaf79c967c5

• Added the new Traits “Fierce Tiger” and “Hunt”

We believe Hongshi’s “Alternate Kill” Trait is one of the most appealing aspects of the player.

At the same time, her overall base performance was somewhat lacking. In actual gameplay, scoring through feints became the primary way to play her, and we felt that this didn’t fully capture Hongshi’s unique appeal of deliberately targeting and hunting down her opponents.

To make that playstyle more prominent, we added the new “Fierce Tiger” and “Hunt” Traits and reworked her overall kit so that Hongshi could better express her identity as a player who focuses on and takes down specific opponents.

 

Nishikawa Trait Improvements

https://preview.redd.it/r448i5v8qhhh1.png?width=1872&format=png&auto=webp&s=15778f29e93abb2ff55c111254479f7c980e699c

• Added the new Trait “Spark”

Nishikawa was already a powerful player even without Breakthroughs, and he was able to deliver high performance with a relatively low level of difficulty.

In this situation, we felt that directly adjusting the power of his Thunder Spike could have a significant impact on the overall game balance.

At the same time, because Nishikawa was one of the earlier players released in the game, his Breakthrough efficiency had been designed relatively conservatively. We also felt that we needed to improve the additional benefits and sense of progression players could feel at each Breakthrough level.

Taking all of this into consideration, we wanted to preserve his current peak performance while improving his minimum performance when Thunder Spike fails and increasing the value of Breakthroughs.

That was why we added the new “Spark” Trait.

 

Signature Illustration Display Feature

As more players began receiving Signature Illustrations, we started to see clear preferences between the standard illustrations and Signature Illustrations.

To give everyone more freedom to choose the illustration they prefer, we added a Signature Illustration display feature to the Player Management screen, allowing you to use whichever illustration best suits your taste.

 

February: Zero to One Pass Event

Looking back, February was probably the most eventful period of the first half of this year.

At the time, much of our development work was focused on preparing the foundation for several upcoming updates, and we were also working on a number of large-scale changes internally.

However, many of these projects took longer than expected, which put increasing pressure on our schedule. In order to prevent the roadmap from being delayed any further, we ended up running our overall development schedule extremely tightly.

As a result, we weren’t able to secure enough time for final QA, and this eventually became one of the reasons several issues occurred later on.

Major Changes

• Reworked in-game player models
• Added a Variable Frame Rate option
• Changed the defensive judgment system
• Added the Storage feature
• Added detailed Trait descriptions
• Added mobile haptic feedback

 

In-Game Player Model Rework

https://preview.redd.it/f72na1ocqhhh1.png?width=849&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d85e642c2b8c128abf3ff882789fdc8ab354a52

The original in-game player models had been in use since they were created in 2018.

Over the years, differences between the length of the models’ arms and the offsets of their uniform parts caused recurring issues, such as characters appearing twisted or certain movements looking unnatural.

These problems became a major limitation when we wanted to improve the in-game quality of new skins, and they also made it more difficult to create various effects and animations without sacrificing immersion.

Fixing these issues at their root meant redrawing more than 140 existing uniform parts to match the proportions of the new models.

It was a massive undertaking, so it wasn’t something we could start without careful consideration. However, we ultimately decided that it was a necessary step if we wanted to raise the overall in-game quality of The Spike.

Our internal art team took part in the process from start to finish, completely reworking the player models and uniform parts.

After a long development process, we were able to establish a new standard for creating our in-game models.

The higher quality of the player model for Street artist Zero, as well as the Bounty Hunter Sif model introduced in the recent Western Event, was also made possible because this rework had been completed beforehand.

Through this work, we were able to improve not only the quality of the in-game models themselves, but also the movement and overall naturalness of their animations.

We also streamlined our production process, creating a foundation that allows us to apply more diverse Signature Motions to recently updated S+ players and skin players.

 

Adding a Variable Frame Rate Option

https://reddit.com/link/1vg0f2l/video/zuchvk6b4ihh1/player

Variable Frame Rate: An environment where the number of frames displayed per second changes depending on the device’s performance or display settings.

Due to the characteristics of the game engine The Spike Cross has been using, supporting variable frame rates was more difficult than it would have been with other engines.

Even the 45 FPS mode we previously supported for lower-spec devices was built on a structure that was difficult to maintain. We were also seeing various issues in actual gameplay, including differences in physics calculations between 60 FPS and other environments.

Because of this, we carried out a major overhaul of our frame-rate handling and physics systems.

This work was necessary to achieve several important goals:

• Ensure consistent physics behavior regardless of frame rate and improve long-term maintainability
• Stabilize the physics system that will serve as the foundation for multiplayer development
• Establish the foundation for supporting 120 FPS and variable frame rates

In particular, the multiplayer feature we announced earlier this year requires a foundation that can consistently synchronize game progression and physics results across different devices and frame-rate environments.

For that reason, this work was about much more than simply supporting higher frame rates.

It was a structural improvement that needed to be completed first in preparation for future multiplayer development and the long-term maintenance of The Spike Cross.

 

Adding Detailed Trait Descriptions

As The Spike has been in service for a longer period of time and new players have been released at a faster pace, we’ve gradually introduced players with increasingly diverse and complex Traits.

At the same time, as Breakthrough efficiency has become more important, more players have been studying player performance in depth and experimenting with different ways to play.

However, the existing Trait descriptions were often too brief to fully understand how the Traits actually worked. Even when their values or effects were changed through updates, it was also difficult to check the specific details directly in the game.

To address this, we completely rebuilt our Trait system, which had previously been implemented using a hard-coded structure.

Because we had to remove the existing code and rebuild the system from the ground up, the process resulted in more issues than we initially expected and took considerably longer to develop.

Fortunately, we were able to complete the work in a stable manner. The Trait description system has now been improved so that you can check each Trait’s effects and values at different levels more clearly and conveniently.

 

March: Wind Spiker Update

Major Changes

• Added the Nightmare Arena
• Added new players: S Iris (SE), S Yuri (MB), and S+ Seo Sara (WS)
• Reworked the rewards for Volleyball Colosseum

https://preview.redd.it/nl7wknuhqhhh1.png?width=963&format=png&auto=webp&s=a283e49448cafa0d9ddbd546a4125028ebd36ba4

Adding the Nightmare Arena

Development Background

We wanted to introduce a new kind of experience to the repetitive gameplay found in our existing content, while also creating a place where the players you had spent time collecting and developing could lead to a more meaningful gameplay experience.

For players who already owned and developed a wide variety of players, we wanted to expand the ways they could make use of each player and give them a greater sense of accomplishment from their investment.

At the same time, for players who did not yet have a large roster, we wanted to provide new goals by giving them more reasons to acquire and develop different players.

With this direction in mind, we introduced a system where you can use Dream Shards to swap players and build your own deck based on the situation of each match.

Rather than simply using the strongest players available, our goal was to create a new gameplay experience where you could combine the players you owned with the effects you obtained and develop your own strategy.

We also introduced a time limit to reduce the loss of tension that can come from being able to retry endlessly.

We wanted the process of adjusting your deck and playstyle within a limited amount of time, and efficiently challenging for a high score, to become part of the strategy itself.

 

Volleyball Colosseum Reward Rework

Colosseum was a mode that required a relatively high amount of effort compared to the rewards it provided. As a result, not many players actually participated enough to claim all of its available rewards.

In particular, many players felt fatigued by having to play it repeatedly every day, as it came to feel more like a daily chore than something they actively wanted to play.

Because of this, we decided that the daily-focused structure needed to be eased into a weekly format.

However, if we significantly reduced the number of times players needed to play while keeping the previous maximum rewards unchanged, the overall supply of Blue Flames could increase sharply, since relatively few players had previously reached the maximum reward.

In the long term, this could have led to a decrease in the value of both Blue Flames and V Points.

For that reason, we decided to significantly reduce the burden of playing Colosseum while slightly lowering the maximum rewards so that the overall supply of currencies would not increase excessively.

 

April: User Survey & Bug Fixing Focus

After wrapping up several major updates through March, including the Wind Spiker update, we felt that it was time to take another look at the many issues that had remained unresolved for a long time because we hadn’t been able to address them immediately.

Even if it meant delaying our planned update schedule, we felt that we needed to take the time to carefully review your feedback again and improve the game as a whole.

For that reason, rather than focusing on developing new content, we spent April organizing the issues that had been reported to us and working through them one by one.

Improvements

1. Player Management Screen Optimization

We reduced the freezes and FPS drops that could occur while illustrations were loading when entering the Player Management screen.

1. Net Height Adjustment

We lowered the net height by approximately 5% and reduced situations where the ball would bounce backward after hitting the net.

1. Nishikawa Thunder Spike Remaster (Black Thunder Skin)

Nishikawa’s Thunder Spike sound currently leans somewhat heavily toward a sharp, piercing sound.

We plan to improve it into something more powerful and impactful, with a sound closer to the rumble of actual thunder.

1. Arena Improvements

We reworked the Arena content based on the feedback we received from players.

1. Counter Receive Improvements

During Counter Receive situations, we removed the visual effect where the ball would briefly remain around the player’s position and made the result apply immediately.

This was done to make the controls feel more responsive and reduce the sense of sluggishness during these situations.

1. Opponent Counter Receive Balance Adjustment

We lowered the opponent team’s Perfect success rate to reduce the sense of unfairness that could be experienced in PvE environments.

1. Improved Ball Trajectory After Sliding Through Penetrating Attacks

When sliding to receive a ball with a Sliding Penetration Attack, there was an issue where the ball would lose too much speed and immediately fall to the ground.

To address this, we revised the trajectory calculation logic together with the concepts of Sliding Protection and Sliding Penetration.

1. Fixed an issue where Sara (WS) and Ryuhyeon gained increased movement speed in midair after spiking
2. Fixed an issue where a Serve Toss going out of bounds was not properly counted as a fault

10. Applied Item Stat Limits in Snow Raid

We added minimum and maximum limits to prevent item effects from causing stats to increase beyond intended values.

11. Changed the Starting Serve in Tournament and Colosseum

In Tournament and Colosseum, the serve will now always begin with the team on the left.

May: 8th Anniversary Celebration

• Added the Midnight Hari and Shooting Star Jenny skins
• Added rewards for the 8th Anniversary Pass

https://preview.redd.it/iqli445tqhhh1.png?width=2395&format=png&auto=webp&s=ed2ef14158dcc49253ece3c1b57ac5d0cd613ce9

While preparing for our 8th Anniversary event, we spent a lot of time discussing what kind of setting and concept could give everyone a fresh look at our characters and create a fun, memorable experience.

In the end, we decided to continue with the band concept that we introduced during our 7th Anniversary event.

In particular, we thought that showing the Phantom League players who had led the main story from May 2025 through March 2026 as a band would be a great way to show a new side of each character. With that in mind, we began production in earnest.

In our initial concept, Raul and Carla were also planned to appear in the audience, enjoying the performance together.

However, the illustration itself was already extremely dense, and we needed to maintain a composition that kept the focus on the main band members. Because of this, we ultimately decided to leave them out.

When planning the rewards, we felt that simply giving out a large amount of in-game currency would not feel as special as giving away an Ellio skin and various costumes for free.

https://preview.redd.it/007njn1qqhhh1.png?width=2269&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0cf65aad898ee13b80cfea858d4adbc03ae1b13

https://preview.redd.it/rp9yyxrqqhhh1.png?width=2182&format=png&auto=webp&s=2d7e8c462f58bc856d88cb58e06842320ced41a0

We believed it was important to express our gratitude for reaching our 8th anniversary through these rewards, and we put a lot of effort into creating them.

However, we received a lot of feedback that the event felt lacking because there were no meaningful Pickup recruitments, the amount of free currency felt insufficient, and there was no separate new content.

Through this experience, we realized that there was a gap between what we considered important and what our players had been expecting from an anniversary event.

Until our 7th anniversary, we had viewed anniversary events less as major standalone events and more as commemorative events intended to express our gratitude to the community.

However, it became clear that many of you viewed the anniversary event itself as one of the most important events representing the entire year.

Looking back, I don’t think we fully took this difference in perspective between the development team and our players into consideration.

We will carefully review all of the feedback you’ve shared with us and make sure that future anniversary events are prepared with a much better understanding of what you expect from them.

There was also another factor that contributed to the event feeling somewhat empty.

At the time, the production of Jenny and Hari took longer than we had originally expected, which forced us to split the update into two separate releases.

Claire and Sif also had new skins planned separately for the Western Event, so we were unable to release them alongside the 8th Anniversary event.

I believe this was also one of the reasons the overall event lineup ended up feeling somewhat sparse.

 

June: Western Event

• Added Spatial Audio & 3D Audio
• Added new Western skins
• Updated Balance Mode
• Added Profile Decoration

https://preview.redd.it/n992erixqhhh1.png?width=8552&format=png&auto=webp&s=a083c60c1cc5e37f49e693fcbbf78418e6f06502

https://preview.redd.it/lwpzwsyxqhhh1.png?width=8552&format=png&auto=webp&s=580501ce1131275cc5ec325970f86bb309def0cd

Western Event

While preparing the rerun event for Ryuhyeon, we spent a lot of time discussing what kind of new side of Ryuhyeon would be the most appealing to show our players.

In particular, the “Chief Disciple Ryuhyeon” illustration, VFX, and sound introduced during the Azure Dragon Festival had received a very strong response, so there was also some pressure on us to create a new skin that could deliver an equally satisfying experience.

https://preview.redd.it/hrqjsae1rhhh1.png?width=3715&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9ffd4e356d949c4d9a4508b2fb285e94e943112

After discussing various directions internally, we agreed that taking inspiration from the American Western genre would allow us to highlight Ryuhyeon’s distinctive rough and powerful appeal even more clearly.

That ultimately led us to introduce a new version of Ryuhyeon based on a Western theme.

For this event, the improvements to our animations and player models gave us an environment where we could create a wider variety of movements more easily. We also added functionality that allows us to make use of props and other objects.

Using these new capabilities, we added unique Signature Motions that could bring out each player’s personality more clearly, as well as new performances involving props, such as spinning a gun.

 

Nightmare Arena Rework

https://preview.redd.it/mtny9mu4rhhh1.png?width=2065&format=png&auto=webp&s=b7c9348f023877305b4ca5009471f4b3cbfdbc6a

https://preview.redd.it/tm1fndv5rhhh1.png?width=2049&format=png&auto=webp&s=abdd3282afd112ad2173bf33f1677ebd8f6b0a03

Nightmare Arena was originally released as the highest-difficulty content in the game. However, the user survey conducted in April continued to show that many players were dissatisfied with aspects of its fun factor and overall gameplay experience.

The way the content was actually being played had also moved in a different direction from what we originally intended when designing it. Based on your feedback, we felt that we needed to rethink the content and make it more convenient and enjoyable to play.

First, we removed the system where Dream Shard abilities activated based on probability. We also increased the effect values so that players could feel the impact of each ability more clearly.

At the same time, we added a large number of new Dream Shards to encourage players to think about different combinations and build decks of their own.

Through these changes, we wanted Nightmare Arena to provide not only the challenge of combat, but also a stronger sense of progression and collection.

We also changed the entry requirements so that players must have all of the necessary positions represented in their roster. This was intended to encourage the use of a wider variety of players and give players they normally wouldn’t use new opportunities to shine.

However, we also wanted players with smaller rosters to be able to participate, so we added Trial Players.

To ensure that Trial Players would not be more efficient than players you had actually invested in and developed, we intentionally placed limits on their Breakthrough levels and stats.

Previously, opposing teams also had their own Dream Shards, which caused many players to feel pressured by the powerful abilities they could use.

To lower the barrier to entry, we adjusted the lower difficulties so that opposing teams would not use their own Dream Shards.

Finally, we also reflected feedback that the opponent team’s Perfect Receive occurred too frequently under the Counter Receive rules and made the gameplay feel frustrating.

We significantly lowered the activation rate so that Perfect Receive would occur only very rarely during actual gameplay.

 

Balance Mode Update

As the major updates we worked on during the first half of the year were largely focused on PvE content, new systems, and bug fixes, the management and improvement of Balance Mode for players enjoying PvP through Steam Remote Play unfortunately took a little longer than we would have liked.

In June, we took another close look at the PvP environment with the goal of improving it. We spent a significant amount of time internally testing different player combinations and playstyles to deepen our understanding of the PvP environment. Through this process, we also experienced firsthand many of the inconveniences that come with playing through Remote Play, which made us even more aware of how much improvement was needed.

In particular, as more players gained Traits that could negate sliding, and more Spikes began to bypass sliding in their own unique ways, such as Ryuhyeon, Ayeon, and Hongshi, it became increasingly difficult to maintain these interactions while keeping the overall balance consistent. We also found that there were limitations to explaining the actual effects and interactions clearly through Trait descriptions alone.

To address this, we introduced new concepts such as Sliding Protection and Sliding Penetration. These concepts allow us to manage the interactions between each player's offense and defense in a more systematic way, while also making related effects easier for players to understand.

Profile Decoration Feature

https://preview.redd.it/knhk4p88rhhh1.png?width=1518&format=png&auto=webp&s=c737906713b51b4fec2ceab359d1d14cad8ead99

The Profile Decoration feature is the first step toward building a foundation for the social systems we plan to expand in the future.

We developed it with a broader vision in mind: creating more ways for players to connect with one another, including sharing players between users through Steam Remote Play, adding friend and gifting features, and even allowing teams made up of each other's players to compete against AI teams.

Moving forward, we want profiles to become more than just a place to display basic information. We designed this feature with various possibilities for future expansion in mind, so that profiles can eventually showcase players' achievements and accomplishments while also giving them a space to express their own individuality.

 

 

This is how we came to briefly look back at the first half of the year.

While we have focused on the changes and comments regarding the first half of the year up to now, below, we would like to share the feedback we have received, the questions asked during the Player Invitation Event, and our opinions on them together.

1. Improving Nishikawa’s traits feels largely meaningless.

Nishikawa was a player designed with low control difficulty and a stable, high performance ceiling as his main strengths. Therefore, up until now, we maintained that direction and did not proceed with separate balance adjustments. However, we are aware that there is a significant gap in breakthrough efficiency and perceived performance compared to other S+ players. Accordingly, during the next rerun update, we plan to make changes so that Nishikawa possesses clearer strengths, or align him through growth elements to be added in the future.

1. The new sound for Nishikawa's Black Thunder skin is disappointing.

Our initial intention was to showcase a distinct charm differentiated from the existing Nishikawa. However, suddenly shifting directions during an existing skin remaster—rather than through a new skin—was an error in our judgment. Therefore, after re-discussing with the audio company, we decided to change the sound to a powerful and grand thunder sound in line with the original remaster intent. At the time, work on the sound for the next event was taking place simultaneously, which caused follow-up measures and work to be somewhat delayed.

1. A lot of related bugs occurred due to the physics modifications.

First, we sincerely apologize for the delayed response to bugs that occurred after the physics system overhaul. This overhaul involved a very broad scope of work, and most of it was tasking that modified the foundational systems of the game. Because of this, even if a single problem was fixed, there was a high possibility of affecting multiple other features, making it difficult to secure stability while making quick fixes. In particular, right after the physics system overhaul work continued until the end of February, the development schedule for the March Wind Spiker event connected immediately. This led to a shortage of development personnel to directly handle the physics system, and as a result, the follow-up response was significantly delayed. In the second half of the year, to prevent the same problem from recurring, we are distributing the roles and assigned responsibilities of major developers more clearly. Moving forward, even if problems occur after a large-scale system overhaul, we will secure stable response personnel so that we can identify causes and fix them more quickly.

1. No-Touch Serve Aces no longer occur after the variable framerate change.

The No-Touch Serve Ace was a bug-like phenomenon that occurred when the fast coordinate movement of the spike exceeded the judgment interval of the defense logic. Although this phenomenon was naturally fixed through the physics system overhaul carried out in March, since many users were already using No-Touch Serve Aces or No-Touch Scores as a skill, we worked to ensure that No-Touch scoring would not be impossible in preparation for this. However, under the new system, No-Touch scoring only occurs when exploiting an opening, so for attacks with long distances like serves, there was a problem where the occurrence rate dropped extremely low. As the physics system was involved, it was a problem that was difficult to solve through simple modifications, so we held deep internal discussions. To maintain system stability while preserving the intent of techniques like the existing No-Touch scoring/Serve Ace, we introduced an element called 'Reaction Speed.' Through this, we were able to implement the No-Touch Serve Ace again. We sincerely apologize once more for causing trouble over a long period because the discussion on this part dragged on, preventing us from providing a quick update.

1. Splitting the new banner has made it difficult to obtain new players.

Through this improvement, V-Points and Pick-up Recruit Tickets became usable for both New Player Recruitment and Rerun Player Recruitment, resulting in two recruitments with different structures using the same currency. The existing New Player Recruitment used only currency that could be obtained limitedly in events, so it could be operated with relatively high efficiency. However, after the scope of currency expanded by allowing V-Points and Pick-up Recruit Tickets to be used as well, we judged that if we maintained the new probability and efficiency as they were, the expected value of obtaining players would become excessively high, making long-term event and currency operation difficult. In addition, under update situations where breakthrough efficiency becomes important, recently, many users have wanted to focus on breaking through desired players. Accordingly, rather than providing multiple players at low probabilities in a single recruitment, the direction of separating recruitments by player to allow focusing on desired players was also considered in this change. However, we failed to sufficiently explain the background and necessity of these changes in advance along with the improvement plan. We sincerely apologize for making users feel as though it was a sudden nerf in efficiency or a change of promise, and for disappointing you in the process.

1. What was the reason for splitting the new banner periods?

In the past, rerun events where players could be recruited using existing currency saw many users acquiring target players more quickly than in new player events where new currency had to be collected separately. As a result, the issue of interest and participation in the event declining relatively quickly was one of the major tasks we had to solve. In particular, acquiring players in our game's events currently serves as the biggest purpose for participation. Therefore, if recruitment through V-Points becomes possible in new player events as well, measures were needed regarding the phenomenon where participation decreases similarly to rerun events.

On the other hand, as the weight of the story inside the game grew, the number of players appearing in the story and illustrations that had to be created also increased together. We wanted to invest sufficient time and cost into all new players, but because we proceeded with multiple tasks simultaneously within a limited schedule, there were cases where the production of new players that should have been handled most importantly was finished hurriedly in time for the deadline. Leaving relatively insufficient investment in other new players excluding main players also remained a great regret. Accordingly, in order to create an environment where we can invest more cost and time into the production of each player and focus step-by-step—such as adding signature illustrations to S-rank players like Iris—we intended to operate by dividing the recruitment period.

However, we fully sympathize with the fact that dividing the pick-up recruitment period within the same event severely limits the recruitment experience of users and increases waiting and disappointment. In the future, if an event that progresses step-by-step is necessary, we will clearly design its structure from the initial planning stage and inform you of the reason for change and schedule sufficiently in advance. In addition, while raising the quality of new S-rank players is important, we believe that burden should not be passed on to users' recruitment experience. We will improve production schedules and internal processes to secure necessary quality and development time, and except for events with special planning intentions like collaborations, we will proceed in a way that does not split the recruitment period as before. We sincerely apologize for applying these changes suddenly without sufficient explanation and causing discomfort and disappointment to users.

1. The content meaning of Colosseum has disappeared.

As participation in Colosseum—which was the sole acquisition route for Blue Flame—decreased and many felt fatigue due to repeated stages over a long period, we adjusted Colosseum into weekly content in the Wind Spiker update and added Nightmare Arena, a new content where Blue Flame can be acquired more actively. However, we recognized that Nightmare Arena was a content that could have mixed opinions or feel burdensome due to its different progression method from existing content. Therefore, we designed Colosseum to be maintained as a path to acquire Blue Flame relatively lightly as before, but to share the same reward cap to lessen the burden of having to play both contents. However, as a result, it is true that the motivation to play Colosseum is currently weaker than before, and to resolve this, we are considering a remake of Colosseum content and a reward overhaul.

1. The illustration of Wing Spiker Sara is disappointing.

https://preview.redd.it/mrs8jozcrhhh1.png?width=2473&format=png&auto=webp&s=1a42062ca1da3b6501e62394bbeccaeb58c126e4

Since Setter Sara was already released, this time we wanted to show her reversed charm as a Wing Spiker and convey a new impression to users. Accordingly, while maintaining the soft and elegant atmosphere possessed by existing Setter Sara, we focused on containing the image of the "Goddess of Wind," where strength can be felt within subtle eyes. However, after release, we received many opinions that her unique Sara-like feeling was not sufficiently revealed in her appearance. We also looked back on the fact that while focusing on showing a new look, we failed to sufficiently capture the inherent charm and impression users expected from Sara. We recognize that there is disappointment regarding the current direction. However, since fundamentally modifying the appearance of an already released player could bring another disappointment to those who prefer the current look, rather than changing the existing illustration, we will meticulously prepare so that we can better express Sara's inherent charm when there is an opportunity to create a new skin in the future.

1. The completion quality of the Chapter 12 story is lacking.

After the Chapter 12 update, we received many opinions that the story completion quality was disappointing.

• Lack of probability regarding Siwoo's actions
• Lack of Siwoo's activity
• Method of expressing Raul's past narrative
• Screen-time issue among characters

Internally, we recognized related problems as serious, and we plan to modify the script so that the direction and explanations that were lacking in the story, as well as the behavioral psychology of the characters, can be described in detail. However, because there are continuous scheduled updates, and due to the localization and translation period, immediate changes are difficult, resulting in continuous delays. We will strive to resolve this issue in future updates.

📢 Looking Back at the First Half of 2026 (2)

📢 2026 Second Half Pickup Player & Skin Recruitment System Changes (1)

7. Is This Update Simply a Nerf?

Since the recruitment rate for Players will be lowered, there are clearly some aspects of this update that can be considered a nerf.

In particular, this change is less favorable for players who previously relied on obtaining Players through recruitment probability with a small number of attempts.

We do not want to present this as an update that is beneficial to every player simply by emphasizing the other benefits.

The impact of these changes will differ depending on each player's recruitment goals and situation.

Recruitment Goal / Situation	Less Favorable Aspect	Compensating Changes
Expecting to obtain an S+ Player through a small number of attempts	S+ rate reduced from 0.750% → 0.375%	Other Pickup Players from the same event can also appear
Goal is the First Acquisition of an S+ Player	Lower chance of natural acquisition	Maximum guaranteed acquisition reduced from 150 → 125 attempts
Goal is high Breakthrough for an S+ Player	Lower chance of obtaining additional copies naturally	3 Breakthroughs: 600 → 440 attempts (26.7% reduction) / 5 Breakthroughs: 900 → 605 attempts (32.8% reduction)
Goal is simply obtaining an S+ Player through event participation	Limits on carrying over Event Recruitment resources	Approximately 130 recruitment attempts provided through event participation will remain
Long-term accumulation of Scout Points	Pickup Recruitment Gauge will have a maximum of 135	Existing Points will not expire and can be converted when needed

These changes reduce the probability-based expectation of obtaining a Player with a small number of recruitment attempts, while strengthening the results that can be guaranteed for players who make a sufficient number of attempts.

The following tables compare the probability of reaching each Breakthrough level or higher at different recruitment counts for S+ Players under the existing and new systems.

Because the guaranteed Scout thresholds are clearly visible in the new system, the new system may appear more favorable overall.

However, the biggest difference between the two systems is not simply the expected number of acquisitions, but the variance in results between players who make the same number of recruitment attempts.

Existing System

Breakthrough Level / Recruitment Attempts	125	240	345	440	525	605
First Acquisition (1 Player)	60.978%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%
1 Breakthrough (2 Players)	24.118%	83.582%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%
2 Breakthroughs (3 Players)	6.848%	53.806%	92.552%	96.357%	100.000%	100.000%
3 Breakthroughs (4 Players)	1.498%	26.918%	73.135%	84.245%	98.079%	100.000%
4 Breakthroughs (5 Players)	0.265%	10.798%	47.898%	64.156%	90.458%	98.948%
5 Breakthroughs (6 Players)	0.039%	3.581%	26.094%	41.991%	75.370%	94.139%

New System

Breakthrough Level / Recruitment Attempts	125	240	345	440	525	605
First Acquisition (1 Player)	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%
1 Breakthrough (2 Players)	37.477%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%
2 Breakthroughs (3 Players)	8.059%	59.412%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%
3 Breakthroughs (4 Players)	1.193%	22.745%	72.643%	100.000%	100.000%	100.000%
4 Breakthroughs (5 Players)	0.134%	6.252%	37.116%	80.854%	100.000%	100.000%
5 Breakthroughs (6 Players)	0.012%	1.326%	14.115%	49.145%	86.088%	100.000%

Under the existing system, the higher natural recruitment rate meant that lucky players could reach high Breakthrough levels with relatively few attempts.

For example, there was a 3.581% chance of reaching 5 Breakthroughs with only 240 recruitment attempts.

On the other hand, even after making the same 240 recruitment attempts, the probability of reaching 1 Breakthrough was 83.582%.

In other words, while some players could reach 5 Breakthroughs with relatively few attempts, approximately 16.4% of players could make the same number of attempts and still fail to reach 1 Breakthrough.

This created a very large variance in results, which could lead to a sense of relative frustration among players who spent a significant amount of resources without obtaining the results they expected.

Under the new system, the possibility of reaching high Breakthrough levels quickly through natural acquisition will be lower than before.

However, based on the cumulative number of recruitment attempts, the following results will be guaranteed:

• First Acquisition: 125 attempts
• 1 Breakthrough: 240 attempts
• 2 Breakthroughs: 345 attempts
• 3 Breakthroughs: 440 attempts
• 4 Breakthroughs: 525 attempts
• 5 Breakthroughs: 605 attempts

Therefore, while the possibility of a lucky player reaching a high Breakthrough level with a small number of attempts will decrease, even players with poor luck will be guaranteed results corresponding to the resources they have spent once they reach the required number of recruitment attempts.

This adjustment is not intended to unilaterally increase the average expected acquisition value.

Instead, it is intended to reduce the excessive variance in results between players who make the same number of recruitment attempts and provide more stable acquisition and Breakthrough results as the number of recruitment attempts increases.

8. Will New and Non-Paying Players Be Left Behind?

We understand that new and non-paying players may feel the greatest concern and disappointment regarding these changes, and we take that concern seriously.

In January, we increased recruitment rates and introduced Scout Point carryover with the promise that the effort of players who consistently played the game would no longer disappear when an event ended.

Because we are now lowering the recruitment rate again and placing limits on the carryover structure only six months later, we understand that some players may feel as though we are taking back something that we previously promised.

The responsibility for creating this situation lies with us, as the team responsible for designing and operating the system.

Players simply accumulated and used resources in the most reasonable way possible within the rules we created.

It was our decision to make saving Scout Points more advantageous than using them, and it was also our decision to apply several easing measures simultaneously.

We will not place the responsibility for these results on players for accumulating excessive resources or using the system in a particular way.

With the new system, we will continue to maintain a structure in which players who participate sufficiently in an event can guarantee one new S+ Player without making a purchase.

To support this, we plan to provide enough resources in major events for approximately 130 recruitment attempts, increasing the amount of resources provided compared to before.

We will also maintain a structure that allows new and returning players to obtain a new Player during the event period and establish themselves in the game.

Existing Pickup Player Scout Points will also not expire.

They will be preserved and can be converted into Recruitment Gauge when needed.

However, we do not believe that these measures completely offset the fact that the Main Pickup Player recruitment rate is being lowered.

If the acquisition rate, Breakthrough distribution, or event participation rate among new and non-paying players falls significantly below the range we anticipate after the changes are implemented, we will consider additional adjustments, including changes to event reward amounts and the guaranteed acquisition structure.

Closing

The changes made during the first half of the year were intended to reduce the burden of Player recruitment and improve the overall recruitment experience.

However, we did not sufficiently anticipate the long-term effects that could occur when multiple easing measures were applied simultaneously.

As a result, we find ourselves announcing another major structural change only six months later.

We sincerely apologize once again for failing to conduct sufficient verification during the process of operating and designing the system.

These changes are not intended for any single group of players.

They are intended to create a structure in which players who want to obtain and develop Players quickly through purchases, players who want to obtain new Players through event participation, and players who prefer to save resources over a long period to secure their desired Players can each receive results that correspond to their choices.

We will not take the concerns surrounding this update lightly, including the reduction in the Main Pickup Player recruitment rate.

After implementation, we will continue monitoring recruitment and Breakthrough data, event participation rates, and player feedback, and will consider additional adjustments where necessary.

Details regarding the new Skin recruitment system, the actual implementation schedule, UI design, and the specific conversion process for existing resources will be announced separately once preparations are complete.

We will continue to review and improve the game carefully so that The Spike Cross can remain a game that you can enjoy for a long time.

Thank you.

 

This post is from CEO of SUNCYAN Oh Jun Kwon

Hello, everyone.

First of all, we would like to sincerely thank everyone for playing The Spike Cross.

Today, we would like to share the upcoming changes to the recruitment system that we are preparing to improve the Pickup Player and Skin recruitment experience and ensure the long-term stability of The Spike Cross.

Pickup Player and Skin recruitment is one of the most important systems in The Spike Cross, as it is directly connected to the excitement of obtaining and developing new players. For this reason, we believe it is important to explain as openly and thoroughly as possible why these changes are being made and what will be different going forward.

In January 2026, The Spike Cross introduced several changes designed to reduce the burden of Player recruitment and improve the overall recruitment experience.

Now, more than six months later, we have been able to see not only the positive effects of those changes, but also some structural issues that we did not fully anticipate at the time.

Through this announcement, we would like to look back on the results of the changes made earlier this year, acknowledge where our judgment fell short, and explain the recruitment system changes we are preparing for the second half of the year.

The overall direction of these changes was first shared during our previous User Invitation Event. At the time, the details had not yet been finalized, so we only explained the general direction. Through this announcement, we would now like to explain in detail why we decided to make these changes and how they will be implemented.

Changes Made in the First Half of 2026

1. Changes to the Player Recruitment System in H1 2026

In January, we made the following changes to reduce the burden of Player recruitment and address the feeling that the value of resources obtained through purchases and event participation was being lost when an event ended.

1. The recruitment rate of new S+ Players was increased from 0.375% to 0.750%, doubling the previous rate.
2. Pickup Player Recruitment Tickets and Scout Points, which had previously been separated by event, were unified and changed so that they could be carried over to the next Pickup Event even after an event ended.
3. Pickup Player recruitment was changed so that V Points, in addition to event currency, could also be used for recruitment.

The main issue we wanted to address at the time was the sense of loss players experienced when the limited event period ended and the resources and Scout Points they had obtained through purchases or direct participation in the event disappeared along with it.

We wanted to ensure that the effort players invested in an event could continue to benefit them in the next event by allowing accumulated Scout Points to guarantee a Player more quickly.

The introduction of V Point recruitment was based on the same principle.

Previously, players could purchase event currency through payments and begin recruiting Players from the beginning of an event. However, players who did not make purchases had to play through the event and accumulate currency before they could begin recruiting at a relatively later point in the event.

We therefore wanted to preserve the value of consistent play by allowing not only event-exclusive currency, but also V Points accumulated through regular gameplay to be used toward obtaining and achieving Breakthroughs for Players.

In other words, rather than introducing an entirely new form of guarantee that did not previously exist, the primary goal of those changes was to ensure that the value players had already earned through payment and gameplay would not disappear simply because an event ended.

For paying players, we wanted the value of the money spent on obtaining and achieving Breakthroughs for Players to remain useful for longer.

For non-paying players, we wanted the effort invested through event participation and consistent gameplay to carry over toward obtaining new Players rather than disappearing at the end of an event.

At the time, we expected that even if there were some level of revenue decline immediately following the changes, revenue would eventually stabilize at a sustainable level.

However, the actual results showed that the decline in revenue was not merely a temporary adjustment, but continued as a downward trend. At the same time, we also observed changes in Player Breakthrough distribution and accumulated Scout Points that would be difficult to sustain over the long term.

If this situation continued, we determined that it could eventually affect the foundation needed to consistently provide new Players and content.

Therefore, while preserving the strengths of the current system and the value of consistent gameplay as much as possible, we have decided to adjust the recruitment system so that Player acquisition guarantees and the long-term sustainability of the service can remain balanced.

2. Results Observed After the H1 Changes

The Acquisition and Breakthrough Levels of New S+ Players Increased Significantly

The most noticeable change following the H1 adjustments was the increase in the rates of acquiring new S+ Players and achieving higher Breakthrough levels.

When comparing the rate at which new S+ Players reached 5 Breakthroughs, the rate among paying players increased by approximately 3.6 times, while the rate among non-paying players increased by approximately 42 times.

The gap in the rate of reaching 5 Breakthroughs between paying and non-paying players also decreased from approximately 93 times to approximately 8 times.

Compared to before the changes, the gap was reduced to approximately one-twelfth of its previous level.

https://preview.redd.it/mixm60he3ihh1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=db3d13cb069d6323005dcd3c2bfe88b1b06cea04

The increased accessibility of new Players, and the fact that players who consistently participated in events were able to realistically reach higher Breakthrough levels than before, were clear positive results of the H1 changes.

However, the proportion of players holding new Players at high Breakthrough levels increased much faster than we had anticipated.

As the increased recruitment rate, V Point recruitment, and Scout Point carryover were all applied simultaneously, the overall Breakthrough levels that players could achieve through event participation and purchases increased rapidly.

The problem is not that the gap between paying and non-paying players decreased.

The fact that players were able to obtain and achieve Breakthroughs for their desired Players through consistent gameplay was an intended result of our changes.

However, as the proportion of players reaching high Breakthrough levels shortly after a new Player was released increased too quickly, the value of obtaining and achieving Breakthroughs for a Player earlier through payment decreased significantly.

The amount spent on purchases became less noticeable in the actual difference in Breakthrough results, which also led to a decrease in purchase satisfaction.

At the same time, players who had accumulated Scout Points over a long period could guarantee a new Player multiple times immediately when a new event began, without additional event participation or purchases.

As a result, both the experience of achieving Breakthroughs quickly through payment and the experience of gradually achieving Breakthroughs through event participation became less meaningful as time passed.

What we want to adjust is not the gap between players themselves, but the current structure in which the money and effort invested through purchases and event participation are no longer producing results that appropriately correspond to each method.

3. The Role of Scout Points Has Changed

Scout Points were originally designed as a protection mechanism for players who had made a certain number of recruitment attempts without obtaining the desired Player.

Their original purpose was to reduce the variance caused by random acquisition and ensure that players could definitively obtain their desired Player after reaching a certain target.

However, when Scout Points became shared across all Pickup Banners and could be carried over indefinitely after an event ended, their nature changed.

Rather than functioning as a supplementary guarantee for obtaining a Player, they began to be perceived as a universal currency that should be continuously accumulated for future events.

From a player's perspective, it naturally became more advantageous to preserve Points for the next event rather than use them during the current event.

The same decision was repeated in each subsequent event, causing Points to continue accumulating. Players who accumulated a sufficient amount could then guarantee a new Player or achieve multiple Breakthroughs as soon as a new event began.

Under this structure, recruitment could easily become less about the excitement of obtaining a new Player and more about accumulating enough Points for a guaranteed acquisition.

As Points accumulated, spending them during the current event felt wasteful. The less players spent, the more quickly they could achieve Breakthroughs in the next event.

This cycle caused Scout Points to continue accumulating, allowing players with enough Points to guarantee multiple acquisitions of a new Player as soon as a new event began.

As a result, the process of playing the current event to obtain a new Player became shorter, while the reason to continue participating in the event after obtaining the Player also diminished quickly.

The system effectively made it more advantageous to save resources for the next event rather than enjoy and progress through the current one.

This increased the speed at which new Players and event content were consumed, while also weakening the experience of working toward goals and achieving Breakthroughs throughout the entire event period.

One of the biggest problems with the current structure is that recruitment had shifted away from being an experience built around anticipation and rewards for obtaining Players, and instead became a process of accumulating Points in preparation for the next guaranteed acquisition.

4. Why the Current Structure Is Difficult to Maintain Long-Term

The current recruitment rate for a new S+ Player is 0.750%, and the number of recruitment attempts required for a guaranteed acquisition is 150.

In theory, the probability of naturally obtaining a Player with a 0.750% recruitment rate within 150 attempts is approximately two-thirds.

Among players who obtain the Player within 150 attempts, the average number of recruitment attempts required to obtain the Player is approximately 61.

In other words, a player participating in an event with the goal of obtaining a Player once would, on average, finish the event with approximately 61 Scout Points accumulated.

The important issue is that even when a Player is obtained through the recruitment rate, the Scout Points accumulated up to that point are neither deducted nor reset.

This means that the earlier a player obtains the Player, the more Scout Points they carry into the next event.

Looking at a single event, the remaining Points may not seem significant.

However, when this structure repeats across multiple events, players who obtain new Players early continue accumulating guaranteed acquisition resources for future events.

Our actual data also showed that the average number of Scout Points held per player increased with each event, reaching approximately 2.1 times the amount recorded at the initial H1 measurement point.

https://preview.redd.it/13sja7hg3ihh1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=b182f6348d50eb48658ba5bec91a5048bbd9feea

Players who have accumulated enough Scout Points can guarantee a new Player or achieve multiple Breakthroughs as soon as the next event begins.

If they then obtain another Player through the recruitment rate, their unused Scout Points remain and carry over to the next event again.

In other words, the current structure does not naturally resolve the accumulation problem as events progress.

Instead, every event generates more guaranteed acquisition resources that can be used in the following event.

The experience of obtaining and achieving Breakthroughs for a new Player early is an important part of the enjoyment of The Spike Cross, and it is also one of the key rewards provided to players who choose to make purchases.

However, as Scout Points continue to accumulate, the number of players who can achieve high Breakthrough levels immediately after a new Player is released increases.

This makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the value of obtaining and achieving Breakthroughs for Players early through payment.

This issue does not only affect the value of purchases.

The more recruitment resources we provide through an event, the more those resources accumulate toward guaranteed acquisitions in future events, making it increasingly difficult for the development and operations team to provide generous event rewards.

Ultimately, the longer we maintain the current structure, the more limited the event rewards we can provide to new and non-paying players become, while the perceived value of products for paying players also decreases.

The goals of participating in the current event, the purchase experience, and the rewards we can provide in the future are all weakened by the same structural issue.

For these reasons, we determined that the current system would be difficult to maintain over the long term.

In addition, in order to continue creating new Players, Stories, and Events while improving server and client quality, we need to be able to consistently invest the necessary personnel and resources.

These changes are not intended simply to recover revenue in the short term.

They are also intended to allow us to continue development and operations in the future and demonstrate the results through better content and service.

5. We Considered Other Solutions, but They Would Not Have Addressed the Root Cause

We also considered ways to address the issue without changing the current recruitment structure.

First, we considered continuing to increase the performance of high-Breakthrough Players to strengthen the value of achieving higher Breakthrough levels.

While this could increase satisfaction with purchases and high Breakthrough levels in the short term, continuing down this path would require each newly released Player to provide greater Breakthrough efficiency than previous Players.

Ultimately, this could lead to rapid power inflation and balance issues between Players, so we determined that it would not be sustainable.

We also considered shortening the release cycle for new Players and Skins.

Introducing new content more frequently could temporarily provide players with new acquisition goals, but the faster event cycle would also accelerate the accumulation of Scout Points.

In addition, an excessively short release cycle would directly affect our content development schedule and quality, so we determined that this would not be sustainable either.

We also considered increasing the proportion of revenue generated through video advertisements.

However, advertising revenue currently accounts for less than 5% of total revenue, and significantly increasing ad exposure could disrupt gameplay and increase player fatigue.

The fact that an ad-removal product is already provided permanently also makes this difficult to use as a long-term solution.

Ultimately, we concluded that rather than covering up the problems of the current structure through other methods, we needed to redesign the Player acquisition and guaranteed acquisition systems themselves.

Above all, we take seriously the fact that we failed to sufficiently predict and verify the long-term effects of the H1 changes in advance.

The increased new Player recruitment rate, introduction of V Point recruitment, reduced recruitment costs, and integration and carryover of Scout Points were each implemented with the intention of improving different aspects of the system.

However, we did not sufficiently simulate the cumulative effects that could occur when all of these changes were applied simultaneously.

In particular, we underestimated the possibility that if Scout Points did not expire, the most advantageous strategy for players could be not to use them, but to continue preserving them.

As a result, Scout Points accumulated rapidly as events repeated, creating a structure that continually shortened the lifespan of new Players and Events.

This is not a problem caused by players accumulating too many resources.

It is our responsibility for designing a system in which saving Points rather than using them became the most rational choice.

We applied several easing measures simultaneously without sufficient verification, and we sincerely apologize for having to announce another major change only six months later.

Going forward, we will conduct long-term simulations that take into account event resource supply, Point accumulation rates, Player Breakthrough distribution, event participation rates, changes in purchases, and the speed at which content is consumed.

We will use these simulations to prevent the same issue from recurring.

6. 2026 H2 Pickup Player & Skin Recruitment System Changes

These changes are not simply intended to reduce recruitment rates or rewards.

We want to preserve the value players obtain through gameplay and purchases as much as possible, while also addressing the structure in which resources can accumulate indefinitely and eventually eliminate meaningful goals in future events.

We will also maintain our basic direction of allowing all players, including new and returning players, to obtain new Players by participating consistently throughout an event.

The direction of these changes is as follows:

1. We will make the results obtained from resources spent and recruitment attempts more clearly defined.
2. We will adjust the system so that unlimited resource accumulation does not undermine event goals.
3. New and non-paying players will still be able to obtain new Players through sufficient event participation.
4. We will improve Player recruitment so that it is not simply a process of accumulating Scout Points, but instead leads to actual anticipation and rewards for obtaining Players.
5. We will separate Player recruitment and Skin recruitment into different systems, reducing situations where players have to repeatedly participate in recruitment they do not want in order to obtain their desired rewards.

Key Information 1. Pickup Player Scout Points Will Be Reworked into a Recruitment Gauge

The existing Pickup Player Scout Point system will be discontinued and replaced with a more intuitive Recruitment Gauge.

The Recruitment Gauge increases by 1 each time you recruit from a Pickup Player Banner, regardless of the Player's grade or Banner.

All Pickup Player Banners share a single Recruitment Gauge, and players will be able to use the Recruitment Gauge at any desired time to Scout (guaranteed acquisition) the Main Pickup Player of their currently selected Banner.

The Recruitment Gauge will be displayed as two separate types depending on the recruitment resources used.

Event Recruitment Gauge

The Event Recruitment Gauge increases when recruitment is performed using event currency, Event Player Recruitment Tickets, or other limited items.

It can only be used during the corresponding event and expires when the event ends.

(No maximum limit)

Pickup Recruitment Gauge

The Pickup Recruitment Gauge increases when recruitment is performed using V Points or Pickup Player Recruitment Tickets.

It does not expire when an event ends and carries over to the next event.

(Maximum: 135)

When performing a Scout, the Recruitment Gauge is reduced by the amount required for that Player.

If you have Event Recruitment Gauge remaining, it will be consumed first.

When a Player is obtained through the recruitment rate, the Recruitment Gauge is not reduced or reset. The Gauge is only consumed when you perform a direct Scout.

The Pickup Recruitment Gauge cannot exceed 135.

If you attempt to perform a recruitment that would increase the Pickup Recruitment Gauge while it is close to the maximum, a separate pop-up will notify you in advance to prevent unintended loss of Gauge.

The maximum is set 10 points above the initial S+ guaranteed Scout requirement of 125.

This is intended to preserve some remaining Gauge when a player exceeds the guaranteed acquisition requirement during a 10-recruitment.

For example, if your Recruitment Gauge is 124 and you perform 10 recruitments, your Gauge will become 134.

The Event Recruitment Gauge and Pickup Recruitment Gauge are combined when determining whether you have reached the Scout requirement for the currently selected Banner.

Once the combined amount reaches the required value, you can guarantee the Main Pickup Player of that Banner.

The required amount for each Banner is as follows:

Scout Count	Gauge Required for S+ Banner	Gauge Required for S Banner
0	125	100
1	115	100
2	105	95
3	95	85
4	85	80
5	80	75

Previously, the same number of recruitment attempts was required each time you performed a guaranteed Scout for a Player.

After the changes, the amount of Gauge required for the next guaranteed Scout will gradually decrease each time you Scout the same Main Pickup Player multiple times during the same event.

The criterion for increasing the Scout Count is the number of times the player has actually Scouted that Main Pickup Player during the event, not the Player's current Breakthrough level.

Therefore, even if you naturally obtain a Player through the recruitment rate, the requirement for the next Scout will not decrease.

The Recruitment Gauge remains unchanged after a natural acquisition, and the Scout Count also remains unchanged.

Although S+ and S Banners share the same Recruitment Gauge, the stages at which the Scout requirement decreases are tracked separately for each Main Pickup Player.

For example, Scouting an S+ Player once will not reduce the next Scout requirement for an S1 or S2 Player.

(S1 and S2: The two S-grade Players appearing during the same event.)

The Scout Count will reset when the event changes.

Even if you already own the Player or have already reached 5 Breakthroughs, the first Scout requirement will apply again in a new event.

Under the existing system, if a player did not naturally obtain an S+ Player and Scouted all the way to 5 Breakthroughs, up to 900 recruitment attempts were required.

After the changes, the same process will require a maximum of 605 recruitment attempts.

Assuming a player obtains the Player entirely through Scouting without any natural acquisitions, the maximum number of recruitment attempts required will decrease by approximately:

• 16.7% for the First Acquisition
• 26.7% for 3 Breakthroughs
• 32.8% for 5 Breakthroughs

This adjustment is intended to reduce the large differences in Breakthrough results that previously occurred depending on whether a player happened to obtain the Player naturally.

By lowering the Gauge requirement for repeated Scouts, we want to provide more consistent acquisition and Breakthrough results that better correspond to the number of recruitment attempts and resources spent, even when a player has poor luck.

Handling of Existing Pickup Player Scout Points and Recruitment Tickets

Existing Pickup Player Scout Points will not expire.

To align the value of the existing S+ Player Scout requirement of 450 with the new initial requirement of 125, existing Scout Points will be convertible at a rate of:

3.6 existing Scout Points = 1 Pickup Recruitment Gauge

If a decimal occurs during conversion, it will be rounded up.

Accordingly, 450 existing Scout Points will convert to 125 Pickup Recruitment Gauge.

Players do not have to convert all of their Points at once.

They can choose to convert as much as they want at the event and time of their choosing.

Splitting the conversion into multiple transactions will produce the same final result.

The rounding-up process will not be applied separately to each individual conversion. Instead, it will be calculated based on the cumulative total of Points converted so far.

Existing Pickup Player Recruitment Tickets can also be used during any event of the player's choice.

When a Recruitment Ticket is used for Pickup Player recruitment, the Pickup Recruitment Gauge will increase by the corresponding number of recruitment attempts.

Detailed information about the conversion process and the relevant UI will be provided in a separate announcement before the changes are implemented.

Key Information 2. Pickup Player Banners and Recruitment Rates Will Be Adjusted

Along with the introduction of the Recruitment Gauge and the reduction in Scout requirements, the individual recruitment rates of Main Pickup Players will also be adjusted.

The recruitment rate of the Main S+ Player will be reduced from 0.750% to 0.375%.

We understand that this change may be unfavorable to players who perform fewer recruitment attempts or primarily rely on natural acquisition through recruitment rates.

Nevertheless, we have decided to adjust both the recruitment rate and guaranteed acquisition requirements together because simply lowering the Scout requirement while maintaining the current recruitment rate would not sufficiently address the rapid increase in high Breakthrough levels and the accumulation of remaining Scout Points that occurred during the first half of the year.

If we lower the Scout requirement while maintaining the current recruitment rate, natural acquisitions and Gauge accumulation would occur simultaneously.

Even when players make the same number of recruitment attempts, they could naturally obtain multiple copies while also quickly reaching additional guaranteed Scouts through their accumulated Gauge.

This could increase the speed at which new Players reach higher Breakthrough levels even further, potentially worsening the very problem this update is intended to resolve.

Therefore, with this update, we want to shift some of the value of Player acquisition away from recruitment probability and toward a guaranteed acquisition structure in which players can obtain more certain results based on the number of recruitment attempts they make.

Our goal is to reduce the gap between players who obtain Players multiple times through favorable recruitment results and players who go for a long period without obtaining a Player at all, while providing clear Breakthrough results to players who make a sufficient number of recruitment attempts.

When one S+ Player and two S Players appear in the same event, there will be three Pickup Banners in total.

S+ Player Banner

Featured Player	Recruitment Rate
Main Pickup S+ Player	0.375%
Same-event Pickup S1 Player	0.100%
Same-event Pickup S2 Player	0.100%
Total Event Pickup Players	0.575%

S1 Player Banner

Featured Player	Recruitment Rate
Main Pickup S1 Player	0.500%
Same-event S+ Player	0.080%
Same-event Pickup S2 Player	0.150%
Total Event Pickup Players	0.730%

S2 Player Banner

Featured Player	Recruitment Rate
Main Pickup S2 Player	0.500%
Same-event S+ Player	0.080%
Same-event Pickup S1 Player	0.150%
Total Event Pickup Players	0.730%

The Player that can be guaranteed through each Banner is the Main Pickup Player of that Banner.

Other Players from the same event may also appear through the recruitment rate, but they are not included as guaranteed acquisition targets for that Banner.

If no S+ Player appears in the same event, the additional 0.230% Pickup rate assigned to the S Banner will be distributed equally among the other S Pickup Players.

Even with the reduced Scout requirements, we did not want recruitment to become a repetitive process of simply filling a Gauge.

In particular, we do not want to repeat the previous structure in which players had to repeatedly recruit from S Player Banners they did not want in order to accumulate enough attempts to obtain an S+ Player.

Instead, players will be able to focus on the Banner of the Main Pickup Player they actually want, while other Pickup Players from the same event will still have a chance to appear.

This is intended to preserve the anticipation and excitement of obtaining a Player with each recruitment attempt.

Key Information 3. The Structure Allowing New Players to Be Obtained Through Event Participation Alone Will Remain

The Spike Cross has traditionally encouraged players who participate sufficiently in major events to obtain a new S+ Player without making additional purchases.

This direction will remain after the upcoming changes.

After the H1 changes, recruitment resources provided through events were converted into universal Pickup Player Scout Points, which could continue accumulating into future events and Pickups.

As a result, providing more event rewards also affected guaranteed acquisition for all future Pickup Players.

Over the long term, this made it increasingly difficult to provide sufficient event currency.

It also created a structure that could reduce the rewards available to new and returning players.

To address this issue, we will introduce a separate Event Recruitment Gauge, which increases when recruitment is performed using event currency or Event Player Recruitment Tickets.

The Event Recruitment Gauge can only be used during the corresponding event and expires when the event ends, along with any unused event currency.

The reason for making the Event Recruitment Gauge expire is to prevent event rewards from accumulating indefinitely toward guaranteed acquisitions in every future Pickup Event.

Instead, we want resources earned from the current event to directly contribute to obtaining Players in the current event.

At the same time, we plan to provide enough resources for players who participate sufficiently in an event to perform approximately 130 Player recruitments.

Since the initial Scout requirement for an S+ Player is 125 Recruitment Gauge, the amount of resources available during the event will allow players to perform 130 recruitments and guarantee one event Pickup Player, including an S+ Player.

When an event ends, only unused event currency and Event Recruitment Gauge will expire.

The Pickup Recruitment Gauge will not expire and will carry over to the next event even if you do not perform a Scout.

We will also provide sufficient UI notifications and separate pop-ups before the end of an event to ensure that players do not unintentionally lose their Gauge or miss an available Player.

Through this change, we want to reduce the issue of event rewards accumulating indefinitely toward all future Pickup Events while maintaining the fundamental path that allows new and returning players to obtain a new Player through event participation alone.

Based on this structure, we will continue providing sufficient event rewards in a more sustainable way.

Key Information 4. Player Recruitment and Skin Recruitment Will Be Separated

The current system was designed with Player recruitment and Skin acquisition together within a single event, with the intention of creating additional excitement from obtaining a Skin while recruiting a Player.

However, in practice, this did not consistently provide the experience we intended.

Players who only wanted a Player still had to participate in recruitment connected to Skin acquisition, while players who only wanted a Skin also had to participate in the Player recruitment process.

In particular, Pickup Player Scout Points carried over to future events, while Skin Scout Points expired when an event ended, meaning the two currencies operated under different values and rules.

As a result, both players who wanted Players and players who wanted Skins had to participate in recruitment that was not directly related to their desired goal.

This also made it difficult to distinguish between Pickup Player Scout Points and Skin Scout Points.

In addition, because rewards provided through Skin Events accumulated toward guaranteed acquisition in future Player Pickup Events, it became increasingly difficult to design sufficient reward amounts that matched the purpose of each individual event.

For these reasons, we plan to separate Player recruitment and Skin recruitment into independent systems so that players can focus directly on the rewards they want.

However, separating Skin recruitment does not necessarily mean that the cost of acquiring Skins will become lower than it is now.

As we continue improving Skin quality and adding elements such as voice acting, the cost will be set appropriately for the content provided.

At the same time, we will design the system so that players who only want Skins do not have to participate in Player recruitment and bear a large additional cost as they currently do.

Further details will be announced separately once the system has been finalized, before the actual implementation.

📢 2026 Second Half Pickup Player & Skin Recruitment System Changes (2)