Quick answer: No — Arena Breakout: Infinite is not pay-to-win in the way most extraction shooters get accused of, because you can no longer buy Koen (the gameplay currency) with real money. Morefun removed that system when the game left Early Access and launched 1.0 on September 15, 2025. Today, real money buys Bonds, and Bonds buy cosmetics, extra stash space, and a Secure Case subscription that protects gear from loss. That last one is a real convenience-and-safety-net advantage, so the honest verdict is: ABI sells convenience and safety, not raw power or currency. This guide is current for Season 6: White Nights (live since June 30, 2026).
Arena Breakout: Infinite ("ABI") is Morefun Studios' hardcore, free-to-play tactical extraction shooter on PC (Steam appid 2073620). It runs on the same loop as its genre rivals — kit up, drop into a raid, loot, and extract before someone kills you and takes everything. In games like that, the "pay-to-win" question is the first thing a new Operator asks, and the answer for ABI has genuinely changed since launch. Most guides you'll find still describe the old Early Access economy. Here's what's actually true right now.
Can you buy Koen with real money in Arena Breakout: Infinite?
No. You cannot buy Koen with real money. This is the single most important fact about ABI's economy, and it's the one most out-of-date articles get wrong.
Koen is the in-raid gameplay currency — it buys guns, ammo, armor, mods, meds, and everything on the player Market. In the game's Early Access phase, you could top up Koen with cash, which is the textbook definition of pay-to-win in an extraction shooter: a spender could out-gear you with a credit card. Morefun deleted that system ahead of the full 1.0 launch.
Here's the developer's own explanation, given at the time of the change:
"In its early phase, the purchasing Koen system offered some players a fast track to restart and recover — a purpose it has now fulfilled. Therefore, with the Full Release, we have decided to officially bring it to an end, shifting our focus entirely toward more diverse, fair, and rewarding ways for players to earn resources." — Morefun Studios (reported by PCGamesN, September 5, 2025)
So as of the Steam and Epic Games Store 1.0 launch on September 15, 2025, Koen is earn-only: you get it from looting (cash registers, safes, stashes), quest and mission rewards, selling on the Market, and barter flips. There is no cash "top up Koen" button, and you should treat any third-party site claiming to sell you Koen as both stale marketing and a serious risk (more on that below).
The two currencies: Koen vs Bonds
ABI runs two currencies, and conflating them is where "is ABI pay to win" arguments go wrong. They do completely different jobs.
| Currency | How you get it | Buyable with real money? | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Koen | Looted in raid, quest/mission rewards, selling on the Market, barter flips | No — removed at 1.0 | All gameplay: guns, ammo, armor, mods, meds, Market purchases, barters |
| Bonds | Bought with real money; also given away heavily in events | Yes — this is the premium currency | Cosmetics/skins, Battle Pass, the Secure Case subscription, keychains, convenience items |
The important line: Bonds cannot be turned into gameplay power directly. You can't spend Bonds on a better rifle, more penetrating ammo, or a thicker plate. Bonds buy how you look and how much you can protect and store — not what you bring into a gunfight.
It's also worth knowing that Bonds aren't strictly a spender's currency. Morefun hands them out in bulk during events — the 1st Anniversary campaign alone gave players 4,500 Bonds for free through logins and missions, and a summer Discord event in August 2026 ran a $500 Bonds prize pool. A patient free-to-play Operator accumulates a meaningful Bonds balance without spending a cent.
So where does money actually help? The Secure Case
If ABI has a "pay for advantage" lever, this is it — and it's a subtle one.
The Secure Case is ABI's secure-container equivalent: items placed inside it survive your death and failed extractions. In an extraction shooter, that's genuinely valuable — it lets you carry a key or a high-value red out of a bad raid instead of losing everything. The catch is that the Secure Case is monetized as a recurring subscription, not a permanent unlock. It comes in 2×2 and 3×3 sizes, and access lapses and must be renewed roughly every 30 days (PCGamesN).
Three things keep this from being flat pay-to-win:
- It protects, it doesn't kill. A Secure Case never fires a bullet. It reduces your loss on a bad raid; it doesn't win you the fight.
- There are free routes. Morefun repeatedly gives out Secure Case trial cards at season boundaries and anniversaries — for example, a free 3×3 Secure Case trial card was handed out as an end-of-season reward as Season 5 wrapped up (claimable in-game email during S5's final days), and completing a season's quest line is widely reported by the community to grant a case as well. You are not locked out of the mechanic for being free-to-play.
- Even the Secure Case has rules. Season 6 introduced an official restriction that's easy to miss: "Red ammo cannot be placed in secure cases." The highest-tier ammo can't be safe-stored, which deliberately caps how much a subscriber can hoard the best consumables.
Verdict on the Secure Case: it's a convenience-and-safety-net advantage — the kind of "pay to save time and reduce frustration" monetization that's common in live-service games — not a "pay to out-gun" advantage. Exact Bonds prices for cases float and are frequently misreported by top-up sites, so check the price in-client before buying; we won't quote a number we can't verify against the game.
What about skills and the new Mastery System — is that pay-to-win?
Season 6 added the Mastery System (note: it is not a "Talent System" — that's a name invented by content farms), and Morefun designed it specifically to avoid a power-creep accusation. Their own framing for it was "No Superpowers."
The rules make the point:
- Every Operator starts with 6 Mastery Points, and earns 6 more by leveling their character to Lv. 26 — a maximum of 12 points, which is the cap. (Season 6 Update Announcement, Morefun Studios)
- You can freely respec anytime outside a raid, with no cost and no cooldown.
- A maximum of 6 Masteries can be active at once.
- Masteries give survival and searching bonuses — widening your margin of error — not combat abilities.
Crucially, none of it is for sale. There is no consumable, no Bonds cost, and no grind-to-pay shortcut; every player who hits Lv. 26 has the exact same 12 points to spend. Whatever you think of the system, it is not a monetized power ladder.
The real "advantage" in ABI is knowledge, not a wallet
Because you can't buy Koen or gear directly, the things that actually decide raids in ABI are player-side:
- Ammo-vs-armor math. Bringing the right Pierce Level for the armor you expect to meet matters far more than raw spend. A budget Tier-4 round through the correct plate beats an expensive round through the wrong one. (See our full ABI ammo & armor Pierce Level guide.)
- Insurance and the Secure Case to manage loss, so a bad raid doesn't wipe your progress.
- Market and barter literacy. Knowing when to sell your 5-item stack into a Market slot, and which Contact barter flips gear a Loyalty Level early, is how free-to-play players build a Koen cushion.
- Game knowledge — extraction timings, where AI Elites (breachers, snipers, grenadiers, fumigators) spawn, and when to third-party a fight.
None of those are things a bigger payment fixes. That's the structural reason ABI's "pay-to-win" reputation has faded since launch: the one thing money used to buy — Koen — is gone.
Warning: "buying Koen" from third-party sites is a ban risk, not a shortcut
Because you can't buy Koen in-game, a cottage industry of third-party sellers claims to sell it anyway. Do not. This isn't a moral footnote — it's one of the most aggressively enforced anti-RMT regimes in the genre, and the penalties fall on buyers, not just sellers.
Morefun's own published policy is blunt. In its Strengthening Measures Against Illegal Trading notice, the studio said it will confiscate all profits gained through illicit Koen trading and lower the buyer's Merit Score, with escalating bans and up to double the item's value in Koen confiscated for repeat offenders. Sellers face up to ten-year bans. And the enforcement volume is real: a single fortnightly ban report (Bans Notice, Morefun Studios, on Steam) listed 11,065 cheating bans, 1,096 ten-year bans, and 897 device/IP bans in one two-week window, under a stated "0% tolerance" policy with retroactive review of historical data.
ABI has no gift or mail system, so any "Koen delivery" requires the exact in-raid hand-off Morefun detects and punishes. Translation: paying a third party to "buy Koen" risks losing the Koen and your account. The safe — and the only sustainable — way to get Koen is to earn it in raid.
Is Arena Breakout: Infinite free-to-play, and is it worth it without paying?
Yes on both counts. ABI is free-to-play on Steam and the Epic Games Store, with 6 maps, 75+ weapons, and 900+ mods available to everyone. A free Operator can reach max-level, earn the full 12 Mastery Points, farm Koen on the Market, and win raids on skill alone. What you'd be paying for is time and comfort — cosmetics, extra stash space, and the Secure Case safety net — not a combat edge.
That's a defensible free-to-play model for a hardcore extraction shooter, and it's why the current honest answer to "is ABI pay to win" is no, not in the way it once was — with the fair-minded asterisk that the Secure Case is a paid convenience some players will feel they need.
FAQ
Can you buy Koen with real money in Arena Breakout: Infinite? No. Morefun removed the ability to purchase Koen when the game launched 1.0 on September 15, 2025. Koen is now earned only — through looting, missions, selling on the Market, and barter trades. Any site claiming to sell you Koen is both out of date and a ban risk.
What's the difference between Koen and Bonds? Koen is the gameplay currency (earn-only) that buys guns, ammo, armor, and Market items. Bonds are the premium currency (bought with real money, but also given away in events) that buy cosmetics, the Battle Pass, and the Secure Case subscription. Bonds cannot be converted into Koen or into gameplay power.
Is the Secure Case pay-to-win? It's the closest thing ABI has to a paid advantage, but it protects gear from loss rather than winning fights, it's available free via trial cards and season-quest rewards, and it can't store red ammo. Treat it as a paid convenience and safety net, not a power upgrade.
Is the Mastery System something you can pay for? No. Every Operator earns the same 12 Mastery Points by reaching Lv. 26, respecs are free with no cooldown, and there is no Bonds cost or purchasable shortcut. Morefun deliberately framed it as "No Superpowers."
Is Arena Breakout: Infinite free-to-play? Yes. It's free on Steam (appid 2073620) and the Epic Games Store, with full access to all maps, weapons, and mods. Paying only affects cosmetics, stash space, and the Secure Case.
Does spending money let you skip the grind? Only indirectly. You can't buy Koen or gear, so you can't buy your way to a stronger loadout. Money buys stash space and loss protection, which lets you keep more of what you earn — but you still have to earn it in raid.
More Arena Breakout: Infinite guides:
- Does Arena Breakout: Infinite wipe? Season resets explained
- ABI ammo & armor guide: Pierce Levels explained (Season 6)
- Arena Breakout: Infinite codes — the honest, up-to-date list
Accurate as of Season 6: White Nights (live since June 30, 2026). ABI's economy and systems are adjusted every season — check the in-game store and the official Steam news feed for the latest before making a purchase.
