FTC forces Genshin Impact to reveal real costs behind gacha giant

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has forced Genshin Impact developer, HoYoverse, to show the true numbers behind its gacha game. It has resulted in the information being surfaced in-game, in an effort to curb overspending.

HoYoverse’s settlement with the FTC for $20 million comes with a few other catches, too. The FTC has also made it mandatory for Genshin Impact to verify US players’ age. All of this comes from COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which the FTC found HoYoverse to have violated after it had advertised its loot boxes to children.

It also didn’t handle the data of children up to standards, with no parental consent process in place. According to the FTC, it also “shared” the data with third parties.

Those under 16 won’t be able to purchase loot boxes without parental permission.

Age verification will commence on May 20, and those who fail to provide the correct information before July 18 will simply have their account suspended. This includes friends and chat data, which will be deleted.

However, the biggest hit to HoYoverse is the complete unveiling of its odds of “pulling” a character or weapon. Gacha games, if you’ve not encountered them, are effectively glorified gambling wrapped up in a video game. Rather than pouring money into slots, you “pull” from “banners,” which indicate different events or limited-time characters and items.

It stems from “gashapon”, Japanese capsule toys that you pay a few yen for to get something at random. Genshin Impact and the gacha genre of games utilise this method to make millions. Genshin Impact itself has now passed $3 billion on mobile phones. In China, where gacha games are hugely popular, it has topped $5 billion.

These can then be used in the game, but there’s always a “meta”, something that will either make the game easier or make the player more effective. This is where concerns come in around overspending and “dark patterns”, something that Epic Games has been accused of exploiting in games like Fortnite.

Dark patterns effectively usher the player into spending real cash on the game or staying within the game to carry on playing. This can be anything from careful menu placement to pop-ups or through gameplay.

Genshin Impact did provide some information before this, but it masked the true cost of actually managing to acquire particular characters. It’s almost entirely random what you get, and after so many “failed” attempts, you’ll be given a “pity roll”, which increases the odds slightly.

For example, as of right now, the “Character Event Wish” for the character Escoffier now contains a block of information about odds. It reads:

“The consolidated probability of obtaining 5-star event-exclusive characters (including wish guarantees and Capturing Radiance) is 1.103%.

The cost of obtaining a 5-star event-exlusive character may vary from $1.98 to $475.20 (if purchased in USD).”

Similar information is provided on the Weapon Event Wish banner, too, with a 1.480% chance and a maximum of $422.40 spent to acquire the featured weapon.

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