And that gacha games are a constant reminder that your skill isn't the only thing that matters. “And I think it's also in part cultural in how we see competition working I think it's tied to the meritocratic ideal that we should be able to be judged based on our skill rather than what we inherit. “I think it comes, in part, from the economic system in which our games have existed for a while,” Paul says, referring to the business model where everybody pays a $60 entry fee for a title. “I started thinking about why League of Legends, which is a free-to-play game, gets a pass on everything, but these other games don’t,” Paul says. Last month, Seattle University communications professor Christopher Paul published a book on what he calls a “bias” among Westerners against free-to-play games: Free-to-Play: Mobile Video Games, Bias, and Norms. While it’s the most downloaded game in the United States as of Sunday, the top four countries by consumer spend are China, Japan, South Korea, and the US, according to App Annie. The idea that Genshin Impact could be a “scam” may be rooted in cultural expectations around gaming.
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And while players can earn free wishes by reaching certain benchmarks, to get and max out all 23 characters or experience the full game, they have to open their wallets. But it’s hard not to get FOMO when the correlation between money and fun is so obvious, especially when popular Twitch streamers and YouTubers have made such sport out of it. Genshin Impact costs nothing to play, and even without spending cash on wishes players can enjoy the bucolic scenery and fantasy plot lines. And top-grossing apps like Marvel Contest of Champions similarly invite players to spend real money on long-shot chances at better characters. In Overwatch, for example, you can buy in-game currency, redeemable for loot boxes, which may contain character skins or player icons. A version of the mechanic has existed in Western games for over a decade in the form of random rewards or weapon skins in first-person shooters.
Gacha is a term traditionally reserved for “pulling” or “spinning for” characters or items in (often free-to-play) mobile games from China, Japan, and South Korea. As one of the most popular “gacha” games ever in the United States, Genshin Impact is forcing players to grapple with a game mechanic long described as “predatory.” In an interview with WIRED, Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo attributed its good fortune to its free-to-play model and presence on PC, PlayStation 4, Android, and iOS.
As his roommates cheer him on with cries of “con-tent, con-tent, con-tent,” 10 glowing streamers appear in the sky, each signifying a randomized reward. His mouse hovers over the game’s “Wish” button, which converts in-game currency into chances to receive rare items and playable waifus or husbandos. A group of seven men screaming like lit-up football spectators huddle around a Genshin Impact player at his PC. One recent TikTok video might explain that success. It was the number one mobile game by consumer spend globally in October, according to app analytics company App Annie. In less than two weeks after its late September release, it grossed over $100 million and took the title of the most popular Chinese release ever in the West. On the surface, it’s an excellent game, a free-to-play, anime Breath of the Wild, with crowd-pleasing world-building and charismatic characters. Streamers, YouTubers, and TikTokers have glommed onto Chinese role-playing game Genshin Impact like it’s a magic top hat unspooling an endless rope of content.