Genshin Impact, one of the most popular open-world RPGs, has come under fire for its controversial gacha system. Cognosphere, the developer of Genshin Impacy, has recently been fined $20 million after the Federal Trade Commission claimed that the company encourages gambling among minors.
Genshin Impact employs a gacha system, which is a mechanic where players spend in-game currency to receive random virtual items, such as rare characters or weapons. This system has been criticized by the FTC, as they allege that Cognosphere engaged in unfair and deceptive practices. They claim that since the game uses virtual currency, many consumers would be confused about the real-world monetary value of the purchases in-game. They argue that this made it hard for players, especially minors, to fully grasp how much money they were spending.
Katie Ngo, an ERHS senior, says, “I haven’t ever felt pressured to spend money on wishes since I can still have fun as a F2P (free-to-play).”
She continues, “I also don’t feel like it’s worth spending money on a game I might not enjoy in the future too.”
The FTC also asserted that Cognosphere collected personal information from children under 13 without getting verifiable parental consent, which is required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This data collection, which included user IDs and device-related identifiers, was shared with third-party analytics and advertising providers.
With the proposed stipulated order, Cognosphere Pte. Ltd and Cognosphere LLC would have to pay a $20 million fine and make changes to the game based on the issues addressed in the complaint. Cognosphere will be prohibited from allowing minors under 16 years old to buy loot boxes without parental consent, misinterpreting prices and loot box rates, and selling loot boxes with in-game currency without issuing an alternative of purchasing with real money. They will also be obligated to comply with COPPA, delete any personal information collected, and disclose all rate probabilities of the loot boxes.
Instagram user @x4rstt says, “I felt the lawsuit came out of nowhere personally, but it makes sense.”
“The game is designed to make you want to spend money through limited characters and not giving enough rewards to comfortably get them. Really though, it’s not as bad as many other games in the same category and for Genshin to get a lawsuit and the others not seems like a bit of an overreaction. But, I do think the changes they proposed will be for the better, especially for younger audiences that don’t really understand what or how much they are paying.”
