Good. Now do the same to the major triple A studios attaching loot boxes to every sports game and battle royale. Why the fuck start with Mihoyo?
this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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Probably got put on their radar by people complaining about the Chinese gacha game being too popular or something. Those same people complain much less about their manly sports/shooting games made in the good ol' United States of 'Murica. Even though they have similar predatory mechanics.
And millions of children cried out for their waifus.
(This is good: I play and enjoy Genshin but they're using every single psychological trick to get you to spend money to gamble and that kind of shameless shit shouldn't be put in front of children who don't have sufficient experience and developmental time to not get totally taken.)
Yeah, there's a reason we don't let children into casinos. Putting cute cartoons in the casino on their phone just makes it worse, if anything.
this should have to go through the same regulations as casinos. although that would probably just mean no official release or support for Canadians
I never played Genshin but I did check out ZZZ for a minute. The gacha element was just too intense and it reminded me of games from 15+ years ago that used similar mechanics.
Anything more specific they do more than any other Gacha game?
Yes. They are bigger. It sends a message to the entire predatory ecosystem. Which would not happen if they went for a smaller Gacha game.
Other than that, no, let's give them fines too.
I don't think so, no. At least nothing I've noticed, but they're also not being any better than any other gacha game, either.
Ughh. The selective enforcement is maddening, both with this and TikTok. So much of the filed complaint especially applies to Roblox, but it's clear that we're only interested in protecting our consumers when it really means chipping away at a foreign rival's burgeoning soft power.
That's fine. Gotta start somewhere
I don't expect them to continue, is the problem
Yeah Lina Khan is fired the second Trump takes office, and she's the one opening up all these antitrust suits
Yes it maybe selective and hypocritical but it also sets precedent. Other companies can be held accountable more easily now.
20 mil isn't that much, but this is good news. Hopefully this sets a precedent for other manipulative gacha games.
Genshin alone made over 700 mil last year, this is just cost of doing business for them
Kinda surprised it wasn't a bil, it's a big game
Genshin is in year 5, so it's still an impressive number. Plus they have 3 other live service games running concurrently (one released this past July)
'Member when Kyle's Mom freaked the fuck out and tried to ban Pokémon Red and Blue because they "depicted gambling" in the game corner, which had no links to the outside world and could not be fed with real money in any capacity, was completely contained within the monochrome screen on your Gameboy, and could be save scummed anyway? Pepperidge Farm 'members.
My, how far the bullshit has come.
Anyway, 16 is sure a funny way to spell 18. Why the hell is the age requirement 16 when you can't buy a lottery ticket until you're 18 and in most places you can't enter a casino until you're 21? It's the same thing.
Lootboxes is gambling. So are gacha pulls, and doubly so for both of the above when they can be fueled with real world money. People who are not adults should not be enabled to gamble.
See the tweet from Balatro's developer:
Since PEGI gave us an 18+ rating for having evil playing cards maybe I should add microtransactions/loot boxes/real gambling to lower that rating to 3+ like EA sports FC
Best way to train new gamblers
20 mil is peanuts. Selling shit to children for as long as you can is worth way more. FTC has proven that exploiting kids with gambling mechanics is just good business.
Good. The last thing we need is kids addicted to gambling.
The important data I'd want out of this is how much money went down if younger kids couldn't get addicted.
Just to see how much they could bank off of giving kids addictive personalities for the future.
As much as I like putting limitations on lootboxes or banning them out right, I've seen what developers do when they can't use lootboxes. $20 to $30 "micro" transactions with predatory menus and game mechanics that make you feel bad for not owning the latest hotness. They will do anything to make that microtransaction money regardless. They'll just take advantage of a different part of your brain.
Then ban that shit too
We shouldn't allow corporations to psychology manipulate children.
Don't worry, Genshin has that already
You love to see it.