Genshin Impact Maker to Pay $20 Million FTC Fine Over Gacha System 1

Genshin Impact maker Cognosphere – which conducts business as HoYoverse – has agreed to pay a $20 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), settling a case which alleges it’s misleading children over the true cost of obtaining rare gacha rewards.

The action RPG, which first launched on PS4 in 2020 and was later ported to the PS5, allows players to pull for powerful characters by spending virtual currency. With every 90 draws you’ll be guaranteed a 5-Star character, but there’s only a 50% chance you’ll roll the promoted avatar. If you don’t get the headline character, they can be guaranteed with a further 90 pulls.

It’s worth noting that you do have a small percentage chance of earning a 5-Star character before hitting the abovementioned boundaries, but the odds are low.

Similarly, you can earn virtual currency from playing the game, but booster denominations can also be purchased with real money from the PS Store. The FTC says this format is “challenging” and “confusing”.

Ultimately, in a response, Cognosphere said it believes the FTC’s accusations are “inaccurate”, although it’s agreed to settle with the government body as part of a “commitment to transparency for our players”. In other words: it probably didn’t have a choice.

“Animation-style games and shows are well-received by global audiences and players across various ages,” it said in a statement. “Genshin Impact is a popular free-to-play, anime-style game designed for older teens and adults.

“While we believe many of the FTC’s allegations are inaccurate, we agreed to this settlement because we value the trust of our community and share a commitment to transparency for our players.

“Under the agreement, we will introduce new age-gate and parental consent protections for children and young teens and increase our in-game disclosures around virtual currency and rewards for players in the US in the coming months.”

It sounds like these changes will only affect the American version of the game, although we imagine they’ll probably be rolled out worldwide in an attempt to avoid further issues with various other government bodies around the globe. They’ll probably also get added to other titles within the HoYoverse family, like Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero.

The company has also been ordered to delete any personal information previously collected from children under 13 without parental consent, and it must comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act moving forwards.

[source eurogamer.net]