Genshin Impact Hit With Massive Fine Over Gacha

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 18, 2025 13 Views 5 Min Read
Genshin Impact Hit With Massive Fine Over Gacha



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Summary

  • Genshin Impact hit with $20 million fine by FTC.
  • Settles due to gacha system targeting minors.
  • HoYoverse required to delete data of children under 13.

Genshin Impact publisher HoYoverse has settled with the US Federal Trade Commission, with the game publisher being hit with a massive $20 million fine. The fine is due to the way the game’s gacha works, as well as its handling of minors’ data, with the US federal government accusing Genshin Impact of deceiving its players, particularly children and teens, into spending real money when the odds of gaining what was wanted were very low.

Genshin Impact has been an extremely popular mobile game, but it has also received numerous complaints from players regarding its gacha system. In order to acquire new characters to fight with and to acquire weaponry for them, players participate in the game’s “Wish” gacha system, similar to a loot box, letting players perform a pull for a chance at what the gacha’s current banner is offering. However, the odds involved and the age of the audience targeted were things the FTC took issue with.

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Now, a settlement has been reached, with HoYoverse required to pay a $20 million fine, which will be taken by the US Treasury. The FTC claims that HoYoverse has spent millions of dollars to promote its Genshin Impact gacha system, including a particular sponsored video with SSSniperwolf back in 2021. In the video, which SSSniperwolf was paid $100,000 for, the streamer “wished” 12 times in succession, and successfully got Zhongli, the 5-star banner character at the time. The FTC alleged that the video was edited to make the gacha seem more rewarding than it actually was, noting that it wasn’t possible to wish 12 times in a row uninterrupted, and that the animation was abnormal, perhaps indicating that the wishes were scripted and pre-determined.

FTC Takes Issue with Minors Playing Genshin Impact

The settlement also covers alleged mishandling of data involving minors, as well as targeting them for Genshin Impact gacha purchases. In addition to producing the multi-million dollar fine, HoYoverse has agreed to no longer sell gacha wishes to any users under the age of 16 without parental consent. All personal information from children under the age of 13 will be deleted by the company, and gacha wishes must be made available to purchase with real money, rather than first converting it to an in-game currency.

A spokesperson for the game commented on the agreement, indicating that HoYoverse does not admit any wrongdoing, claiming “many” of the allegations are incorrect. However, the company has agreed to the terms because the company wants to ensure the trust of Genshin Impact‘s playerbase. The new settlement must be approved by a judge, but it seems unlikely for it to be thrown out.

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