Are Gacha Games the Wave of the Future?

Monetization has been a hot topic ever since the rise of digital game downloads first came to fruition. From downloadable content to loot boxes, a lot of money has been made, and a lot of controversy has been stirred. But could gacha games, one of the most popular trends in gaming today, be the real wave of the future?

There is evidence to support this idea. The rise of gacha games is all but undeniable, though there may be a few factors working against these games completely taking over the industry.

What is a gacha game?

Gacha games are primarily defined by the rewards, or “loot,” that they randomly distribute to players. Some of these rewards are given out at no cost, to incentivize players to continue playing the game and to demonstrate the potential of the rewards. But most of the time, these rewards carry a cost.

Those costs can sometimes be fulfilled by in-game currency, but the ultimate goal in nearly all cases is to persuade players to use real-world currency to try for more random rewards. But what would convince players to spend money for random rewards like this?

One of the main reasons why gacha games have progressed to the point that they have is that many of these games are now of greater quality than they once were. Genshin Impact is a great example of this. The game has been given comparisons as lofty as to the critically-acclaimed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Despite its quality, it’s completely free to play.

This strategy, creating an ostensibly free game of great quality to incentivize players to give it a try, is a winning one. The more players who try the game, the more opportunities there are to sell those players on paying for random loot.

Genshin Impact is far from the only game to work this way. Fate/Grand Order, Wuthering Waves, and the appropriately-titled Gacha World are just a few other examples of this new trend.

What are the drawbacks to gacha games?

One of the biggest drawbacks to gacha games is the stigma they carry as free-to-play games that can actually cost players quite a lot of money. And the games themselves add to this stigma by making it difficult for players to check how much money they’ve spent in a gacha game.

It also hurts players when they spend money only to receive an unwanted bit of digital loot. It’s necessarily part of the gacha design that not every pull is going to result in what players are looking for, but it can still be frustrating to invest into a game financially only to not actually get what you were looking for.

Transparency around this loot is also at issue. Much controversy has been raised over the math tables used to decide what type of loot players will receive. Some government entities have even stepped forward to investigate companies engaging in “loot box” practices, while others have even sought to pass laws regulating micro transactions including so-called loot boxes.It also hurts players when they spend money only to receive an unwanted bit of digital loot. It’s necessarily part of the gacha design that not every pull is going to result in what players are looking for, but it can still be frustrating to invest into a game financially only to not actually get what you were looking for.One of the biggest drawbacks to gacha games is the stigma they carry as free-to-play games that can actually cost players quite a lot of money. And the games themselves add to this stigma by making it difficult for players to check how much money they’ve spent in a gacha game.

Why do gacha games continue to thrive?

Until the business practices behind gacha games are completely outlawed, which is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future, gacha games will continue to thrive. Their potential for profit is too high for companies now to try making and running the games, and so long as the quality of those games remains strong, players will continue to flock to play them.

It may seem counterintuitive at first. Why would a game that is free to play have a higher revenue potential than a traditionally-priced game that costs as much as $70 upfront?

The reasoning is pretty simple. Because the barrier to entry is so low, free-to-play gacha games can attract a broader number of players than a game with a high upfront price tag. It’s much easier to convince a player to try a new game when it’s free, than when it costs a healthy upfront sum.

What’s more, once those players are in the door and playing the game, it has been thoroughly proven that they’re willing to spend if they enjoy the experience. This is true for every type of free-to-play game. Even League of Legends, one of the most popular and successful video games to be released worldwide, follows this business model.

Gacha games crank up the motivation for players by offering loot boxes filled with the potential of attractive rewards. It’s one thing to incentivize a player to buy a new cosmetic look for their favorite character in a game like League of Legends. It’s another thing to gate that cosmetic behind a loot box, and to force players to pay into the opportunity multiple times just to have a chance to receive the digital goods they want.

In Genshin Impact for example, the most valuable characters are typically 5-star characters. But the odds of acquiring one of these characters are quite low; you would have to buy multiple chances at the game’s loot boxes in order to have a reliable shot at it. In the meantime, you’re likely to receive less-desirable characters that will allow you to play the game and have fun, but will also serve to remind you of the better options you’re missing out on.

This business model might seem predatory to some. In fact, it may just be predatory, which links back to ongoing efforts to better regulate the practice.

Even if the revenue model behind gacha games is regulated however, we’re likely to see publishers and developers work around those regulations to continue on with the practices behind gacha games. There’s just too much money at stake to give it up, and players have proven themselves far too willing to engage in these money-making practices.