Children and teens may soon be unable to play Genshin Gacha. The game’s developer agreed to block players under 16 from making in-game purchases without parental consent to resolve complaints from the Federal Trade Commission. They also agreed to pay a $20 million penalty. “Genshin tricked children, teens, and other players into spending hundreds of dollars on prizes they had no chance of winning,” said FTC Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine.
The commission said in its complaint that the developer’s marketing actively targeted children and that the company also violated COPPA by collecting personal information from children under 13. The developer’s US subsidiary, HoYverse, allegedly deceived players about the chances of winning rare loot boxes. They use confusing virtual currency systems as prizes that are unfair to children and teens. The FTC says this misleads players about how much money they actually need to spend to win rarer prizes. Genshin Impact uses a gacha system instead of traditional loot box mechanics, allowing players to earn random items and characters by “pulling” banners.
The FTC’s proposed order would prohibit Genshin from selling loot boxes using virtual currency unless it also offers the option to buy them directly with real money. The company wants to prohibit developers from misrepresenting the odds and processes of loot boxes, and wants to require the company to disclose gacha odds and cryptocurrency exchange rates. The commission wants to order HoYverse to delete personal information collected from children up to the age of 13 unless they have obtained parental consent. However, a federal judge would have to approve a proposed order with all of these requirements, so it would not take effect immediately.
