“Genshin Impact deceived children” – authorities make serious allegations against the gacha game and demand a $20 million fine

earthpressnews

A US authority has made serious allegations against the gacha game Genshin Impact and is demanding a high fine.

What are these accusations? As the US federal agency “Federal Trade Commission” (FTC for short) announced, the makers of Genshin Impact have agreed to a payment of $20 million (approximately 19.5 million euros) (via ftc.gov). The FTC is the US trade commission.

The developers have also agreed to exclude children under 16 from in-game purchases without parental consent. The FTC says: “The company violated a child privacy law and misled children and other users about the true cost of in-game transactions and the chances of winning rare prizes.”

The accusation of violating children’s privacy stems from the collection of personal data. HoYoverse was clear that children under 13 were using their service and were still collecting data without parental consent.

Genshin Impact: Trailer shows gameplay for Natlan

More videos

Autoplay

The FTC further criticizes the game’s gacha mechanics: “Genshin Impact deceived children, teenagers and other players into spending hundreds of dollars on prizes that they had little chance of winning.”

That should change in the future if a federal judge agrees to the FTC’s requested orders.

The FTC’s orders require:

  • Paying a $20 million fine
  • Ban on allowing children under 16 to purchase loot boxes in their video games without express parental consent;
  • Banning the sale of loot boxes using virtual currency without giving consumers the opportunity to purchase them directly with real money;
  • Prohibition of misrepresentation of odds, prizes and features of loot boxes;
  • Obligation to disclose loot box quotas and exchange rates for multi-tier virtual currencies;
  • Obligation to delete any personal data previously collected from children under 13 years of age unless they obtain parental consent to retain that data; and
  • Commitment to compliance with COPPA, including notice and consent requirements.

    • *Coppa = Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (German: “Law to protect the privacy of children on the Internet”)

    What’s the problem with Genshin Impact? Genshin Impact is a so-called gacha game. This means that you get new characters and weapons by trying to draw them from a kind of gambling machine. In Genshin Impact, the “gacha machines” are called banners.

    The players of the action RPG are often after the rare 5-star characters. However, the probability of getting such a character is very low. If you’re very unlucky, you’ll have to draw up to 180 times to get the character you want.

    A draw in Genshin Impact requires “Destiny”, which you can get with the premium currency “Urgestein”, among other things, which in turn can only be exchanged for creation crystals, which in turn can only be purchased in the shop for real money.

    According to the FTC, the US Department of Justice believes that Genshin Impact’s system is confusing, especially for children and young people. This obscures the amount of money players spend to obtain a 5-star character. You can find out more about Genshin Impact’s gacha system here: Genshin Impact: Gacha system FAQ – What is Pay2Win really like?

    mmod-game