Gacha game

A gacha game will have collectable characters, cards, or other items. Many of them are obtainable only through a "gacha" mechanic,[3] wherein, the player exchanges in-game currency for "pulls" or "spins", each pull yielding a random collectable "drop". The "pulls" are analogous to spins on a slot machine or roulette wheel.

Some of the "drops", drop less frequently than others. As such, drops can often be categorized into rarity "tiers". Historically, gacha games did not always share their droprates. Those that did so were called "open gacha" and those that don't were "closed gacha". In many jurisdictions it is now legally required for the item rarities to be public information. As such, virtually all contemporary gacha games share this information.

Between rarity and limited-time availability drops, players are incentivized to roll while their desired item is available.[3]

Some gacha models use an "eventually guaranteed drop" mechanic called "pity": the player will be guaranteed a given drop after pulling for it a large number of times without success. Pity mechanics can be "soft" or "hard". "Soft" pity increases the probability slightly of getting a rare item with every pull, counting up and recalculating the probability until the rare item is received, while "hard" pity uses a counter to keep track of the number of pulls and automatically dispense the rare item after reaching a preset number of rolls.

Gacha games often feature several in-game currencies with intricate conversion methods, obscuring the actual value of non-premium currencies. While players can earn the "premium" currency during gameplay, it's available in strictly limited amounts.

Many kinds of virtual items can be in the loot table for a banner. Gameplay units such as cards, characters, equippable gear, or more abstract loot such as "experience" are all possible.

In many games, gacha rewards are essential for players to make progress in the game.[6] Players are generally given free or discounted gachas in low amounts on a regular schedule, in exchange for logging in or doing in-game tasks.

Banners are "pools" of available items (characters, loot, cards, etc) that players can "roll" on. Offered banners can be perpetually available or can have a limited duration. Games generally have some of both, with player retention efforts and in-game advertising emphasizing the limited availability of some or all of the items in the latter.

Sometimes, these banners are limited, such that specific prizes can only be obtained within a specific event time-frame.[3]

Stamina is a resource that is required for, and consumed by, core in-game actions such as (in a fighting-oriented game) beginning combat encounters. It regenerates over time, often only up to a cap. It can typically be regenerated or gained instantly through some form of microtransaction or premium currency spending. The name for this resource is usually different on a per-game basis, but stamina is typically the general term used for this type of currency in general across games.

An aspect of monetization commonly found in the financing of gacha games involves a model where a large part of the game's revenue comes from a very small proportion of players who spend an unusually large amount of money on gacha rolls, essentially subsidising the game for other players who may spend smaller amounts of money, or even free-to-play players that spend no money at all. The high-spending players are often colloquially referred to as "whales".[12]

In May 2012, an article was published in the Yomiuri Shimbun, that criticized social networking games and specifically gacha for exploiting the naivety of children to make a profit. The main complaint of the article was that the gacha model too closely resembled gambling. The paper called for an investigation by Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency to prevent abuse of the system.[14]

Several cases of teenagers and even younger kids spending equivalents of over US$1000 have been reported in the media.[15][16] Shortly after, the suggested investigation was performed and the model of complete gacha was declared illegal by the Consumer Affairs Agency. The Consumer Affairs Agency stated that virtual items could be considered "prizes" under existing legislation written in 1977 to prevent the complete gacha practice in the context of baseball trading cards. Within a month of the statement being issued, all major Japanese game publishers had removed complete gacha rules from their games, though many developers found ways around this.[8][17]

Several lawsuits have been filed in Japan against companies publishing gacha games, sometimes resulting in decreases in stock prices.[18][19][20] Japanese mobile game developers, including GREE and DeNA, worked to establish a self-regulating industry group, the Japan Social Game Association, which was an attempt to push developers from these models, but it did not prove successful, and the Association was disbanded by 2015.[17]

The mechanism has come under scrutiny for its similarity to gambling. Some countries require drop rates to be made public, or have banned certain practices (e.g., complete gacha).[21][22] Many players also feel regret after making purchases in these games according to a survey.[23] Gacha games have also been criticized for exposing children to gambling-like mechanics where they will also potentially have the ability to make in-game payments.[24]

A 2019 research paper has noted that "the gacha system has proven to be addictive and problematic" and speculated that the loopholes in the gacha system could be exploited for international money laundering.[18]