Gacha Game

A is a game, typically a video game, that implements the machine style mechanics. Similar to loot boxes, live service gacha games entice players to spend in-game currency to receive a random in-game item. Some in-game currency generally can be gained through game play and staying up-to-date, and some by purchasing it from the game publisher using real-world funds.

Most common gacha games are free-to-play (F2P) mobile role-playing video games with an emphasis on strategy, such as team building, synergizing and player improvisation.

The game model has been around since the early 90s with strategy trading card games such as ''Magic: the Gathering'', but began to be widely used in the early 2010s in mobile gaming by Japan. Gacha mechanics have become an integral part of Japanese mobile game culture as well as pop culture in general. The game mechanism is also increasingly used in Chinese and Korean games, as well as European and American games.

Digital ''gacha'' games have been criticized for being designed to be addictive in order to attract "whales" to spend money on microtransactions far beyond the usual price of a video game. The typical gacha game format that encourages spending real-world money on chance-based loot tables with in-game rewards of differing value instead of individual specific purchases has been compared to gambling.

Gameplay

Due to the randomized nature of gacha games, many original gachas are often strategy games or feature elements of strong strategy considerations, encouraging the player to improvise their own solution to problems while also being attentive about new additions to the roster of obtainable characters/items that can add more flexibility to a player's strategy in late/post-game modes such as boss raids and tower-styled challenge rooms.

In many older games, rewards are essential for players to make progress in the game, although certain newer gacha games allow for more flexibility on progression through core content. While players can earn the "premium" currency during gameplay, it is available in controlled amounts at the developer's discretion, with holidays and special events usually boosting the amounts given.

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 in some games emphasizing the limited availability of some or all of the items in the latter. 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. Sometimes, these banners are limited, such that specific prizes can only be obtained within a specific event time-frame. Sometimes, games lift the limited status of certain items to be "commons" or even free, but this not seen often.

Stamina is a resource that is required for, and consumed by, core in-game actions such as engaging with the game, like beginning combat encounters in a fighting-oriented game. It regenerates over time, often only up to a cap. It can typically be regenerated or gained instantly through some form of currency spending, either premium microtransaction or earned in game. 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. Stamina is not always treated as the basis of progression, sometimes only being required for side content. Other times, Stamina burnt is often translated into experience points for an player's entire account in more quick, casual oriented games. In more competitive games such as online trading card games or non-live service RPG games such as '' Xenoblade 2'', they are generally not used for play.

Some gacha games often feature several in-game currencies with intricate conversion methods, obscuring the actual value of non-premium currencies. In some games, players are generally given free or discounted in low amounts on a regular schedule, in exchange for logging in or doing in-game tasks.

Because of the nature of the player-developer relationship, the free to play experience is often a case-by-case basis dependant on a developer's attitude towards the development of their game and their player base as well as how well they implement luck mitigation mechanics such as sparking systems that allow the player to obtain the item within a limit, which are also case-by-case implementations of reliability and frequency, assuming they are implemented at all.

Model

A marketing practice where deals of a product are shown to the consumer so they perceive what they are buying as a good deal. This is used in gacha as extra roll deals and virtual currency deals to get the consumer to buy more. Studies show that consumers buy on the basis of the price of a single product and not all of the products prices combined which entrepreneurs take advantage of. Customers only look at the price at hand of a product and compare that to the deal and not the sub charges of the product. In mobile games this is used by a cheap product to set the anchor then the more expensive ones that shows deals making the player feel better for a purchase because they have more value.

To further immerse players, they are rewarded gifts at random intervals throughout the game. This encourages players to either play or else pay to get valuable items. An example of this is getting a free gacha pull by doing certain tasks in the game.

Gacha games often use a 'near miss' technique inspired by gambling, in which the player's pull briefly shows a valuable or rare item before stopping on a different, less desirable one. This gives the player the impression of being close to obtaining their desired item, and that a subsequent pull will result in success. By passing over other potential rewards before stopping on the one the player receives, the game gives the player a sense of having missed out, and encourages them to spend more to obtain rare items.

Some items are only available for a limited amount of time, incentivizing players to directly purchase or otherwise obtain the item for an in-game power advantage or bragging rights. Limited time events can also condition players to consistently play the game out of fear missing an event or specific item. Daily login rewards can encourage players to open the game each day in order to collect a specific daily reward.

A gacha game will have collectable characters, cards, or other items. Many of them are obtainable only through a "gacha" mechanic, wherein the player exchanges in-game currency for "pulls" or "spins", each pull yielding a random collectable "drop".

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 drop rates. Those that did so were called "open gacha" and those that did not 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.

Some gacha games use a luck mitigation model using "inevitable guaranteed drop" mechanic dubbed by players as a "pity" or "spark": the player will be guaranteed a given drop after pulling for it a large number of times without success. This mechanic by itself does not start at the beginning but rather at a fixed point. Pity mechanics can be "soft" or "hard". Depending on the game, these mechanics usually start at a designated pull count and at the very end for that matter. "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 or "fail currency" to keep track of the number of pulls and automatically dispense or allow the item to be purchasable with said in-game currency after reaching a preset number of rolls. Due to the nature of Hard pity, it is often a recommended strategy by players to never roll for a character or item unless they are capable of making it to the 100% guarantee by saving enough currency to reach the spark limit, essentially "buying" the character.

Variations

This is a list of game mechanics that may be used in a game's implementation of gacha mechanics. Some mechanics are nearly or entirely obsolete due to regulatory requirements.

; Complete : , also shortened as "kompu gacha" or "compu gacha" , is a monetization model popular in Japanese mobile video games until 2012, when it was made illegal by Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency. In this scheme, there are desirable items that cannot be rolled for directly. The player must collect (that is, pull) a specific set of other items, and upon completion they unlock the desirable item. The first few items in a set can be rapidly acquired but as the number of missing items decreases it becomes increasingly unlikely that redeeming a loot box will complete the set (see coupon collector's problem) since eventually one single, specific item is required.

; Box : Box gacha is "pulling, without replacement". There is a slate of items in the box or banner, in specific quantities rather than via "with replacement", each-roll-is-independent probability. Over successive rolls, the set of possible "draws" shrinks until the player has all of the items.
; Redraw : Redraw allows the player to "re-roll": to give up the rolled item in exchange for another roll and so a chance at a different result. the , returning their drawn item in exchange for another opportunity to draw, so as to potentially get something else. Some games offer this feature for free. Games commonly offer some free rolls at the start, e.g. during a tutorial. Players might "re-roll" by creating new accounts and doing the starter rolls on each until they get the draws they want.
; Consecutive : Consecutive improves the chances of receiving rare rewards when the player spends in bulk. As opposed to spending a set amount for individual rolls, a player can spend a larger amount in order to roll several times in a row for a slightly discounted price.
; Step-up : The player's rates are improved for each consecutive roll or instance of spending within a single session or a limited time period (e.g. five checkpoints; must roll five times or spend five times within half an hour to get the rewards for step one, two, three, four, and five in succession.)
; Open versus closed : that show (open) versus hide (closed) the exact probabilities of pulling rare items.

Appeal

Game developers have praised as a free-to-play monetization strategy. Most developers that work primarily with free-to-play games recommend it be incorporated into the game starting with the concept for maximum monetization potential.

It has been debated what makes so addictive to so many players. Proposed mechanisms include playing on the hunter-gatherer instinct to collect items, as well as the desire to complete a set, effective use of the "fear of missing out", or, simply the same mechanisms that drive gambling.

The model of has been compared to that of collectible trading card games as well as to gambling.

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 to subsidize 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". A player who is called a dolphin spends a moderate amount of money on microtransactions in mobile games. A player who is called a minnow spends little to no money on microtransactions in mobile games.

Criticisms

Gacha games have faced significant criticism for their resemblance to gambling, largely due to their reliance on chance-based mechanics to acquire desirable in-game items. Studies in Europe and the United States indicate that a substantial portion of young players who engage in gacha games develop gambling-like behaviors. For instance, research has shown that over 50% of juveniles who participate in gacha games exhibit some gambling tendencies, with around 5% developing problematic habits and 10% showing early signs of gambling addiction.

The gacha industry has been accused of exploiting addictive behaviors, with a notable percentage of players being students who spend considerable amounts of money on these games despite lacking a steady income. The European Union Parliament has taken steps to regulate gacha mechanics to protect consumers, citing the exploitative nature of these games. Some countries like China require companies to disclose the probabilities of obtaining specific items.

Players with existing gambling problems are particularly vulnerable to spending excessive amounts of money on gacha games. This is exacerbated by the absence of spending limits, which can lead to significant financial losses. Reports indicate that around 30% of revenue from gacha and loot box mechanics comes from players at moderate to high risk for gambling addiction.

Despite the controversy, gacha games are not universally considered gambling. For example, the UK's legal framework does not classify gacha as gambling since the virtual items obtained do not have real-world monetary value. However, the Netherlands Gambling Authority and the Belgium Gaming Commission view gacha as gambling due to its reliance on chance and the potential for items to be traded for real money on third-party sites.

The addictive nature of gacha games can be attributed to the brain's positive response to randomness and surprise. The anticipation of obtaining a rare or desirable item can create a sense of excitement similar to that experienced in traditional gambling. While some gacha games are criticized for being "pay-to-win," not all are inherently exploitative. The impact on players largely depends on how the developers implement the gacha mechanics and whether they are essential for game progression or merely provide optional enhancements.

In response to growing concerns, some jurisdictions have implemented regulations requiring transparency in drop rates and banning particularly exploitative practices. Nevertheless, gacha games continue to be a lucrative business model, generating substantial revenue and sparking ongoing debates about their ethical implications and resemblance to gambling.

See also

* List of gacha games

References

{{Video game controversy

Video gaming in Japan