Genshin Impact Players' Protests: More Than Just Entitlement

The gaming industry has seen its fair share of controversies, with free-to-play games being a major contributor to the debate. Despite their success, many consumers remain skeptical about the model, and discussions around it often become circular and unproductive. A recent example is the protests by Chinese players of Genshin Impact, who felt that the game's Lunar New Year event rewards were underwhelming. The response to these protests has been divided, with some mocking the players for being invested in a gacha game and others labeling them as "entitled gamers." However, this reaction is neither constructive nor insightful. MiHoYo, the developer of Genshin Impact, is a Shanghai-based company that has consistently been the top-grossing firm in the gacha market. Genshin Impact, launched in 2020, is the biggest-grossing mobile game in the world, with tens of millions of dollars in revenue per month. The game is an open-world action RPG that has drawn inspiration from Breath of the Wild, while its newer game, Honkai: Star Rail, is a turn-based JRPG. Both games share similar mechanisms for character and weapon acquisition, but their monetization systems differ. The protests by Chinese players were triggered by a relatively minor announcement about the game's Lunar New Year event rewards, which included a few free "intertwined fates" items. However, this "gift" was seen as insulting, given that getting a desired five-star character can take up to 90 or 180 pulls. The idea that developers are giving players "gifts" by granting them premium currency items is mistaken, as it is actually a marketing and player retention strategy. Players are not morally obligated to be grateful for a marketing strategy, and they have the right to criticize the game's monetization model if they feel it is unfair. The backlash against Genshin Impact is not about entitlement, but rather a clear economic signal that the game's price discovery has gone awry. The protests are not just about the Lunar New Year event rewards, but about the game's overall monetization system, which is light-touch in some ways but demands a significant amount of money from players who want to add specific characters to their rosters. MiHoYo's newer game, Honkai Star Rail, has become a focal point for player unrest, with its more liberal and generous monetization system being compared to Genshin Impact's relatively aggressive and tight-fisted monetization. The trigger incident was an example of poorly considered communication from the developer, but the underlying dissatisfaction arose from players comparing and contrasting games' business systems and monetization. MiHoYo has said that it is reconsidering the Lunar New Year event rewards in light of the backlash, and this incident highlights the need for a more nuanced and specific framework for discussing F2P and gacha mechanisms.