Gacha Hell: Predatory Nature of Gacha Games
I have previously written about free-to-play Gacha Games. In particular, it was more of a defense of the games as a medium to tell stories. More so than gameplay, I praised the visual novel aspects and the relation to established franchises for creating new stories. While I hold this to be true, there is another truth that I repeatedly mentioned, but didn’t focus on: GACHA GAMES ARE INHERENTLY PREDATORY.
A common phrase repeated amongst the fans of Gacha games is Gacha Hell, (and the title of this article no less!). This is due to the despair felt in having bad luck streaks and not getting the unit you want. Fundamentally, people roll on the gacha to get not just the best units, but the units they are most aesthetically attracted to. Gacha games usually have the trait in which you see characters in different forms, hear their voice lines, and find out their tastes, unit profile, powers, backstory, etc. I made a previous point in a previous story that the units tend to be displayed in the story and side stories to market them. The aesthetics are what make the player, for lack of a better term, fall in love with the unit. It isn’t a matter of just game utility, people are willing to shell out big money for a chance of collecting a subpar, but exceedingly rare unit. Although, a lot of people are willing to shell out big money for a unit that will make their gaming experience a lot easier.
Now, I’m not a numbers guy, but it is easy to see that the odds are not in a player’s favor. The probability of getting a maximum rarity unit is very low. Normally, the gacha system either divides its pulls between units and some sort of equipment that boosts units or has a single pull system on the Gacha for solely units. I will take the normal pull rates from the following games: Fate: Grand Order, Magia Record, Puzzles and Dragons, and Destiny Child. I will also go over the monetary cost of premium currency. This will all be done to illustrate how exploitative the price for the premium currency is.
Let us start with the most notorious offender, Fate: Grand Order. There is 1% chance of acquiring a 5 star unit, 3% chance of getting a 4 star unit, 4%t chance you will get a 5 star equipment, or Craft Essence, and 12% chance you will get 4 star equipment, with an equal 40% chance you will get either a 3 star servant or a 3 equipment. The best way to acquire these is with a 10x summoning, or a ten roll. A ten roll costs 30 of the premium currency, where one roll costs 3 of the premium currency. Most of the time, 300 of the premium currency gives you at least the best odds of summoning a 5-star unit, rolling a total of 100 times on the gacha. This does not guarantee the appearance of the unit: this rogue 1% chance can leave a lot of individuals without their desired 5 stars. (I should know, I gathered 400+ of the premium currency and did not get a 5 star. However, this has only happened to me once). This 1% then has to be mixed with the percentage chance that you will get a certain servant that has a “rate up”, or within that measly 1%, there is ANOTHER percentage chance that you will acquire that specific unit. I have pulled on banners and had 5-star units that were not on rate up appear. So, while 300 or so quartz gives you acceptable odds, a string of bad luck will deny you of your desired prize.
The game offers the premium currency for completing events, story progression, logins, milestones, etc. However, the prices on a first look seem off. 1 premium currency which is less than what’s needed for one roll, costs $.99. If you want to buy a roll plus a bonus, the 4+1 premium currency for $3.99 offers that. The highest amount you can buy is 88+81 bonus quartz for 80 dollars. With a total of 169 quartz, you get 5 ten rolls, or half the amount you should get to ‘reasonably have a chance’ at a 5-star unit. This is worsened when you find out that the game divides the premium between paid and bonus currency. This means for guaranteed 5-star gachas, you need 30 paid quartz, 15 in Japan and possibly starting next year. This meant that the minimum to gain one 5-star servant guaranteed is a seasonal 30–40 dollars, which has been reduced to around 15–16 dollars in Japan and might be reduced in North America to that price given the longevity of the game.
Let’s not mince words, this is nuts. While the game is free to play and you don’t need 5 stars to beat the game, you know it will come a time you will long for a 5 star of your own. And then you will want even more 5 stars. But while I’m not a man of numbers, I am certain that these rates are not favorable. I have had decent luck and I have bought 90$ worth in the game in three guaranteed 5-star Gachas. I am compelled because of the narrative and characterization and I’ve had the disposable income to do so. Bad luck can still creep over and win the day, and I have friends who have definitely shelled more than 90 bucks on Fate: Grand Order. What you get for what you pay for is not reasonable, lest you try to give 15–30 bucks to the guaranteed 5-star Gacha. And that’s the psychological game. Even if you do everything right, even if you save quartz the game gives you, even if you don’t spend any money, the game can find a way to be against you. I rolled Summer of 2018 for a 4-star unit. I expected to get at least one of her with the 300 quartz that I saved but I got other things: a 5 star that wasn’t on rate up but was super useful, some other 4 star, and the other 4 star that was on rate up twice. It was a net gain, overall, but not what I wanted. Because there is absolutely 0 way of guaranteeing anything in Gacha based games!
Magia Record doesn’t fare any better. The summon rates for units are generally worse, and you can get equipment for free in both the premium and non-premium Gacha. However, there is a 2% chance of getting a max rarity unit when you do a 10 roll, which is 1% better than FGO. The game also operates on a pity system. Every roll that doesn’t give you a max rarity unit leads to a guaranteed max rarity unit from the last roll. You must roll 99 times and get zilch to have your final roll be the saving grace. If you are rolling in the premium gacha, your rolls will be counted and saved until you get a max rarity unit. If you roll on a limited banner, you have better chances of getting what you want, but your rolls do not get saved if the limited gacha ends. It at least means that 100 rolls will always guarantee you SOMETHING. The premium currency operates under the same logic as FGO, with a distinction between paid and unpaid currency.
“Puzzles and Dragons” works on a different Gacha System. The permanent premium Gacha has eliminated non-‘gold’ units. While the percentage rate of acquiring the rarest units is in the 1%, units can be trained or sold for another currency to buy other units. Also, there is a 1% rate of acquiring each of the rarest units, which means there is a higher cumulative, chance overall of getting a max rarity unit. The game, in general, can be completed with numerous teams, but the postgame is extremely hard and difficult to deal with. However, the rates, given how they are represented, are not as bad as the previous games, but with no leeway to account for bad luck.
Destiny Child has the absolute worst rates I’ve seen. I will let some of these rates speak for themselves. Other than the rate up 5-star, the odds of getting another rare unit is abysmal. This game also has the most kinds of currency to be used. While it is possible to get 5-stars via the different kinds of currency, as well as getting free, guaranteed high rarity units via tickets, and free gacha rolls upon achieving milestones, in regular circumstances the odds are never in your favor. Also, between Magia Record and Destiny Child, these games require multiples of max rarity units to take them into their maximum potential for extremely harder content.
There is also the problem of competitive gameplay. Magia Record and Destiny Child have a component player vs player, or PVP gameplay. This means that the strongest units, rarity be darned, have to be deployed and trained to gain the most resources. The games offer rewards for performance, giving the most in-game premium currency and other items to keep these players at the top. “Puzzles and Dragons” also has PVP in terms of performance in dungeons, but not in terms of battles against other units. It still retains the idea that the top players get the best rewards, and the best rewards are relegated to knowing the puzzle system or the best and modernized teams. While this would be acceptable in-game systems in which acquiring skills and luck is minimized so the most dedicated players would have a chance, in Gacha games it means that luck will, mostly, determine the success of a player in PVP.
Finally, all these games require massive amounts of time sinks to be able to catch up with special events and story beats. I know I have invested a lot of my time in FGO, probably higher in value than the money. Sure, you can multitask or grind at your leisure later in the day, but like a lot of free to play games, these gacha games require massive amounts of time. If you were playing a regular videogame, you can turn off the game and not play for a while. This ‘while’ can be months, maybe years and you should be fine. You can’t do that with these Gacha games, or many free to play games that give you bonuses for logins. If I miss a day of FGO or Magia Record, I risk missing out on premium currency and tickets.
It is clear to notice the issue: it costs way too much to roll the Gacha outside of the game’s gifts. Buying currency, getting addicted to the gameplay and rolling through tricks and tier lists and other things can be a problem for a lot of consumers. This is Gacha Hell: where you can’t stop rolling because you want a unit so bad, and you can’t stop playing because you will miss out on the stories and chances to get chances for gacha rolling.
The purpose of free to play games, and specifically gacha incorporating games, is to stimulate and compel you into gambling your money for the chance of using a unit you have a one-sided attachment to. The pricing for the premium currency is not fair in some of these games, at least in FGO where we have had our deep dive. Either the rates improve, or the amount of currency needed to get premium currency is fixed so it is much more proportional to the actual likelihood of gaining highly rare units. I know there are policy and other problems to this, but the changes must be made so these games can continue their longevity. As we observe the fight against gambling mechanics in videogames, we must face Gacha Hell and hope we can come out with fairer gacha rates with more safety nets, or risk losing the games we have invested so much on to legislation that rightfully demands regulation.
