Re:Genshin Impact made more money in its first year than any...
by AlexandrB on Thursday November 04, 2021 @02:09PM
(#29110592)
While some whales are definitely high-earning professionals who can afford it, not all of them are. I'd be curious to see research on what the split is. It's hard not to notice, however, that gacha games heavily rely on the same kind of skinner-box gambling systems as actual gambling uses with little of the regulation around payouts, transparency, and age restrictions. People who have problems with gambling, report having problems with gacha as well. See also this video of some testimonials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14
One of the claims which Kongegate’s CEO made, repeatedly, in presentations is that they actually got their whales on the phone and they were simply professionals who liked to spend money on their hobby. That has become increasingly plausible to me as I’ve grown older and have more money than time.
I spent $X00 on Genshin in something like 6 weeks. I quit because of the time “commitment” and because I had gotten through most of the interesting bits, but if I had kept up habits, I would have played less than typical American watches TV and spent $X,000 a year. Which… does not strike me as unreasonable for what would have been my main hobby, given comparables like e.g. golf.
It’s a great game in a lot of ways. I don’t regret either time played or money spent. (The first one would have been untrue in a year, hence stopping.)