FTC orders Genshin Impact’s developer to block young teens from making in-game purchases

Kids and younger teens might soon be unable to play Genshin Impact’s gachas. The developer behind the game has agreed to block players under 16 years old from making in-game purchases without parental consent in order to settle a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission. It has also agreed to pay a $20 million penalty. Samuel Levine, the director of FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said “Genshin Impact deceived children, teens, and other players into spending hundreds of dollars on prizes they stood little chance of winning.”

The developer’s marketing actively targeted children, the commission said in its complaint, and the company also violated COPPA by collecting personal info from kids under 13. HoYoverse, the developer’s US entity, allegedly deceives players “about the odds of winning” its rarer loot box prizes and uses a confusing virtual currency system that’s unfair to kids and younger teens. The FTC says this misleads players on how much they actually have to spend to be able to get rarer prizes. Genshin Impact uses a gacha system instead of a traditional loot box mechanic, wherein players can “pull” on banners to win a random item or character.

Under the FTC’s proposed order, it wants to prohibit Genshin Impact from selling loot boxes using virtual currency unless it also provides an option to purchase them directly with real money. It wants to prohibit the developer from misrepresenting loot box odds and processes, and it wants to require the company to disclose gachas’ odds and the virtual currency exchange rate. The commission wants to order HoYoverse to delete personal information collected from kids until 13 unless it was obtained with parental consent, as well. A federal judge still has to approve the proposed order with all these requirements, though, so they won’t be enforced immediately.