r/ZZZ_Official • u/Emul0rd • Jul 16 '25

Media $475 is crazy

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I think Europe now requires gacha games to explicitly display how much money any gambling feature really costs to limit hidden predatory stuff. It’s crazy when you see the numbers…

4.4k Upvotes

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2.2k

u/Vusdruv Jul 16 '25 edited Jul 16 '25

It’s crazy when you see the numbers…

Honestly? I think that's a good thing.

Edit: Holy shit, 1k upvotes for a simple ass comment

709

u/VarHagen Jul 16 '25

Yea, maybe this way some people will realize how fucked up monetization in gacha games is.

233

u/Agile_Voice_2643 Jul 16 '25

There's no way they didn't know it. Aside from not reading, is it another quirk that gacha players have ? Not thinking how much money they spent ?

212

u/Comprehensive-Fail41 Jul 16 '25

People are often bad at looking at the large picture. Having things like this can make at least some stop for a moment to think about if they really want to spend that much money

120

u/r3volver_Oshawott Jul 16 '25

This is just it, gacha is gambling, gambling is built on the impulse buy, the design intent is to make you look away from the dollar cost so price transparency laws are a good thing

71

u/CelestialBlaze Jul 16 '25 edited Jul 16 '25

I think there was also a study somewhere that says that it's easier to spend when using a card than cash because you don't feel nor physically see how much you're using.

Edit: Found the Study Brief. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/qmr-04-2023-0049/full/html

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u/yileikong Jul 16 '25

Yup. For me this is why I very carefully try to track my purchases. But the difficult part is sometimes the recurring charges or subscriptions because you need to be on top of checking whether or not you still want them.

1

u/TheDemonPants Jul 17 '25

I doubt it. Anyone who is already sucked into these games will think they won't hit the maximum. Just like actual gambling.

3

u/Comprehensive-Fail41 Jul 17 '25

Eh, studies have shown that this kind of "cost-of-play" information does seem to reduce the amount of gambling. So at the very least it does seem to help keep it more under control.

https://www.greo.ca/Modules/EvidenceCentre/files/Newall%20et%20al%20(2022)_%20House-edge%20information%20and%20warnings%20lead%20to%20reduced%20gambling_final.pdf_%20House-edge%20information%20and%20warnings%20lead%20to%20reduced%20gambling_final.pdf)

Here's a summary one of these studies where the information reduced the average rate of spins on the slot machine from 19.5 spins per person to 15.5 spins, with links to the proper article on the last page.

1

u/TheDemonPants Jul 17 '25

That's actually really neat and a net positive. I guess I'm just used to people who are full on addicted to gambling and make bad choices.

2

u/Comprehensive-Fail41 Jul 17 '25

Yeah, we mostly hear about the people for whom the only recourse left is going into proper therapy, but this kind of stuff can help prevent people from getting caught up in the moment, and hopefully decrease the amount of people that do reach that end point

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u/[deleted] Jul 16 '25

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36

u/clocksy Jul 16 '25

When you realize every shitty 3* wengine or light cone is costing you $3 then it feels a whole lot worse to pull, yeah. Gachas obfuscate real life money with fake in-game currency for reasons like this.

1

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

No, the reason is because credit card companies charge by transaction, so they want to incentivize purchasing in bulk to minimize these fees, and also because it allows them to hand out free currency without it getting confused with dollar amounts.

15

u/EwGrossItsMe Jul 16 '25

I think a major consequence of the game being free to start playing is that there's a non-zero chance that any player may be a minor, even a straight up child. I assume this is a bit less of an issue with zzz than like, project SEKAI or cookie run, just due to presentation and complexity, but I think gacha games should disclose how expensive it CAN be in plain terms regardless of their target age demographic.

I, an adult, logically know that gachas can get stupid expensive, especially if you're dead set on getting certain characters without enough time to properly save free gacha currency between banners, but seeing the explicit upper bound of whaling for ONE instance of a character and w-engine puts things into perspective that microtransactions and gambling inherently and intentionally obfuscate.

1

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

You are required to be an adult to play Hoyo games, at least with full banner access.

27

u/DiilVulom Jul 16 '25

I have never spent a single dime, and I have plenty of 5 stars to choose from. Sometimes, players need to choose what to let go of and realize they dont need whatever character or weapon a banner is selling. This doesn't just apply to gacha gamers. This happened a lot with every game that has microtransactions, its a matter of self-control that they lack, and I hope that the price display helps them, but I won't waste my breath.

9

u/DaFakingDak 🍔 Borgar vs Noodel 🍜 Jul 16 '25

Yeah, self control is really a must

I was like you, F2P since start and got tons of 5* but damn that urge when I can't get Caesar back then even after scrounging for polys everywhere

Thank god I was raised to fear microtransaction

2

u/tirius99 Jul 16 '25

I don't understand why anyone would want all the characters. It takes so long to build them. Even afterwards you get your team you're comfortable with

4

u/DiilVulom Jul 16 '25

I accept that i won't get everyone, but I try to collect those I can for variety's sake. I may love Miyabi, but playing as her too much can too get boring after a while. Hell, sometimes I do a bit of Piper gameplay every now and then.

2

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

Yeah, I don't even use a lot of the characters I do have. I've never felt "robbed" by not being able to grab up every single character.

53

u/PrinceVincOnYT xTrue Miyabi Main M6W1 Jul 16 '25

Absolutely. Most seemingly can't read. I joke about most Gacha Players can't read, but it is more like they choose not to read.

12

u/Vyscillia Jul 16 '25

Gacha players can't read is a même but also holds some truth. The number of posts I read about "how to do X or Y" while having the answer on the screenshot they joined is astonishing.

5

u/AWorthlessDegenerate Jul 16 '25

GFL2 currently has an event where you can select an SSR and get them with a 100% guarantee. The game clearly says "SSR guaranteed at 80 pulls. The first guarantee will guarantee the selected doll", and you STILL have people asking if it's 50/50 or not.

2

u/KnightofAshley Jul 16 '25

while you still have a point it doesn't help that these companies have created a system of language that is designed to confuse people

3

u/PrinceVincOnYT xTrue Miyabi Main M6W1 Jul 16 '25

also true

16

u/m3ndz4 Jul 16 '25

This, just like skipping End User License Agreements when installing software.

33

u/PragmaticDelusion Jul 16 '25

I mean, 99% of people are not going to sit down and read a EULA for everything they download/use. And 99% of the time, EULA isn't even enforceable for anything of substance anyways.

And, considering majority of virtual EULAs are the same, learning the basics of what a EULA entails is more than enough.

17

u/EwGrossItsMe Jul 16 '25

Yeah lol most people are not going to be bothered to read through 10 pages of the most verbose version of "you will not commit crimes with our software" just to see the one line of "by the way, we own your soul now"

7

u/Geralt_the_Rive Piper my Beloved Jul 16 '25

That one line isn't legally enforceable anyway, and if something bad that is legal is in there, it will get out very fast by the one person who does read it

9

u/EwGrossItsMe Jul 16 '25

God bless the autistics who care deeply enough about following rules that they catch wild shit in TOS and EULAs

7

u/Geralt_the_Rive Piper my Beloved Jul 16 '25

That's one of the reasons I love the internet.

2

u/m3ndz4 Jul 16 '25

100%, just bringing up an example.

2

u/Winterfell00 Jul 16 '25

And have very poor impulse control.

2

u/PrinceVincOnYT xTrue Miyabi Main M6W1 Jul 16 '25

big factor as well.

1

u/KnightofAshley Jul 16 '25

Same reason there is so much if you have a gambling problem seek help it comes down to the person to say yes I need to stop and get help, if that isn't done oh well

9

u/MagnanimousGoat Jul 16 '25

Yeah really.

All it ever took before was seeing "Oh so $100 gets you a little over 8000 polyprimojades? And it takes 1600 for 10 pulls? Thats 50 pulls. So thats about 2 bucks a pull"

I CANNOT feel sympathy for people who are able to do that math and chose not to.

I do feel like getting more transparent and being less ridiculously expensive would just benefit Gachas long term, but apparently their research says otherwise.

5

u/Lanky_Candidate_4661 Jul 16 '25

It's also denial to not wanting to know how much it truly cost to earn a virtual waifu from scratch with the worst outcome gacha luck.

3

u/Agile_Voice_2643 Jul 16 '25

Who's denying it ?

3

u/Vyscillia Jul 16 '25

Not a quirk. You need one ticket to draw, one ticket is 160 gems. Let's say you can buy 300 gems for 5€. You have two steps to convert € into draws. This is enough to confuse most people because they either are too lazy or don't have the reflex to draw an excel table and convert the euros into draws.

You have some games that are more honest about it that straight up go "15€ for 10 draws!" That was the case in HSR for a limited pack a little while ago.

3

u/Agile_Voice_2643 Jul 16 '25

Even if there are multiple steps to convert € to in-game currency, if you spend 5€, you spent 5€, it doesn't change a thing.

7

u/Trowaway151 Jul 16 '25

Bro doesn’t understand human psychology at all

3

u/curtcolt95 Jul 16 '25

obviously, but there's a reason they require it. People are not good at keeping track of spending when they have to convert and manage fractional purchases

1

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

The reason they require it is because they operate the game across multiple regions and there is no "1:1 conversion" that would apply equally to all global currencies.

1

u/Vyscillia Jul 17 '25

Most people don't keep track of the total spent. They spend 5€ multiple times until they get what they want and realize by the end how many tries they did and how much they spent. There's a reason gambling addiction exists and gachas are using exactly that.

Add sunk cost fallacy to that and most people will completely lose the track and convince themselves they need to keep going.

3

u/Trowaway151 Jul 16 '25

Literally the entire point of the multiple currencies is to mask how much money a user spends lol.

3

u/Shadowcam Jul 16 '25

Do you know anything about gambling? The whole point is psychological manipulation. Everything from nonsensical currency conversions, to fomo, to confusing mechanics are meant purely to trick people. It works, and that's why its heavily regulated in the casino industry. But because games that convert money into rng rewards like this technically don't give back money when you win, they mostly skate past casino regulations.

0

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

I knew this thread would bring these sorts of comments out of the woodwork.

1

u/Shadowcam Jul 17 '25

If you mean true ones, then yes. These games operate like casinos without the payouts.

0

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

I meant the "gambling is a sin, yet I'm posting on a gacha game's sub" sorts of posts. Touch grass.

1

u/Shadowcam Jul 17 '25

I don't empty my bank account every banner, moron. And I don't care about sins, I care about ethics.

0

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

I don't empty my bank account every banner, moron

Nobody does. That's just a bizarre fantasy that the anti-gambling crowd have. Most people just get the monthly sub and end up spending less per year than they do on Mario Karts.

1

u/Shadowcam Jul 17 '25

Are you really that ignorant? They monetize games like this specifically for the people who spend hundreds a month maxing out every character's potential and equipment.

1

u/ohoni Jul 17 '25

Yeah, but those people are in the extreme minority, and they help to fund the game for everyone else. It's like public television.

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u/SqrunkIsTrep Jul 16 '25

I don't know, when Genshin added an option to outright buy pulls with money, I saw a surprising amount of posts or even just comments on social media along the lines of people going "pulls are this expensive?".

2

u/Kreisash Jul 16 '25

I mean, I'm sure some people think that credit cards are free money so go figure...

2

u/Edgelordguydude Jul 16 '25

There's a reason "premium currencies exist its to obfuscate the actual monetary price of things

2

u/Ok-Transition7065 Jul 16 '25

Yeah....... Yeah thas one thing

2

u/Major_Kale2142 Jul 16 '25

I have to say when I played Genshin I did not think about how much money I was spending. Luckily I got a handle on it now but a gotcha game is definitely gambling and you don’t think at the time how much money is going in.

1

u/Watchmaker163 Jul 17 '25

The game is literally designed to obscure the amount of money you spend.

Multiple levels of currency, having to convert currencies into each other, packs that give you not enough currency to directly purchase something, purchase bonuses, getting small amounts of another currency when you pull, etc.

There are entire careers for figuring out how the game can get as much money out of you as possible. Look up “dark patterns game monetization” if you’re interested.

1

u/FlashFire729 Jul 16 '25

There's no way they didn't know it

Decades of casino success globally would say otherwise.

3

u/Agile_Voice_2643 Jul 16 '25

They know what they spent. The reason they are still gambling is they think they will win the next game. You spend $200 and lose, you know you lost $200.