The REAL Cost of Gacha Games

This video is NOT sponsored by Genshin Impact, or Honkai: Star Rail, or Zenless Zone Zero, or… huh, I feel like there’s a lot of ‘em nowadays…

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A HUGE thanks to Charles Ritz for the custom Friday Night arrangement!
https://www.charlesritz.com/

Kafka thumbnail render by https://x.com/N_ess105

Thanks to Orlando Woods and Leon Xiao for chatting with me about their research on gacha games, to Connor and my mom for helping me film the ending segment, and to Grizzly, Lumi, Charlie, Aritz, Milo, Pine, Nickyboi, Skooch, Razbuten, Nick and Martin for voicing quotes throughout the video!

Music:
Enneahedron - Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Liberator’s Hideout - Shin Megami Tensei Dx2
WAS IT A CAT I SAW - Blue Archive
Sky Dance - Pyre
Mirage Saloon K Mix - Sonic Mania
Windmill Isle (Night) - Sonic Unleashed
Mirror Temple B-Side - Celeste
Free Money! - Pikuniku
the grind - Going Under
Checker Dance - Deltarune
Victory - Final Fantasy VII
the grounds - Going Under
Havoc Prognosis - Sonic Mania
Dark Rebirth - JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
The Price is Right Theme
Fight Against a Stronger Monster - Super Mario RPG
King, Queen, And Slaves - Persona 5
Gallery - Danganronpa V3
Aeolic Guardian - Musashi Samurai Legend
NOW’S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A - Deltarune
Challenge to the Reader - Honkai Star Rail
Main Theme - Elden Ring
When Mother Was There - Persona 5
Map - Shin Megami Tensei Dx2
Ideal and the Real - Persona 5 Royal
Dummy! - Undertale
So Happy World - Persona 5 Royal
Royal Days - Persona 5 Royal
Friday Night - Yakuza 0 (arrangement)

Sources:
Schüll, N. D. (2012). Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas. Princeton University Press.

Woods, O. (2024). The affective embeddings of gacha games: Aesthetic assemblages and the mediated expression of the self. New Media & Society 26.2, 823-838.

Woods, O. (2022). The Economy of Time, the Rationalisation of Resources: Discipline, Desire and Deferred Value in the Playing of Gacha Games. Games and Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media, 17(7-8), 1075-1092.

Gong, A., Huang, Y., Liu, K., & Sugiura, K. (2024). Getting hooked on mobile games: Strengthening purchase intentions towards mobile games using investment model and parasocial interactions. Mobile Media & Communication, OnlineFirst

Blom, J. (2023). The Genshin Impact Media Mix: Free-to-Play Monetization from East Asia. Mechademia 16(1), 144-166.

Other Articles & Sources Mentioned
https://pastebin.com/7beexBMZ

00:00 - Intro
05:15 - Anime Gambling
13:43 - The Grind
23:21 - Welcome to the Party
28:31 - Genshin's Impact
38:03 - It's All Gacha?