Genshin Impact introduces age-gating as part of loot box crackdown

Genshin Impact will require all its players in the U.S. to verify their age by July, in order to comply with a settlement between developer HoYoverse and the Federal Trade Commission over the game’s gacha mechanics. As part of the $20 million settlement, HoYoverse is forbidden from selling loot boxes to children under 16 without express parental consent.

In a brief post, HoYoverse said the age-verification process would roll out to American players by May 20. Age verification will be required during login or account creation. Players who don’t verify their age by July 18 will have their account suspended, their friends list and chat records deleted, and will get no further notifications.

This doesn’t mean that children under 16 will be unable to play Genshin Impact. But, after age verification, they won’t be able to independently make the loot-box purchases that grant players access to the game’s collectable characters.

There’s no nationwide regulation of loot boxes in the U.S. But the FTC targeted HoYoverse with a lawsuit targeting Genshin Impact’s confusing purchase system, the misleading of players about the odds of getting the most coveted characters, and for illegally targeting children and collecting their data. At the time of the settlement, HoYoverse told Polygon in a statement that “while we believe many of the FTC’s allegations are inaccurate, we agreed to this settlement because we value the trust of our community and share a commitment to transparency for our players.”

In another case targeting the so-called “dark patterns” game developers use to push players into the maximum number of in-game purchases, the FTC collected a huge settlement from Fortnite maker Epic Games and even refunded some players.

As well as introducing age verification, the settlement with the FTC requires HoYoverse to provide players with a way to pay for loot boxes directly with real money, to disclose accurate loot box odds and currency exchange rates, and to delete personal information collected from children under 13.