The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued an official announcement regarding HoYoverse’s violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) law in its most successful mobile game Genshin Impact.

The complaint detailed the Chinese company’s offense in terms of collecting personal data from children under 13 without parental approval while also allegedly misleading players about the odds of winning rare rewards in its gacha system and using a confusing virtual currency model that obscures how much players are actually spending.
Some of the prominent examples are combining the amount of “freemium” and “paid” currency into a single amount or converting said currency into other game resources that can be used not only for gacha rolls but also other functions, ultimately spinning the attention away from the player and led to unintentional spendings.
HoYoverse responded to the complaint by complying with the request to restrict in-app purchases to all players under the age of 16 without parental consent, as well as taking a US$20M penalty for the violation.
In terms of how the company is addressing the issue, here’s what FTC has proposed to them:
- Restrict the selling of loot boxes via virtual currency unless real money can also be used to purchase them directly
- Disclosure of odds of striking gacha rewards with a clear exchange rate for the virtual currency
- Deletion of personal data of children under 13 unless parental consent is obtained
These will not be taken into effect just yet, however, since it requires a federal judge to approve them and be executed towards HoYoverse.
Source: engadget
Like our Facebook Page here at NasiLemakTech.com for more news and in-depth reviews! Also, join our Facebook Group for insightful information and memes!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel too!