Almost 19% of Japanese people in their 20s have spent so much money on gacha they struggled with covering living expenses, survey reveals
Almost 19% of Japanese people in their 20s have spent so much money on gacha they struggled with covering living expenses, survey reveals
Results of a survey regarding the spending habits of young gamers in Japan have been revealed - here's how they spend their money on games.
Sounds like avocado toast-ian blame-shifting to me. Just like the rest of these pieces, they ignore the obvious, horrible conditions of life, and choose to tut-tut at the abused for 'improperly' using their free time.
just like the avocado toast shit, the translation of these pieces is broadly:
Look away, reader, from the terrible low wages, high cost of living, and soul-crushing work hours japanese people are forced to endure. Focus your attention on these 19% of young people, who don't know any better, who you are better than. Laugh at these losers who admit that one time they almost couldn't cover their expenses!!
Let's look at the article.
Interestingly enough, while these results indicate that the popularity of in-game transactions may be increasing, the average amount of money spent on them is actually decreasing.
Hmm, could it be the actual problem is the immense increases to CoL young (and all) people have been under? I wonder why the article doesn't even bring it up? So curious 🤔
Oh well. So like, how much money are we talking about on gacha? How much are these 19% of young folks spending? Must be a ton eh?
Article doesn't say, but we do get these numbers
In 2024, young people spent an average of around 5,138 yen ($35.85 USD) on microtransactions per month while this year’s survey results state that the average amount of money spent on microtransactions is 4,247 yen ($29.63 USD) per month.
So it's not a lot, not really. I say again, this article is slop created to take your eyes away from the real problems of the world and victim blame the ones suffering under them.
Average spending is not a good metric for addictive behaviors - spending/consumption tends to be extremely concentrated in a small fraction. My go-to example for this is alcohol where, in the US, 10 drinks/week is the population average, but also enough to get you into the "top 10%" or "heavy drinker" bin, where the average consumption of that bin is 74 drinks/week. In both alcohol and gacha, a huge fraction of the population don't pay anything.
I mean, even if the article's $30/month average spend is entirely within their 20% "problem" spenders, it would only be $150, but it's a little easier (for me) to see where $150/month gacha habit could be a problem for young people already on the financial edge. Not the fundamental problem that skyrocketing rent and stagnant wages are, but more in the last-straw sense.
20% can't enjoy the game if they're not able to buy micro-transactions
Wtaf
game about gambling makes gambling addicts: americans shocked, more at 5
Not just youth!
The older ladies at my work are candy crush/royal match fiends. They are hooked...
The problem is we socially dont view it as gambling (which it is), coupled with the fact its designed to be addictive.
There isnt a social stigma or support yet to stop playing and break the cycle
I can not fathom the idea of spending that much on gacha
I can't fathom the idea of wanting to play that garbage, let alone spend money on micro-transactions in it, but maybe that's just me, maybe my brain isn't smooth enough to find games like that stimulating and entertaining.
Probably also the same reason all the people who have tried and to get me addicted to gambling have failed.
A lot of "that garbage" has better game design than some western "triple AAA titles" which a lot of are also filled with micro transations.
Especially Genshin which is shown in the article has so much content and still receives updates every 6 weeks. Every 6 weeks there is 1 or 2 new characters, a new region, new story, new orchestrated music, new events and so much more.
It is absolutely just to hate microtransactions but calling every game you don't like garbage is like a child hating broccoli because a character in a TV show does. There is still incredible effort to make a somewhat good game, even in F2P Gachas or Fortnite for that matter.
Boggles the mind that people could spend that much money on subpar games. I guess it's the whole moe waifu thing that's driving it.
Have to say, Genshin is far from a subpar game, it's so incredibly polished and smooth. That said, it's still a gacha game.
Still better than shitty Ubisoft products or all the other 'big' dev houses that keep pumping obscene games every year.
There are gacha games out there that are garbage games. They aren't the ones that are popular though. Stuff like Gensin has a lot of quality content that pulls you in and hooks you. It looks like that has proven to be much more effective than just a waifu simulator. Now, I do think Genshin has a lot of other problems even gacha aside, but calling it garbage is blatantly unfair.
But you don't need to spend money to find a waifu, they could just go watch Gundam or something
The games like ZZZ or Genshin are fun as long as you don't take them seriously or engage with the gacha elements too much. ZZZ has a really nice vibe to it despite being a gacha game.
I ways hate when a new game comes out and it's a gacha game. I have no self control, so I always have to keep them at arms length. 😔
I feel bad for those young adults.
Young people do young people shit, always have and will. I ate beef and vegetable soup for 3 months straight to buy a new engine for my race car 20 years ago...
Is this just the 80/20 rule?
Motherfucking young people and their fucking hobbies. How irresponsible.
Theres an actual difference between spending money on things you enjoy vs unable to pay for food and rent.
Dat avocado toast excuse, every time.
I haven't heard of addictive design in the business model of avocado toast.
Based