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Freedom251 › Blog › free-to-play RPGs

What to Know About Gacha Systems in Free-to-Play RPGs

By Freedom251 Team · · 8 min read

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Gacha is a randomized reward system: you spend a game currency to draw from a disclosed pool that may contain characters, weapons, or other items. The two numbers that matter most are the chance on each draw and the pity rule that guarantees a rarity by a stated maximum. They are not the same thing. A guarantee limits how long you can go without a high-rarity result; it does not reveal your odds on every earlier draw.

What a gacha system is

In a free-to-play role-playing game, gacha replaces a conventional one-time purchase with repeated randomized draws. A player may earn tickets or premium currency through play, buy that currency with real money, and spend it on a banner (a time-limited or permanent draw pool). Each banner defines which rewards can appear and the rules for rarity and featured items.

The Federal Trade Commission’s description of the Genshin Impact system illustrates the basic transaction: the game is free to download, sells virtual currency, and lets players use that currency to open randomized prize boxes. Other RPGs can use different currencies, reward pools, draw prices, and guarantees, so no single game’s numbers should be treated as a genre standard.

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Why the terminology matters

  • Base or displayed probability: the chance shown for a particular rarity or item on one draw, before any guarantee is applied.
  • Consolidated probability: a rate that incorporates the effect of pity or other guarantees over many draws. It can be higher than the displayed base rate.
  • Pity: a counter that increases as you draw without receiving a defined rarity or reward.
  • Hard pity: the maximum number of draws at which the game promises the defined result.
  • Soft pity: an increase in probability before the hard limit, but only rely on it when the game publishes the rule.
  • Featured reward: the promoted character or equipment in a banner. Its chance is separate from the chance of getting the banner’s rarity at all.

A banner can therefore have a low five-star rate, a 90-draw five-star guarantee, and only a 50% chance that the resulting five-star is the promoted character. Looking at just one of those figures gives an incomplete picture.

How pity and featured odds work

A pity guarantee answers a maximum-count question: “How many draws can occur before this rarity is guaranteed?” It does not answer “What is the chance on draw 1, 2, or 30?” Unless the developer publishes the probability curve, you cannot infer those earlier chances from the guarantee alone.

Featured odds add a second layer. Suppose a banner guarantees a five-star item by a certain draw. The five-star could be selected from the entire five-star pool, with the promoted item winning only part of that selection. Some systems then guarantee the featured item after a non-featured five-star; others use a different rule. Read the banner’s own terms rather than importing assumptions from another game.

A concrete published example: Genshin Impact

HoYoverse’s Help Center article, updated September 17, 2025, gives separate rules for character-event and weapon-event wishes:

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Rule Character event wish Weapon event wish
Hard guarantee for the banner’s top rarity One five-star character within 90 wishes One five-star weapon within 80 wishes
Chance that the first five-star is promotional 50% for the promoted character 75% for one of the promotional weapons
After a non-promotional first five-star The next five-star character is guaranteed to be the promoted character Weapon-specific follow-up rules must be read in the live banner details; the cited help article does not establish a matching character-style statement
Counter behavior The pity and guarantee status are shared by the two character-event banners Do not assume weapon and character counters share progress

These are game-specific published figures, not universal gacha constants. The 50% figure describes the identity of the first five-star character, not the probability of receiving any five-star on each individual wish. Likewise, the 75% weapon figure describes which promotional weapon is selected after the relevant rarity appears; it is not a 75% chance of a five-star on every wish.

What resets and what carries over

In the character-event example, the five-star counter resets when a five-star is obtained, and the two concurrent character-event banners share pity and guarantee status. A player can switch between those two character banners without discarding the accumulated counter. That does not establish carryover between character and weapon banners, nor does it establish that every other RPG uses the same arrangement. Check the current in-game rules for each category.

How to read a banner before spending

Open the banner’s details screen rather than relying on a headline rate, a social-media summary, or an old guide. Record the following items in order:

  1. Identify the banner category. Character, weapon, standard, beginner, and rerun banners may use different counters and pools.
  2. Write down the displayed base rate. Note whether it applies to a rarity or to one named item.
  3. Look for a consolidated rate. If the game publishes a rate that includes guarantees, keep it separate from the base figure.
  4. Find the hard pity threshold. Record the maximum number of wishes for the rarity you want, and whether the counter starts at zero on a new banner.
  5. Read the featured-item rule. Determine whether the first high-rarity result is guaranteed to be featured, has a stated percentage, or can be off-banner.
  6. Check the non-featured outcome. Some systems guarantee the next high-rarity result after a miss; others do not or use a different counter.
  7. Verify carryover. Confirm which banners share pity, whether guarantees persist through a banner change, and whether a version update changes anything.
  8. Translate the price into real money. Follow every conversion from dollars to premium currency to a ticket or wish. Include one-time bonuses separately from repeat purchases.

Save a screenshot or note the date when the rules matter to a planned purchase. Banner details can change with a new event, and an archived guide may describe a previous pool.

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How much a draw really costs

A multi-step currency chain can hide the price of a randomized item. The FTC alleged that Genshin Impact’s purchase flow made costs difficult to understand when real money was converted into one virtual currency, then another, before a randomized box was opened. The agency’s January 2025 announcement said proposed order terms would require clearer odds and virtual-currency exchange-rate disclosures, along with a direct real-money purchase option.

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You can calculate an effective price without assuming a particular game’s bundle values:

  1. Choose the currency bundle you would actually buy and divide its real-money price by the number of premium units it delivers.
  2. Multiply that unit price by the number of units required for one draw.
  3. If a second conversion creates tickets or wishes, include that exchange rate.
  4. Calculate the cost of reaching the hard pity threshold, then subtract only bonuses that are explicitly available to the same account and purchase path.

Do not present the result as a guaranteed budget unless every required currency bundle and exchange is known. Bundle sizes, first-purchase bonuses, regional taxes, and limited promotions can change the calculation. A pity threshold is a maximum number of draws, not a promise that you will spend that amount: you may receive the target earlier, or you may need the full threshold.

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A fair way to compare two gacha games

Comparisons are meaningful only when both games publish current, game-specific figures. Use the same checklist for each one:

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Comparison axis Question to answer
Base probability What is the displayed chance for the desired rarity or item on one draw?
Consolidated probability Does the developer publish a rate that accounts for pity?
Hard pity What is the maximum draw count for the relevant rarity?
Soft pity Is there an officially documented increase before the hard limit?
Featured chance Once the rarity appears, what is the chance it is the promoted reward?
Miss protection What happens after an off-banner result?
Carryover Which banners and future versions retain the counter or guarantee?
Real-money ceiling What currency bundles and regional prices imply the cost of reaching pity?

The available official material establishes the Genshin character and weapon thresholds and character-banner carryover described above, but it does not establish comparable official figures for other named RPGs. Avoid ranking games as “more generous” without matching disclosures and the same banner type.

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Consumer-protection and legal context

Rules depend on both the game and the player’s location. In the United States, the FTC’s January 2025 announcement said Cognosphere agreed to a $20 million payment in a Genshin Impact matter. The announcement described proposed order terms that would bar loot-box purchases by children under 16 without parental consent, require a direct real-money purchase option, and require disclosure of odds and virtual-currency exchange rates. The announcement also said a stipulated order would have the force of law when approved and signed by the district judge; it does not, by itself, establish a later procedural outcome.

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“Companies that deploy these dark-pattern tactics will be held accountable if they deceive players, particularly kids and teens, about the true costs of in-game transactions.” — Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, January 2025 FTC press release.

South Korea provides a different example. Its Game Industry Promotion Act includes probability-item disclosure requirements for covered games; the cited version is effective October 23, 2025. That is a jurisdiction-specific statutory example, not a global rulebook. For a legal question, identify the country, the game’s operator, and the current version of the applicable law.

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Common mistakes and safer decisions

Confusing rarity odds with featured odds

A high-rarity result and the promoted item are separate events. Write them as two questions: “How often can I get the rarity?” and “If I get it, how often is it featured?”

Treating pity as an average

“Guaranteed by 90” means no later than the stated limit under the banner’s rules. It does not mean the average player needs 90 draws, nor does it reveal the distribution of earlier results.

Assuming counters are universal

Character, weapon, standard, and special banners may have independent counters. Carryover must be stated for the exact banner family you are using.

Budgeting from a single currency price

Convert the entire purchase chain into real money, include taxes and regional pricing where relevant, and treat promotional bonuses as temporary unless the terms say otherwise.

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Relying on an old guide

Use the live details panel for the current event. Record the date and version, because rates, pools, and guarantee wording can be revised.

A practical decision checklist

  • Can you state the rarity’s base probability and the hard pity count?
  • Can you state the featured-item chance separately?
  • Do you know what happens after an off-banner result?
  • Do you know exactly which banners share your pity and guarantee?
  • Have you converted the required draws into a real-money maximum for your region?
  • Would the purchase remain affordable if the guarantee were needed?
  • Are parental controls and age-consent requirements relevant to the account?

If any answer is unknown, pause and open the game’s current probability disclosure. The missing rule—not the headline rate—determines the risk of the purchase.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

free-to-play RPGsgachagaming consumer protectionGenshin Impactloot boxespity systemsprobability disclosure

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