Controversy Over DQM Super Light Gacha Leads to Refund Ruckus

Posted 18:37 EST on 07FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in features » dragon quest monsters super light, gacha, square enix

There are numerous ways developers monetize their otherwise free-to-play titles, with a few standing out in their ubiquity. “Stamina” systems place caps on daily play time, allowing users to “regain stamina” by purchasing it (usually through in-game currency) or by sending tweets and Facebook invites to their friends. Another, more straightforward system, offers powerful weapons and armor for purchase. Some games allow defeated players to purchase what amount to extra lives and continues.

Japanese developers of smartphone and browser titles have been quick to incorporate all of these methods, but in Japan the gacha reigns supreme. Gachas are essentially lotteries. Players purchase gacha chances in the hope they’ll receive premium prizes. Instead, users usually receive mundane prizes, and sometimes no prize at all.

Many people argue this system is too similar to gambling, and the Japanese government seems to agree. In 2012, the Japanese government banned a particularly controversial form of gacha known as kompu gacha.

The “kompu” is short for “complete”, and the idea was to do just that: to keep earning or purchasing chances at the gacha lottery until winning every item in some set. Completion of the set netted a powerful item that could not be earned any other way. Of course, some of the items in the set were extremely rare, leading to instances of people spending the equivalent of hundreds and even thousands of dollars to complete their collections, in the end not managing the feat.

Japanese players have tolerated gacha systems, but few would say that they like them. The negative press and consumer outrage surrounding kompu gacha systems (and their eventual banning) did little to endear gacha systems to the public.

Although the non-kompu variants have continued to be ubiquitous, news surrounding the gacha system in Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Monsters Super Light is indicative of players’ mounting frustration with the system.

The controversy started when one Youtube user took Square Enix up on its claim that the odds of winning a particularly rare creature had been boosted as part of a campaign. Enthusiastic to show off the rare monster on his Youtube channel, he documented his gacha attempts — all sixty. In the end, although he received a few A-rank monsters, after spending somewhere in the region of the equivalent of 300 dollars, he had not one S-class monster to show for it. Not even the monster Square Enix had claimed was “easier to win” as part of its campaign.

As the video made its rounds around the Web, other users incensed over similar experiences demanded of Apple they be given their money back. They pointed out that the graphic used for the gacha greatly exaggerated the odds of receiving a gold-colored rare monster map, and argued that this was false advertising.

To the surprise of most, Apple took the claim seriously, giving many users App Store refunds. At this point, Square Enix had little choice but to respond, temporarily shutting down the gacha system.

Square Enix’s response was vague: it would “change the specs” of the gacha system. Of greater interest is the action Square Enix took: those who’d used the gacha were given a “present” of in-game currency determined by how many times they’d played the controversial gacha. In other words, a refund.

DQM Super Light developer Takamasa Shiba also responded, reiterating that Super Light can be played and enjoyed without using the gacha system. Shiba promised Square Enix would “expand the game contents that can be enjoyed without spending money”, and that it would “make the fact that the game can be played without spending money more clear to players”.

Users were less than impressed with these vague promises, so today Shiba went into the specifics. Square Enix will reduce the in-game cost of the gacha from 500 to 300 gems per try. The odds of receiving prizes will also be adjusted:

• S rank: changed from 1.3 percent to 3 percent
• A rank: changed from 4 percent to 6 percent
• B rank: changed from 10 percent to 18 percent
• C rank: changed from 45.7 percent to 48 percent
• D rank: changed from 39 percent to 25 percent

The updates will go into effect over the weekend, Saturday at the earliest.

The story doesn’t end there, though. In its coverage of the unfolding events, Yahoo describes a “spreading fire” on the notorious message board 2 Channel, as users demand refunds from the publishers of numerous titles featuring gacha systems.

Yahoo News describes numerous threads where “refund templates” have been upped for other posters’ convenience, and threads where users have posted proof of actual refunds. Yahoo’s writer acknowledges the images may be fakes, but points out that with the abundance of similar stories, there’s a strong possibility there’s some truth to the reports.

Among some of the demands for refunds:

• colopl’s Quiz RPG: the Mystical World of Wiz: “Accidentally selected the most expensive gacha“
• Bandai Namco’s Gundam Conquest: “Updates lowered the value of my in-game items with no prior warning”

Yahoo’s article reports that, in light of the news of refunds, posters are sending in demands for all manner of reasons, with gacha systems and unannounced spec changes the most common.

2 Channel users are notorious for being confrontational and over-the-top. The ruckus should be regarded accordingly. However people may feel about gachas, they’re extremely lucrative; this controversy won’t bring the system toppling down. Instead, developers will adjust their games’ gachas while keeping a close eye on the changes their competitors make, arriving at a new equilibrium players will tolerate.

Still, in its own provocative way, 2 Channel is also a bellwether. The reactions of its posters cast into sharp relief that the gacha system is something many smartphone players simply tolerate.