$600 In Wuthering Waves?! Why Gacha Game Prices Are Out Of Control

In this video, we dive into the insane prices of gacha games, focusing on titles like Wuthering Waves, Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero, and more! 🎮💸 From the skyrocketing costs to the psychological traps we fall into, I share my personal experience spending over $600 on Wuthering Waves since its release. Are we stuck with these overpriced models forever, or will the future of gacha games change? Let’s talk about how these games drain our wallets and what, if anything, developers are doing to make them more affordable.
If you’re tired of gacha games robbing your bank account, this is a discussion you won’t want to miss. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below-do you think gacha prices will ever become reasonable, or are we trapped?
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#GachaGames #WutheringWaves #GenshinImpact #HonkaiStarRail #ZenlessZoneZero #fategrandorder

[@SolaceSaga]

How much money have you spent on your favorite Gacha? Or are you F2P? SUBSCRIBE now so you don't miss out on upcoming giveaways and more gacha content!!

[@VeryGoofyCat]

0$

[@SolaceSaga]

@@VeryGoofyCat I applaud you good sir

[@littlebigeats7682]

Never f2p. I only play gachas for spending $$$. Monthly + battle pass then top off whale for characters I like and don’t want to grind for. I’m currently only playing hsr and wuwa but Wuwa’s looking to be on the chopping board since they aren’t releasing any more 5* male characters for the next 120 days.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@littlebigeats7682 you didn’t like Xiangli Yao? Most other games have about the same rate of releasing male characters as well tbh. But yeah I’m definitely spending most/all my gacha budget on WuWa currently

[@lakviduchamath342]

I'm F2P but I have almost every character and there weapons until now... 😊

[@MobaSeeker124]

Gacha games could benefit from offering discount coupons or bonus rewards to attract more players. Introducing banners that cater to low spenders, rather than focusing solely on high spenders, might also encourage wider participation.

[@hijodelsoldeoriente]

What's funny is that Wuthering Waves gacha monetization is less-aggressive than literally most gacha games. So if you spent 600 in WuWa, you might need more than that in say Genshin. 2:51 exactly! That's gacha brainrot for you. This isn't like non-gacha non-lsg with micro-transaction AAA or AA games. These are gacha games eith the most disgusting monetization practiced yet people use it as a metric if a game is actually good. It's like being proud because your game has the most aggressive gacha monetization and fooled so many gacha addicts.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@hijodelsoldeoriente 100% I would have needed to spend more money in Genshin haha. The guaranteed weapon banner and hard pity at 80 in WuWa makes quite a big difference. And yeah it’s crazy. But people are completely brainwashed into it. There’s even a guy somewhere in these video comments who is arguing that point. I just stopped responding to him lol.

[@GreyEyedRaven]

I stop buying the pack since 2022. Now I only pay the 5 USD monthly pass and plan ahead for a character that I want.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@GreyEyedRaven Based!!! That’s the way to do it.

[@knyx9969]

I’m probably stating the obvious, but the reason why gacha players often use revenue as a measure of how good a gacha game is likely because they are applying non-gacha games revenue logic to gacha games. Typically, a not-free -upon-download game would not be bought if it sucks. If the quality, playstyle, characters, etc, isn’t good enough, people would just not buy it. However, that isn’t the same as gacha games that are ’free’ upon release. However, because gacha games are rather new to America(compared to America’s history of pay-to-game(no, I did not mean pay-to-win) video games), there’s no website with quantitative data to measure the quality of each game yet, especially since the only statistics we can get from the game is amount of regular players and the amount people spend on the game. I mean, you can use the revenue as a way to measure how much people are willing to spend to be able to continue to play the game, but gacha games are a slippery slope, and there’s no way to tell the difference between addiction/sunk-cost fallacy and playing a game because of preference.

[@eherden2169]

I would not condemn spending if its in small mounts like battle pass or the monthly login pass. Full video games are between $60 to $70, so if over a year you spent $120 on a single game that has provided good content over the patches I find it as reasonable as buying two to three games a year. Now spending on any of the top up offers of instant free gems is a bad decision, price per gem is not worth it.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@eherden2169 it’s totally not worth it. But people do it anyway (myself included 😭)

[@Kojiro3210]

Yea, this stuff adds up, and if you aren't careful, you'd end up spending thousands if you spend to keep up on every character release trying to keep up with multiple gatchas. I've already gotten to the point where I've gone near-f2p on all but my favorite 2 games, HSR and Wuthering Waves. The inaction of a few made it an easy choice to just drop them entirely and unistalled. I used to try to keep up with character releases for like 5 games, but thinking about it, a few of them just weren't worth my $ compared to others.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Kojiro3210 yep it’s near impossible. I’m pretty much only spending money in WuWa right now I can’t keep up with more than that. And like I said I wouldn’t have spent as much money in WuWa as I have if it wasn’t for the better odds and guaranteed weapon banner.

[@lstsoul4376]

Only gacha I spent money was genshin and it was like 10 quid. I just hate that gacha games rely heavily on fomo to make you spend money and time...

[@SolaceSaga]

@@lstsoul4376 I hate it too man, I really do. It’s predatory. I’m very privileged that I’m able to spend to get what I want, but I shouldn’t have to spend that much and neither should anyone else, it’s crazy

[@joshsolders5543]

I will agree that the packs are expensive at $30 for a 10 pull, however, that doesn't change the fact that you don't need to spend and you don't need every character. Or you could get the $5 monthly pack. Most gachas I have played don't require you to get every character. They are designed with FOMO, but once you learn to ignore it, then you learn to not care about not having everything. Gacha games only really hurt if you NEED every character (once in a while its game design, but often its people lacking self control). Unless the game is designed where you need every character, its like real life where you have to make choices and budget your currency. Worst case scenario you miss out on a few stars in the end game content mode for that cycle and miss a small amount of currency. Spending tons of money to get that little bit isn't worth it. If the majority of gacha games are extremely aggressive compared to hoyoverse games or WuWa, then I'm open to being corrected, but I haven't had problems in the 2 games I play with the $5 pass. If we're talking content creators, then that's a different story, but its also a business. I feel for content creators that aren't already massive or don't have a lot of disposable income to invest in banners hoping to grow their channel. Otherwise, the big ones make back what they spend easily. But I don't think gacha games are the best games for content creators to try and grow off of anyway. Gachas are about building accounts over time, not having everything instantly.

[@SolaceSaga]

I don't disagree with anything you're saying. But here's my counter to it. I think what you're describing is essentially a state of mind that we shouldn't have to be in in the first place, if that makes sense. Yes you don't need every character, yes you can clear content without getting every new character. But it sucks that we can't realistically get every character that we want without forking out loads of money, or just missing out. I don't have a perfect analogy to provide, but consider that character releases are essentially like DLC. Imagine if other games and game models came out with a system where it was like here we're releasing DLC for the game every so often but hey you can't guarantee you can play the DLC unless you spend a ton of money. You can buy a subscription but with that subscription you can only get a DLC every once in a while. But don't worry you can still play the base game content without the DLC so don't worry about it, just budget your money accordingly.

[@joshsolders5543]

@@SolaceSaga The logic is solid. But at the same time, I don't want all the characters. I can't even build all the characters I want. And I don't think that's due to bad game design. I could nitpick on the gear pity in some games, but we would need to be able to build all the characters before I would want them. But the main point is the price. And its a bit absurd. I would want to see what they actually profit, but unless its really low, the price reductions could stand to occur. It won't hurt anybody, even if I think that shouldn't suddenly make people spend a ton of money on the game. The management of currency should apply regardless of the price.

[@MPaulPhoenix]

I spent $45 in 3 months, and I got everything I wanted so far.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@MPaulPhoenix what all did you get that you wanted?

[@Hobbitfeet01]

Its a cultural thing. People in Asia are willing to pay that much and much much more for their favourite chars. Its kind of a privilege for them to be able to show off well invested accounts. And aslong they are willing to pay that much those companys will never lower their prices by alot. We western players are mostly a small part of their income anyway. I play 4 gachas on and off depending on my time but i have never spent more then those 30 day passes or here and there a battlepass which comes to be around 20$-30$ a month. Its important to let people know what kind of a game gachas can be and prepare them before playing.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Hobbitfeet01 valid point. So in that respect we may actually never see anything change with the prices at all. *sigh*

[@Redmoon776]

If they are on same genre,revenue and total active player is more valid argument to determine games quality,is not that deep

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Redmoon776 I don’t understand what you’re saying. Are you saying total active players is a more valid argument than revenue?

[@Redmoon776]

@@SolaceSaga I said revenue and total active player is more valid truth about games quality some people think opinion is truth to determine about overall games quality,but is not,is to subjective Example GI vs Wuwa,some people think wuwa is overall is better quality games then GI,but in fact is not,because GI still far more can retain revenue and total active player then wuwa,because simply genshin have more quality then wuwa in general My statement is for people delusional think wuwa>GI

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Redmoon776 thinking that WuWa is better than Genshin is not delusional. You thinking that other people are delusional for thinking WuWa is better, that is delusional.

[@Redmoon776]

@@SolaceSaga is delusional objectively,more wise think is "wuwa is more fit for me" or "In my opinion",so if wuwafans think like this there's no tribalism like what happened right now

[@Sottoth]

​@@Redmoon776 but you're leaving something out, GI came several years before, taking a hold to the majority of the players and because of the sunk cost falacy (or stockholm syndrome, however you wanna call it) it's hard for them to jump ships. Im not saying that wuwas is better, but if it were, GI will still make tons more of money

[@natsu_1325]

Good thing you spend on wuwa instead of hoyo games because you actually saved some money 😂.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@natsu_1325 dude, for sure. That could have easily been over $1k in a Hoyoverse game because of their scam weapon banners.

[@Kazumi_yosuke]

it sounds like somebody has 0 self control☠

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Kazumi_yosuke lmaooooo. Nah. I make enough money to do what I do. You also have to consider that I’m trying to make content around these characters, so I have to try and get as many as I can so I can build the characters and make videos.

[@f2pgpb993]

i am f2p and i wouldnt even use money on those games its a waste of money as its a casino xd

[@SolaceSaga]

@@f2pgpb993 yup you are absolutely not wrong hahaha

[@ffcmobilelegends2825]

Spend only on a few subscriptions so i can save for a character i want in a next patch/two patches. Spending for pulls is just not worth it

[@SolaceSaga]

@@ffcmobilelegends2825 yeah it’s definitely not. Or rather, it’s not reasonably priced to spend on pulls. But that’s how they get most of the their huge revenue numbers.

[@nekomew]

Don't think it will work by lowering payments. F2P will always be F2P, they wouldn't spend a cent no matter how much the game lower itself to. Each paying player is effectively paying for numerous F2P to enjoy the game without footing a single cent. In a developed country we would not feel the pinch of dropping a battlepass or so, but in other countries, a $20 might be a couple of week's pay for them. Also, another thing to consider is why most paying players will even want to spend so much in the first place. It is to have something that is extremely hard for others to get. Treat it like some kind of luxury item/status symbol, just in a digital way. If it is accessible by everyone, who else is going to foot the bills for the servers to keep running and the frequent monthly updates? The model by itself isn't bad, it is how weak willed the players are to it.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@nekomew I appreciate your thoughts and comment haha but I just disagree. F2P won’t always be F2P. Some yes, but many F2P and low spenders are that because they can’t afford it. I agree that some people want to spend so much in the first place because it’s a luxury type thing. But definitely not all. I spend just because I want the characters, for me, it being luxurious means nothing; most people in my life would think I’m an idiot as opposed to being impressed. Tbf, idc what people think about me. My response to that is that I have the money, I spend money on what I like, and I’m far past the age of caring about if someone thinks I’m an idiot for what I spend my extra money on. To your last point that the monetization is fine… $100 for 50 pulls man. That’s not fine haha.

[@nekomew]

@@SolaceSaga agreed that we shouldn't care about how others think on how we should spend our money. I too, am way past half of my life to be bothered about it. Imo, lowering pulls might seemed good in the first place as it makes the game more accessible to more players. But on the other end of the spectrum, it lowers the maximum amount a huge spender will spend on the game to acquire a full decked character. If let's say, a mid spender who can spend $200 per banner, even if prices are lowered, is still going to spend $200. Whereas a huge spender who spends $2000 on a C6R5 character, now probably only need $1000 to max that character out. This lowers the income the gacha company makes. Which in the big picture where everyone look at sales comparison across competitors, a much lower sales figure might shake consumer confidence that the game service isn't doing as well as others. Outside of gacha income, let's talk about game balancing. Games like Wuwa, Genshin, HSR etc are balanced around the F2P income. i.e. Gamers who with just f2p resources, should be able to clear the game with some amount of difficulty. One of the things having pulls that are much easier to access is the introduction of more power to the player. This leads to the game needing to be balanced around the new "baseline", as not to make the game too easy and boring as players have more access to characters and resources. Some games might have to be redesigned completely are they are based off resource scarcity. (Like Wuwa/GI needing a character of a specific element to easily clear the stage) There's a lot to take in and change for devs who want to lower gacha costs. Wuwa is great as the weapon banner is 100% guaranteed. But see how the devs counterbalance that? Almost all the 4*/SR weapons in Wuwa aren't as great as their 5* limited ones. Compared to GI/HSR where the weapon banner isn't guaranteed, their 4* offerings are great, some are even the BiS for certain characters. But that said, it doesn't mean there aren't ways to lower the amount of spending on gacha. The overall costs of needing to max out a character in gacha games over the years have dropped. We can take FGO gacha period as gen1, Genshin gacha period (the one we are in as Gen2). Who knows when we might have someone come out with Gen3 type of monetisation.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@nekomew you have all good thoughts and points. I don’t think I disagree with any of it. Just know that I unfortunately don’t have time to articulate all my thoughts in response at the moment. The grind ahead is tough today lol and it’s time for me to get to it. Thanks for stopping by man I appreciate all of your thoughts!

[@nekomew]

nvm scratch that. I'm a consumer too why am I thinking about reasons on why gacha is the way it is now. The cheaper it is the less damage it is to my wallet. 😆

[@SolaceSaga]

@@nekomew I literally just dropped $100 to add to my funds for Shorekeeper lmao. Pumping my acct with money weeks in advance. *sigh* but again I try to get most characters and weapons so I can make videos

[@Niedajsiepolaku]

I spent 5-15$ max I learned my lesson quick when I played FGO my discipline is rock solid, I plan all my pulls I don't care if I have all characters because you don't need that to clear the game. When I feel the game is a chore to me and not fun I just drop it the game is for me not other way around its easier to do when you haven't wasted few thousand $ though. I think it depends on individual person but I have one guy on discord who is very bad at controlling his urges to spent yes he has the money but he's wasting them also maybe he is even addicted not strictly to the game but to pull and the thrill of excitement for me its just a game I understand that in the end gacha games have cycles and my game will die eventually.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Niedajsiepolaku yeah this is all valid. You can have discipline and not spend and realize that you don’t need every character. But imo it shouldn’t necessarily have to be that way. It’s predatory on people who don’t have that discipline and then say, for me, I usually want most of the characters. Like I just want them haha 🤣 I enjoy the game more by getting more characters and learning more move sets and I don’t like to miss out, it feels bad. But yeah anyway just my personal thoughts and opinion on the matter. $100 for 50 pulls is just completely insane and eventually needs to change.

[@Niedajsiepolaku]

@@SolaceSaga Its fine as long as you have everything in control this type of games have elements of gambling but its not strictly gambling when you have pity and know and can calculate everything I lost a lot of cash when I played FGO that was my first Gacha I played you had no pity there % was very low to get anything but now I know how to play this games its all fine as long you control the game and not game controlling you.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Niedajsiepolaku heyyy FGO was my first gacha also haha! Yes I agree with you, it’s a matter of control. I guess my point about it is, it would be better if that wasn’t a factor in the first place. Like, we should be able to buy and have all the characters at a more reasonable price point, and I think that they would still make tons of money because then more people would spend.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Niedajsiepolaku and another thing that’s more personal to me is I’m trying to make content around the characters and stuff so I’m having to try and budget being able to pull both Shorekeeper and Camellya coming up for example. Which is unreasonable to do unless you’re spending a good amount of money.

[@Niedajsiepolaku]

@@SolaceSaga Well your case is different you should make some profit from the videos about the game. I would like the price to be lower too, but that's how this game works. All I wanna say that people that can't afford should not spend a specially if you have no control over this. They want you to feel fomo and pull. Just do what you do man as long as you are in control and safe thats fine.

[@PikachuPolice]

Idk man...I have spent more in pubgm than any gacha..

[@SolaceSaga]

@@PikachuPolice oh really? That’s super interesting haha. Is it just skins?

[@PikachuPolice]

​@@SolaceSagayes x suites and gun skins

[@ACorpseOnMQ]

Honestly I think 100$ should be worth like 140-200 pulls

[@SolaceSaga]

@@ACorpseOnMQ I haven’t thought about it to a point like that but yeah… 50 pulls for $100 is honestly just so bad. The fact that capitalism hasn’t played out in any way with these prices is a bit surprising. Idk id just like to be able to get characters and weapons for a respectable price point.

[@MadmanThreeTwoTwo]

@@SolaceSaga most gacha games that u mentioned in this video doesn't come from capitalistic society.

[@SolaceSaga]

@@MadmanThreeTwoTwo yeah I thought about that after I said it. But I still feel like people will get priced out eventually. Idk, we’ll see how things play out as time goes on but like for me personally I can’t afford to really invest into more than one of these games at a time. I can do F2P in several sure but it feels bad missing out on so many characters and then I don’t enjoy it as much.

[@partyanimals9026]

@@MadmanThreeTwoTwoBut it's not like they don't want to make the same . I mean remember the NFTs.

[@brandonblack344]

Mom!!!!! Get me credit card!!!!!

[@SolaceSaga]

I NEED IT RIGHT NOW MOM GIVE ME THE CARD

[@Sottoth]

Imagine wasting so much money in a game when you play as Ikea Kirito

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Sottoth what character are you referring to?

[@Sottoth]

​@@SolaceSaga male MC from wuwas, but it also applies to several other games, like K from Outerplane

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Sottoth imma list out some problems in order 🫡😝 1. No one plays WuWa male main character. We all chose female rover because we have culture. 2. What’s wrong with Ikea?? 3. What’s wrong with Kirito??? 🙃 4. Yeah you got me on everything else though my count is actually up to $700 now and I’m not even ashamed. God bless Changli and Shorekeeper and Camellya coming up. Tbf you have to take into account that I’m trying to get my content off the ground making videos that include these characters.

[@Sottoth]

@@SolaceSaga hey, to each their own, as long as you're happy with your choices then keep at it, i don't intend to continue arguing, but ill respond to the points just to don't leave you hanging 1- I agree, mostly because male gachas MCs are bland 2- Nothing, but Ikea is broadly known for it's cheap, easy to build furniture 3- dude sucks, plain and simple, he's like... An egg without a yolk, and his design is everywhere, almost every isekai protag or male gacha protag it's just a kirito recolor 4- I respect the grind, i hope it works for you, i wish you luck ✌️

[@SolaceSaga]

@@Sottoth hey man I’m not even arguing haha just being goofy. I agree, to each their own.