Gambling on Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact, by definition from the Genshin Impact Wiki, is “a fantasy open-world environment and action-based combat system using elemental magic, character switching, and a gacha monetization system for players to obtain new characters, weapons, and other resources.”
Genshin Impact can be everything you want in a game. Want a cozy, low-pressure environment? A magical world within a teapot is yours to customize. Want to build characters and teams that challenge a variety of bosses? Several domains within the game are yours to conquer. Want an interactive story? There are hundreds to dive into. On top of that, limited-time events like the Lantern Rite Festival and the Golden Apple Archipelago keep players engaged and constantly anticipating what comes next.
Screenshot by Rea Francesca Amano Pallay (Genshin Impact, Character Section, Apr 30, 2026).
Screenshot by Rea Francesca Amano Pallay (Genshin Impact, Serenitea Pot, Apr 30, 2026).
Screenshot by Rea Francesca Amano Pallay (Genshin Impact, Linnea Story Quest, Apr 14, 2026).
It’s not hard to see how easy it is to get hooked. I’ve been playing the game since late 2020, and I’ve experienced the majority of the features that a player can enjoy. There are countless features to explore and take advantage of. It’s not even a game that requires heavy commitment, unless you want to maximize the rewards you can get.
But the gambling.
The gambling.
That's where it becomes more than just a game. When you gamble, your brain releases dopamine, the neurotransmitter that makes you feel excited, even if you lose. It's the same psychological mechanism that keeps people coming back to slot machines or lottery tickets (Responsible Gambling Council).
To put it simply, the gacha system can really get you. You need 160 primogems to make a wish, and it takes about 89 wishes before you’re 100 per cent guaranteed a five-star character. But even then, once you reach that guaranteed wish, there’s only a 50/50 chance it will actually be the character you want. If you lose that 50/50, your next guaranteed five-star character will be the one you were aiming for.
Seems simple enough once you understand how it works.
But then come constellations. The more copies you get of a character or weapon, the stronger they become. The stronger they are, the more damage you deal. The more damage you deal, the easier it becomes to defeat enemies and complete domains.
If it were easy to get primogems, this wouldn’t be as much of an issue.
But it isn’t.
Daily commissions give you 60 primogems. Exploring and opening chests might give you anywhere from 2 to 15 at a time. Quests can reward between 20 and 60, depending on their scale. Even when you add that all together, you’re looking at roughly 120 primogems in a day, but it’s still not enough for a single wish.
It’s ridiculous how difficult it is to farm primogems. It becomes even more frustrating when you look at the prices set by Hoyoverse. Purchasing 3,280 primogems (excluding the bonuses) only gives you about 20 wishes, yet it costs $67.99 CAD. That’s not even halfway to guaranteed pity.
Now you would think people would avoid spending money on Genshin Impact after knowing all that, but here’s the thing: Genshin Impact has an annual in-app purchase revenue of 1.56 billion U.S. dollars (Statista 2026).
Genshin Impact thrives on the illusion that progress is always just one more wish away. It’s what keeps players logging in, grinding commissions, and, for some, pulling out their wallets. And while the game offers beauty, creativity, and community, it also quietly normalizes a system that blurs the line between entertainment and gambling. At some point, it stops being about enjoying the world of Teyvat and starts being about chasing odds.
The question isn’t whether the system works (when it clearly does). The real question is: at what cost to the player?
Sources
Genshin Impact Wiki. (n.d.). Genshin Impact. https://genshin-impact.fandom.com/wiki/Genshin_Impact
Responsible Gambling Council. (n.d.). The Science Behind Gambling. https://responsiblegambling.org/for-the-public/about-gambling/the-science-behind-gambling/
HoYoverse. (2026). Genshin Impact Top-Up Prices. https://sdk.hoyoverse.com/payment/genshin/index.html
Statista. (2026). Genshin Impact annual revenue. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1295196/genshin-impact-arpu-country/
