What makes something good? Why are some products more popular and preferred over others? To give a concrete example, why is the GGBet bookmaker one of the most popular sportsbooks on the market? There can be many answers to this question – maybe, the GGbet login process is easier as compared to other betting sites, or it offers higher odds or more betting options. Whatever the reason, there is something that makes some products better than others. This goes for MMORPG games as well. The recently launched Genshin Impact has gained incredible popularity and can compete with even the biggest names in the industry. So, what’s the reason for this? What makes Genshin Impact such a special game? We will try to answer these questions below.
The Story and Basic Mechanics of Genshin Impact
Genshin Impact’s story is pretty good for a game whose main purpose is not the story. It is about 2 brothers who travel between realms. When they come to a land called Teyvat, an unknown god separates the 2 brothers from each other (the game offers a choice here, and the story continues over which brother we choose). While it is unknown what happened to one of the brothers, the other brother is imprisoned in the land called Teyvat and is looking for ways to find his brother and get out of this realm.
The story has its own impressive points. Since the characters in the story are the characters we play directly in the game, many of them have memorable personalities. As we progress through the story, many dialogues offer us a choice. Unfortunately, we are unable to influence the main story: most of the time, these are just “cosmetic” choices. That being said, the story isn’t the main selling point of Genshin Impact – it is the combat and the “gotta collect them all” mentality.
The combat is fast, fluid and impressive. It is like playing an ARPG (action role play game). The traditional MMORPG combat mechanics are based on “pressing buttons,” and since most of them are from a decade ago, the animation quality is terrible. The combat is slow, unresponsive and uninspiring. Genshin Impact, on the other hand, is a modern game with modern combat mechanics: you can create combos, mix your abilities together and attack your enemies using the world around you. For example, when you attack a creature above water with an ice element, you can freeze the creature, or if you attack with the electric element, you can create an AoE (area of effect) attack that deals damage to a large group. Being creative is important in Genshin Impact, and this affects the overall experience of the player. You don’t have to press the buttons to deal damage, you can be as creative as you want.
The Gacha Mechanics: That’s The Secret
If you’re playing games on your smartphone, you’re sure to have played many games using gacha mechanics by now. This is a Japanese term and describes a special type of collection. Have you played games where you have to summon something or unlock chests to get powerful characters and equipment? Then you already know how gacha works. Free-to-play mobile games use this mechanic to increase player engagement and encourage them to keep playing. You can try your luck with a free summon every 24 hours or buy new packs and characters by paying with real money. The goal is to collect everything in a game: Gacha games turn everyone into a “Pokemon trainer.”
This mechanic is so effective that it brings millions of dollars to mobile games. Genshin Impact may be the first one to successfully adapt this system to the desktop. Although there are PC games that use the “loot box” system, Genshin Impact makes it one of its core mechanics. If you want to be successful in the game, you need stronger characters. They also only come out of chests and packages. You can buy them with real money. Simple. Just to give you an idea, this mechanic allows Genshin Impact to earn an average of $6 million every day. The game generated $393 million from bundle sales alone in the first two months after its release. This is an incredible number, and even the biggest names in the industry (World of Warcraft, for example) cannot make this level of income.
Close to 10 million people currently play Genshin Impact, and almost all of them continue to buy packs. For example, to buy a strong (5-star) character, you need to spend about 200 USD, and there are thousands of players who do it every day. Most of the game is free, but if you really want to be “strong,”you need to keep paying.
That’s the secret of Genshin Impact: offering the game for free but making you spend money through gacha mechanics to make you feel powerful and special. Modern combat, impressive graphics and ease of play are also factors, of course, but the main reason why it is so popular is the gacha mechanics. Of course, this will not be a lasting success – gacha games are short-lived, and better ones can always be found. But while they’re popular, they make an incredible amount of money for their developer. We are sure that many companies have already started developing similar games. In a short time, we will see many games that are almost “exactly the same” as Genshin Impact.
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