{"id":1194553,"date":"2026-02-17T21:26:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=597934"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:26:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T21:26:40","slug":"genshin-impact-introduces-age-gating-as-part-of-loot-box-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/genshin-impact-introduces-age-gating-as-part-of-loot-box-crackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Genshin Impact introduces age-gating as part of loot box crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Genshin Impact<\/a> <\/em>will require all its players in the U.S. to verify their age by July, in order to comply with a settlement between developer HoYoverse and the Federal Trade Commission<\/a> over the game\u2019s gacha mechanics. As part of the $20 million settlement, HoYoverse is forbidden from selling loot boxes to children under 16 without express parental consent.<\/p>\n

In a brief post<\/a>, HoYoverse said the age-verification process would roll out to American players by May 20. Age verification will be required during login or account creation. Players who don\u2019t verify their age by July 18 will have their account suspended, their friends list and chat records deleted, and will get no further notifications.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t mean that children under 16 will be unable to play Genshin Impact<\/em>. But, after age verification, they won\u2019t be able to independently make the loot-box purchases that grant players access to the game\u2019s collectable characters.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no nationwide regulation of loot boxes in the U.S. But the FTC targeted HoYoverse<\/a> with a lawsuit targeting Genshin Impact<\/em>\u2019s confusing purchase system, the misleading of players about the odds of getting the most coveted characters, and for illegally targeting children and collecting their data. At the time of the settlement, HoYoverse told Polygon in a statement that \u201cwhile we believe many of the FTC\u2019s allegations are inaccurate, we agreed to this settlement because we value the trust of our community and share a commitment to transparency for our players.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another case targeting the so-called \u201cdark patterns\u201d game developers use to push players into the maximum number of in-game purchases, the FTC collected a huge settlement<\/a> from Fortnite<\/em> maker Epic Games and even refunded some players<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As well as introducing age verification, the settlement with the FTC requires HoYoverse to provide players with a way to pay for loot boxes directly with real money, to disclose accurate loot box odds and currency exchange rates, and to delete personal information collected from children under 13.<\/p>\n

\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Genshin Impact will require all its players in the U.S. to verify their age by July, in order to comply with a settlement between developer HoYoverse and the Federal Trade Commission over the game\u2019s gacha mechanics. As part of the $20 million settlement, HoYoverse is forbidden from selling loot boxes to children under 16 without express parental consent. In a brief post, HoYoverse said the age-verification process would roll out to American players by May 20. Age verification will be required during login or account creation. Players who don\u2019t verify their age by July 18 will have their account suspended, their friends list and chat records deleted, and will get no further notifications. This doesn\u2019t mean that children under 16 will be unable to play…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1194554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1194553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nGenshin Impact introduces age-gating as part of loot box crackdown | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Genshin Impact will require all its players in the U.S. to verify their age by July, in order to comply with a settlement between developer HoYoverse and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/genshin-impact-introduces-age-gating-as-part-of-loot-box-crackdown\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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