The cursed gacha skin

It is the craziest gacha community drama I've seen since I started playing these games approximately 6 years ago. For those who don't follow GFL2 news, the developers have released a gacha skin for Klukai in the Chinese version, and the community has gone nuclear not only in China but globally. There are at least two petitions at this point calling for MICA Team (the developers of the Girls Frontline franchise) to change things as well as boycotts and other actions.

So why is a gacha skin so controversial? After all, plenty of games have them, and nobody's complaining. Well, the reason people are complaining in this case is a flawed perspective. Someone has done calculations, and apparently you will have to spend $200 in the worst-case scenario to get the skin. That's terrible. Even for the biggest spenders, dropping $200 on a skin should be unacceptable, right? In fact, the biggest spenders on the Chinese version are so upset that they have demanded an actual, in-person meeting with the MICA Team to discuss this issue. Wild!

I understand the frustration, and I don't think it's a good move from the developers, but I also think people are strongly overreacting. When I say it's a flawed perspective, I mean people are looking at it from a very unlucky spender's standpoint. Here's some crucial information from a person familiar with the Chinese version.

As you can see, the game doesn't require you to spend $200 for this skin. You might have to spend a little bit to get to the full pity of 100 pulls, but that's the worst-case scenario. You might even get it in the first ten pulls. It's gacha after all. Yes, the fact is that you will have to be patient and wait for almost a year to get it if you're not very lucky, but there's no need to exaggerate the costs of it for the average player. It's very likely that even players who can't spend a single cent on the game will get the skin, which wouldn't be possible if it were sold in a shop like other skins. It should also be noted that you will get Andoris' skin along the way, so it's actually a two-for-one kind of gacha.

I'm not writing this article to shill for MICA Team. Just like the majority of people, I don't think it's a good direction to take. They could have allowed players to use collapse pieces to pull for the skin. They could have given out the free pulls more frequently. Likewise, they could have made the price lower. There is definitely valid criticism and better options, but I'm not going to call this gacha skin release scummy or predatory. Instead I see it as a reward for long-term players. It's very similar to the free Vector's skin. I still don't have it because it takes a long time to accumulate the currency for it.

I don't think there's much MICA Team can do about Klukai's skin because it's already out, but they are aware of the backlash, and they will undoubtedly change things going forward. It's important to voice your dissatisfaction with a service so that it can be improved, but I don't like when people go crazy about it. Petitions? Face-to-face confrontation? There are way more serious problems in the world that could use this level of passion.