Popular YouTuber Mtashed made the conscious decision to spend $2,000 USD on a character from Genshin Impact named Klee to show how ridiculous the gacha game's odds can be. In a stance against what Mtashed is claiming is a predatory system, the YouTuber has decided to unlist all of the videos in which he spends extravagant amounts of money on Genshin Impact.
While Genshin Impact is free-to-play, the game does contain microtransactions that allow players to purchase the game's premium currency with real money. This currency, called Primogems, can be spent on Fates, which in turn allows players to make so-called Wishes that can be spent on rolls to unlock new characters. As is it with most gachapon games, though, there is only a miniscule chance of receiving a new character with each Wish. Genshin Impact rewards players with small amounts of Primogems for completing quests and or remedial activities to ensures that even those who choose the free-to-play route can take a swing at getting a new character every now and then, but their odds of success are innately low.
Mtashed uploaded three videos, two of which are now unlisted (but still saved in thumbnail form thanks to Patricia Hernandez), where he spends $2,000 on Klee's constellation banner. The first video ("Is The KLEE Banner Worth Wishing On?") breaks down what players can receive from the banner, and its first follow-up ("I Spent $2000 On The KLEE Banner") shows him doing just that, showing everything he received for that ridiculous amount of money in a free-to-play game. Lastly, he uploaded "Why I Regret Getting Klee," in which he aptly explains why Klee, a video game character, isn't worth $2000. The latter of the two videos have been unlisted, but Mtashed has since uploaded a follow-up video, where he announced that he will no longer be using his main account - theoretically worth a whopping $7,200 - or spend any more money on Genshin Impact.
In "'I QUIT': Why I Am Going F2P in Genshin Impact," Mtashed explains one of the main reasons he is stepping away from spending money in Genshin Impact is because of the potential negative effects it might have on his viewers. He explains that while he is able to afford these extravagant purchases to make content, he knows his viewers don't have that luxury but doesn't want his content to still encourage them to do so. He calls the system "predatory" and refuses to promote the gambling nature of Genshin Impact's gacha system.
While Mtashed has valid points, he places too much of the blame on Genshin Impact. MiHoYo offers players the exact odds of receiving a four or five-star character per Wish, which is a level of transparency that other gacha games don't offer. The game also offers players a healthy amount of Primogems for exploring, questing, and progressing the storyline. While individuals who have addictive personalities might want to stray away from games like Genshin Impact, it's content like spending $2,000 in one setting that encourages extravagant spending. MiHoYo isn't producing content of a studio rep spending thousands of dollars, and the game itself doesn't visually or verbally encourage that kind of behavior - but it's undeniable that it is the sole holder of the keys to the door that it's left wide open to those with gambling proclivities.
Genshin Impact is available on iOS, Android, and PC.
Sources: Mtashed, xpatriciah