Gacha Games in English-Language Journalism: How Do News Stories Represent the Emergent Form of Quasi-Gambling?

Gacha games, a genre of free-to-play video games where players spend real money on random virtual rewards, have drawn comparisons to gambling and links to problem gambling and addiction. This study examines how English-language journalism represents this emergent form of quasi-gambling and how such coverage shapes public opinion. Building on earlier research showing that news media have repeatedly framed video games around negative effects, the author asks whether coverage of gacha games departs from those established patterns.

The analysis draws on 50 English-language news stories gathered from Google News, gaming news sites, and commentary websites, selected to balance the diversity of sources, content, and depth of topical discussion. Using inductive discourse analysis, the study identifies four recurring themes: gambling, addiction, exploitation of young people, and player experience. Coverage in the first three themes employs persuasive rhetoric, such as emphasising the money players spend, citing academic research on psychological harm, and highlighting manipulative design features like fear of missing out, to evoke public alarm and hostility toward gacha games. Coverage of exploitation of young people extends these concerns to juveniles and raises ethical questions.

A smaller share of stories focuses on player experience, describing gameplay, narrative, and aesthetics firsthand, and acknowledging gambling and addiction risks while arguing that players can manage them through their own agency. The study finds that these stories are marginalised by the more dominant negative framings, yet they offer an alternative channel for understanding gacha games as a legitimate video game genre. The author concludes that journalistic framing and the materiality of gacha games together co-construct a dynamic in the public sphere.