Japanese publication Famitsu has stirred some feathers in the Fate Grand Order community after referring to players as “Greedy” for wanting a pity system.
In a tweet by @kyoukaraneko, they posted a report from a poll for FGO players where it’s mentioned that said players asked for a pity system- that is, an in-game system where the game offers free 5-star servants if you don’t get it within a certain number of pulls.
However, Famitsu seemingly adds their own editorial here, where they call the players greedy for asking for a pity system in Fate Grand Order.
The quote has sparked discussion on places like Twitter and Reddit, with many calling out Delightworks for managing to ignore having a working pity system, unlike most gacha games on the market right now.
One player, DerdromXD on Reddit, describes the problem with a lack of pity system:
“The pity doesn’t represent we are greedy, it represents that we can literally spend thousands of dollars without getting A SINGLE copy of the servant (character) we want.”, they said.
One more user, kairock, even mentions they’d be more inclined to spend if they knew the game would eventually serve up a 5-star.
“If FGO had a pity system, they would get more cash out of me honestly”, they said. “For example, for key characters like merlin, or any favorites, i would not mind dropping some dough, IF i can get 1 copy guaranteed, and if i was reasonably close to pity”, they said.
Pity System, An Industry Standard (Editorial)
The Pity System has become an industry standard in gacha games, with any good one having some sort of guarantee for fans. A notable one in particular was Genshin Impact- although rates in that game tend to be bad, your pity would carry over across banners, meaning even if you didn’t hit pity on the current banner, your pity count wouldn’t reset on the next one.
The reason people are advocating for it in Fate Grand Order is simple- if you spend enough money in a game, you should eventually be entitled to something. Just the possibility that a user can spend real money in the thousands and not get any 5 stars is egregious to the extreme, and that’s before you even mention things like whether or not it’s the 5-star you want.
The counter-argument you could make is that the Blackjack table doesn’t have a pity system, and if you decide to do nothing but double down, it’s not like the dealer’s going to slip you a blackjack on your 100th one. Considering the many problems surrounding gacha games and their proximity to gambling though, deciding your smartphone game is actually a vehicle to deliver important life lessons probably isn’t the best business practice.
At the end of the day, as much as Fate needs a pity system, developers won’t do it until they see a reason to. If less people pulled for a banner knowing they were going to be screwed over, someone over at Delightworks would realize that the high of getting the 5-star you want actually gets people to stick around more, rather than solely relying on persistent gamblers.
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