As HoYoverse continues to succeed with Honkai: Star Rail, could a subscription service better serve it and the community? Gacha games have always been a controversial topic, especially since Genshin showed how successful they can be. This only continued with the other two games, which may not have the same media appeal, but still carry a significant fanbase and profit. Even with competition starting to get better, HoYoverse still has a firm grasp on the gacha genre.

For all their charms, each game has had its share of troubles. Genshin seems to be running out of steam the past year, producing lackluster content with the majority of characters of little interest to the community. HSR has been hit with major power creep issues that could send the strategic title to an early grave. Zenless may be in the best position, as, after a sluggishly slow start, it has rebounded nicely to have consistently engaging updates and characters.

How A Gacha Subscription Model Would Work

Balancing The Rewards For Both Sides

A solution to many of these issues is to create a subscription model for the big three HoYoverse games. The first part of this system would be figuring out a fair price, so it doesn't hurt the company's bottom dollar a lot, if at all. Rightfully, this is a factor that fans won't care about, but it is an important business tactic as, without the profit, the company wouldn't want to adopt this method. A fair price that would work for both sides will likely fall in the $30 range or $10 per game.

The next step is making the subscription a good dela. The fairest solution here would be for all limited characters to be given to subscribers at base, along with a base copy of their signature weapon. This allows them to try out any new characters they want and not fear missing out if they become stronger down the line. It could also help solve burnout from those who want to try new characters, but can't manage the costs.

The caveat to this is that banners will stay for two reasons. The first is that any duplicates will work as they do currently, powering up the characters and signature weapons. The second reason is that if the subscriber were to cancel their subscription, they would still have the characters or weapons they have duplicates of. For example, if someone used the subscription to try Miyabi's best builds and managed to pull two extra copies and one of her engines, then when the subscription ends, they would still have Miyabi at Mindscape one with a base engine.

The Argument For A Subscription Model

A System For The Players, Including New Ones

The most obvious reasons for having a subscription model would be the money it would save players and the experience it would offer. Gacha can often feel like a predatory service, especially given the way HoYoverse treats new character releases, even if Zenless tries to avoid power creep as the newest title. This would solve that issue for those who just want to enjoy the game, while still letting them more content. Also, given the nature of these games, there will still be people who spend an exuberant amount to max out the characters they love.

This type of system would also serve as an easier barrier of entry for new players. With these games having as many years behind them as they do, new s can often feel overwhelmed trying to catch up with the meager number of characters they are given. However, with a subscription service that gives them access to everyone who has already been released, though leveling them would be gated at first, it offers more ease of access while also hooking them into the game.

The worry would be if they did change to this model, what tweaks might they make to make it unfriendly? They could go as far as to change the game from free to play to a subscription required to play. Or, numerous more features or bundles could be added that make the service feel like a necessity more than a helpful optional system.

The benefit this could bring is largely increasing the number of active players, which is already extremely large. Even if those new entries never spend outside the monthly cost, that is more income from s who may have never touched the game otherwise. The tricky part of this would be figuring out if this can outweigh the likely reduction from those who might have been inclined to spend on pulls before, but now find no need to.

The Argument Against A Subscription Model

Warping A Good Model Is A Concern

The argument against a subscription model boils down to two main factors. The first is if HoYoverse would even consider it. The studio already makes an enormous profit from the current system, so it would have to measure how much it thinks this type of system could make. If the answer is not more, then the likelihood of this type of feature plummets to near zero, as even if it would be on par with what is currently made, it would be a lot of effort to create.

The second worry would be if they did change to this model, what tweaks might they make to make it unfriendly? They could go as far as to change the game from free to play to a subscription required to play. Or, numerous more features or bundles could be added that make the service feel like a necessity more than a helpful optional system. Overall, for all the good it could bring, it could also be twisted to be harmful to the health of all the games.

A fair and friendly system like this is likely a pipe dream. Gacha games make too much money as is to move a system that, while still likely profitable, is a gamble to invest in. Plus, any system like this would be hard-pressed to be as fair for both sides as described above. HoYoverse has shown it partially cares about its core audience, so if anyone could do it, it would likely be them. However, until that happens, players must patiently wait for monetization improvements for Genshin Impact, Zenless Zone Zero, and Honkai: Star Rail.