2023
Blom, Joleen
The Genshin Impact Media Mix: Free-to-Play Monetization from East Asia Journal Article
In: Mechademia, vol. 16, iss. 1, pp. 144-166, 2023, ISSN: 1934-2489.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Characters, Free-to-play games, In-app purchases, Media mix, Monetization model
@article{Blom2023b,
title = {The Genshin Impact Media Mix: Free-to-Play Monetization from East Asia},
author = {Joleen Blom },
url = {https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/23/article/910024},
issn = {1934-2489},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-10-23},
urldate = {2023-10-23},
journal = {Mechademia},
volume = {16},
issue = {1},
pages = {144-166},
abstract = {In the first quarter of 2022, the free-to-play game Genshin Impact (2020) surpassed a revenue of $3 billion dollars (US) from their mobile phone players.1 Genshin Impact is currently one of the highest-grossing games on the market since its official launch on September 28, 2020. The above revenue number is from sales through the App Store and Google Play alone, and it does not include the game’s PC and PlayStation versions. The game also has a significant global impact; while it makes the most sales in the Chinese market (ranking number one in revenue) and Japan (ranking number two), the United States ranks number three.2 In 2021, the game’s developer, HoYoverse, generated almost $1.5 billion USD in revenue from in-app purchases, a number that was doubled compared to the prior year, with Genshin Impact as their top-grossing mobile game.3
Genshin Impact can only be described in a multitude of adjectives. It is a cross-platform, free-to-play, open-world, role-playing game with anime-inspired characters. Players can roam the virtual world of Teyvat doing just about whatever they want, ranging from completing the main quest, playing through story quests, traversing dungeons, building a home base, fishing, fighting monsters, or just wandering through the world’s villages and cities. The game bears a resemblance to Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs); before its official release, the game was considered by entertainment website Polygon to be a clone of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017),4 and even reported by the game news website Kotaku to be similar to the Tales JRPG series.5 The most lucrative element of this game is its characters. The game operates on a monetization model in which the game itself is free to play but offers in-app purchases. These purchases predominantly take the form of game characters that players can attempt to obtain through a gacha mechanic, where players make small purchases to roll for a desired character, which they may or may not obtain.
In light of this special issue of Mechademia: Second Arc’s focus on new approaches and analyses of the media mix, this article aims to shed light on [End Page 144] the monetization model of free-to-play games within a media mix practice with characters at its center. As Marc Steinberg explains, characters function in media mix practices as the devices that connect audio-visual media (such as manga, anime, and video games) and objects while simultaneously forcing the proliferation of these media and objects.6 Genshin Impact both follows and diverges from this aspect, because, although the Genshin Impact characters proliferate across different media such as an online manga, an upcoming anime, and even social media like YouTube and Twitter, the free-to-play game is the primary medium to which all these media are directed. As this article shows, the characters are used as a device for the game’s monetization strategy to connect its different sources of income into a single game service instead of an entire media mix.},
keywords = {Characters, Free-to-play games, In-app purchases, Media mix, Monetization model},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
In the first quarter of 2022, the free-to-play game Genshin Impact (2020) surpassed a revenue of $3 billion dollars (US) from their mobile phone players.1 Genshin Impact is currently one of the highest-grossing games on the market since its official launch on September 28, 2020. The above revenue number is from sales through the App Store and Google Play alone, and it does not include the game’s PC and PlayStation versions. The game also has a significant global impact; while it makes the most sales in the Chinese market (ranking number one in revenue) and Japan (ranking number two), the United States ranks number three.2 In 2021, the game’s developer, HoYoverse, generated almost $1.5 billion USD in revenue from in-app purchases, a number that was doubled compared to the prior year, with Genshin Impact as their top-grossing mobile game.3
Genshin Impact can only be described in a multitude of adjectives. It is a cross-platform, free-to-play, open-world, role-playing game with anime-inspired characters. Players can roam the virtual world of Teyvat doing just about whatever they want, ranging from completing the main quest, playing through story quests, traversing dungeons, building a home base, fishing, fighting monsters, or just wandering through the world’s villages and cities. The game bears a resemblance to Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs); before its official release, the game was considered by entertainment website Polygon to be a clone of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017),4 and even reported by the game news website Kotaku to be similar to the Tales JRPG series.5 The most lucrative element of this game is its characters. The game operates on a monetization model in which the game itself is free to play but offers in-app purchases. These purchases predominantly take the form of game characters that players can attempt to obtain through a gacha mechanic, where players make small purchases to roll for a desired character, which they may or may not obtain.
In light of this special issue of Mechademia: Second Arc’s focus on new approaches and analyses of the media mix, this article aims to shed light on [End Page 144] the monetization model of free-to-play games within a media mix practice with characters at its center. As Marc Steinberg explains, characters function in media mix practices as the devices that connect audio-visual media (such as manga, anime, and video games) and objects while simultaneously forcing the proliferation of these media and objects.6 Genshin Impact both follows and diverges from this aspect, because, although the Genshin Impact characters proliferate across different media such as an online manga, an upcoming anime, and even social media like YouTube and Twitter, the free-to-play game is the primary medium to which all these media are directed. As this article shows, the characters are used as a device for the game’s monetization strategy to connect its different sources of income into a single game service instead of an entire media mix.
Genshin Impact can only be described in a multitude of adjectives. It is a cross-platform, free-to-play, open-world, role-playing game with anime-inspired characters. Players can roam the virtual world of Teyvat doing just about whatever they want, ranging from completing the main quest, playing through story quests, traversing dungeons, building a home base, fishing, fighting monsters, or just wandering through the world’s villages and cities. The game bears a resemblance to Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs); before its official release, the game was considered by entertainment website Polygon to be a clone of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017),4 and even reported by the game news website Kotaku to be similar to the Tales JRPG series.5 The most lucrative element of this game is its characters. The game operates on a monetization model in which the game itself is free to play but offers in-app purchases. These purchases predominantly take the form of game characters that players can attempt to obtain through a gacha mechanic, where players make small purchases to roll for a desired character, which they may or may not obtain.
In light of this special issue of Mechademia: Second Arc’s focus on new approaches and analyses of the media mix, this article aims to shed light on [End Page 144] the monetization model of free-to-play games within a media mix practice with characters at its center. As Marc Steinberg explains, characters function in media mix practices as the devices that connect audio-visual media (such as manga, anime, and video games) and objects while simultaneously forcing the proliferation of these media and objects.6 Genshin Impact both follows and diverges from this aspect, because, although the Genshin Impact characters proliferate across different media such as an online manga, an upcoming anime, and even social media like YouTube and Twitter, the free-to-play game is the primary medium to which all these media are directed. As this article shows, the characters are used as a device for the game’s monetization strategy to connect its different sources of income into a single game service instead of an entire media mix.
2022
Blom, Joleen
Attachment, Possession or Personalization?: Why the Character Trade in Animal Crossing: New Horizons Exploded Journal Article
In: Replaying Japan, vol. 4, pp. 23-34, 2022, ISSN: 2433-8060.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Character trade, Characters, Nintendo, Video games
@article{Blom2022c,
title = {Attachment, Possession or Personalization?: Why the Character Trade in Animal Crossing: New Horizons Exploded},
author = {Joleen Blom},
url = {https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202208106341},
doi = {10.34382/00017634},
issn = {2433-8060},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-07-31},
urldate = {2022-07-31},
journal = {Replaying Japan},
volume = {4},
pages = {23-34},
abstract = {A month after the release of the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo 2020), virtual player markets arose where players could exchange characters and other goods, but this simultaneously led to players scamming each other during those trades. A year later Nintendo announced the Amiibo Sanrio Collaboration Pack, a set of character cards to be used in New Horizons, which a minute after its release was completely sold out so that consumers could only obtain the cards at private online vendors, another market economy, for a much higher price. This article is occupied with the question of why players are so willing to go through such great lengths to obtain virtual characters they desire, even risking being deceived? What do these characters mean to them? The article argues that the affective relationships between players and virtual characters cannot be understood independently from the marketing practices of a video game. It shows how the Animal Crossing ludo mix strategy’s uneven distribution of characters in- and outside of New Horizons is the underlying reason for fraudulent player practices to occur. It explains how Animal Crossing uses a blend of monetization approaches resembling the current game monetization trend of free-to-play games with random in-game purchases that use characters as fuel. Finally, it will argue that Nintendo needs to foster a community infrastructure that facilitates a safe exchange of the villagers and other items but due to its neglect to do so, it is actually the player market economies instead that are fostering such responsible gameplay.},
keywords = {Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Character trade, Characters, Nintendo, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
A month after the release of the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo 2020), virtual player markets arose where players could exchange characters and other goods, but this simultaneously led to players scamming each other during those trades. A year later Nintendo announced the Amiibo Sanrio Collaboration Pack, a set of character cards to be used in New Horizons, which a minute after its release was completely sold out so that consumers could only obtain the cards at private online vendors, another market economy, for a much higher price. This article is occupied with the question of why players are so willing to go through such great lengths to obtain virtual characters they desire, even risking being deceived? What do these characters mean to them? The article argues that the affective relationships between players and virtual characters cannot be understood independently from the marketing practices of a video game. It shows how the Animal Crossing ludo mix strategy’s uneven distribution of characters in- and outside of New Horizons is the underlying reason for fraudulent player practices to occur. It explains how Animal Crossing uses a blend of monetization approaches resembling the current game monetization trend of free-to-play games with random in-game purchases that use characters as fuel. Finally, it will argue that Nintendo needs to foster a community infrastructure that facilitates a safe exchange of the villagers and other items but due to its neglect to do so, it is actually the player market economies instead that are fostering such responsible gameplay.
Aarseth, Espen; Karhulahti, Veli-Matti
In Search of Characters Without Signifiers Journal Article
In: Narrative, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 268-285 , 2022, ISSN: 1063-3685.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Characters, Game characters, Implied characters, Minimalist characters
@article{Aarseth2022,
title = {In Search of Characters Without Signifiers},
author = {Espen Aarseth and Veli-Matti Karhulahti},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202206163427},
doi = {10.1353/nar.2022.0016},
issn = {1063-3685},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-05-25},
urldate = {2022-05-25},
journal = {Narrative},
volume = {30},
number = {2},
pages = {268-285 },
abstract = {This essay explores the question whether characters can exist without being signified in any way. If characters can exist trans-medially, independently of a particular form of signification or sign-vehicle, why not exist without any signification at all? What kind of existence would such a character have? And, paradoxically, what would examples look like? While the question at face value might appear logically invalid, I argue that at (or just beyond) the minimalist end of the character-representational spectrum, we find what might be called implied characters, that is, characters that are not in any way given, represented, named, or performed, but can only exist in the minds of their players during play, as a formal slot without physical, structural, communicational, or mental properties.},
keywords = {Characters, Game characters, Implied characters, Minimalist characters},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
This essay explores the question whether characters can exist without being signified in any way. If characters can exist trans-medially, independently of a particular form of signification or sign-vehicle, why not exist without any signification at all? What kind of existence would such a character have? And, paradoxically, what would examples look like? While the question at face value might appear logically invalid, I argue that at (or just beyond) the minimalist end of the character-representational spectrum, we find what might be called implied characters, that is, characters that are not in any way given, represented, named, or performed, but can only exist in the minds of their players during play, as a formal slot without physical, structural, communicational, or mental properties.
Blom, Joleen; Mikkonen, Kai
Virtual Assistants as Characters—Or Not Journal Article
In: Narrative, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 169-181, 2022, ISSN: 1063-3685.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Characters, Hikari Azuma, Kyara, Quasi-persons, Voice assistants
@article{Blom2022b,
title = {Virtual Assistants as Characters—Or Not},
author = {Joleen Blom and Kai Mikkonen},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10138/345328},
doi = {10.1353/nar.2022.0009},
issn = {1063-3685},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-05-25},
urldate = {2022-05-25},
journal = {Narrative},
volume = {30},
number = {2},
pages = {169-181},
abstract = {New technologies like voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and the Google Assistant give the impression that the lines between humans and machines are blurring as machines gradually take up social roles once occupied by humans. To counter that anxiety, this essay argues that these technologies are becoming more like characters, adapting to the templates we initially constructed for fictional beings whose space voice assistants occupy instead. It provides a textual reading of the Japanese voice assistant Hikari Azuma as advertised by the company Vinclu’s website in order to demonstrate how Hikari functions as a kyara, a character without story, whose development depends on the user. The essay proposes that we have to adjust
our conceptual understanding of characters as distinct from human beings and technology. Instead, the essay concludes that we should perceive current technologies like voice assistants as technologies operating on a spectrum in which some machines will look more like characters and others more like software-in-action with no humanlikeness at all.},
keywords = {Characters, Hikari Azuma, Kyara, Quasi-persons, Voice assistants},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
New technologies like voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and the Google Assistant give the impression that the lines between humans and machines are blurring as machines gradually take up social roles once occupied by humans. To counter that anxiety, this essay argues that these technologies are becoming more like characters, adapting to the templates we initially constructed for fictional beings whose space voice assistants occupy instead. It provides a textual reading of the Japanese voice assistant Hikari Azuma as advertised by the company Vinclu’s website in order to demonstrate how Hikari functions as a kyara, a character without story, whose development depends on the user. The essay proposes that we have to adjust
our conceptual understanding of characters as distinct from human beings and technology. Instead, the essay concludes that we should perceive current technologies like voice assistants as technologies operating on a spectrum in which some machines will look more like characters and others more like software-in-action with no humanlikeness at all.
our conceptual understanding of characters as distinct from human beings and technology. Instead, the essay concludes that we should perceive current technologies like voice assistants as technologies operating on a spectrum in which some machines will look more like characters and others more like software-in-action with no humanlikeness at all.
2021
Karhulahti, Veli-Matti; Välisalo, Tanja
Fictosexuality, Fictoromance, and Fictophilia: A Qualitative Study of Love and Desire for Fictional Characters Journal Article
In: Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 11, pp. 575427-575427, 2021, ISSN: 1664-1078.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Characters, Elokuvat, Fictophilia, Fiktiiviset hahmot, Fiktoseksuaalisuus, Game characters, Hahmot, Media, Parasocial relationships, Pelihahmot, Pelit, Pelitutkimus, Sarjakuvat, Seksuaalisuus, Sosiaaliset suhteet, Suhteet, Televisiosarjat, Televisiot (laitteet)
@article{Karhulahti2021,
title = {Fictosexuality, Fictoromance, and Fictophilia: A Qualitative Study of Love and Desire for Fictional Characters},
author = {Veli-Matti Karhulahti and Tanja Välisalo},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202101181136},
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2020.575427},
issn = {1664-1078},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-12},
journal = {Frontiers in Psychology},
volume = {11},
pages = {575427-575427},
abstract = {Fictosexuality, fictoromance, and fictophilia are terms that have recently become popular in online environments as indicators of strong and lasting feelings of love, infatuation, or desire for one or more fictional characters. This article explores the phenomenon by qualitative thematic analysis of 71 relevant online discussions. Five central themes emerge from the data: (1) fictophilic paradox, (2) fictophilic stigma, (3) fictophilic behaviors, (4) fictophilic asexuality, and (5) fictophilic supernormal stimuli. The findings are further discussed and ultimately compared to the long-term debates on human sexuality in relation to fictional characters in Japanese media psychology. Contexts for future conversation and research are suggested.},
keywords = {Characters, Elokuvat, Fictophilia, Fiktiiviset hahmot, Fiktoseksuaalisuus, Game characters, Hahmot, Media, Parasocial relationships, Pelihahmot, Pelit, Pelitutkimus, Sarjakuvat, Seksuaalisuus, Sosiaaliset suhteet, Suhteet, Televisiosarjat, Televisiot (laitteet)},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Fictosexuality, fictoromance, and fictophilia are terms that have recently become popular in online environments as indicators of strong and lasting feelings of love, infatuation, or desire for one or more fictional characters. This article explores the phenomenon by qualitative thematic analysis of 71 relevant online discussions. Five central themes emerge from the data: (1) fictophilic paradox, (2) fictophilic stigma, (3) fictophilic behaviors, (4) fictophilic asexuality, and (5) fictophilic supernormal stimuli. The findings are further discussed and ultimately compared to the long-term debates on human sexuality in relation to fictional characters in Japanese media psychology. Contexts for future conversation and research are suggested.