CityUHK explores gacha games at GachaCon 2026
An academic conference titled “GachaCon 2026: Genshin Impact” was earlier held at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). The event brought together interdisciplinary scholars from across the globe to delve into gacha games, one of the most commercially successful and culturally influential gaming formats of our time, centring on the popular game Genshin Impact.
Players spend money on gacha mechanics to obtain randomised rewards. It often requiring multiple attempts to acquire desired characters or items. In his opening remarks as one of the conference organisers, Professor Leon Xiao, Presidential Assistant Professor in the School of Creative Media (SCM) at CityUHK, noted that the scope of research on gacha games has gone far beyond business models, extending to their profound cultural, legal and social impacts.
He noted that in addition to the significant social influence of gacha games, there is considerable room for deeper academic research and discussion. SCM therefore seized the opportunity to gather industry experts from diverse fields for meaningful exchanges and engagement. The conference spotlit Genshin Impact, a Chinese mobile phone game developed by miHoYo, which successfully implemented gacha mechanisms and introduced “open-world” design to mobile gaming, marking a pivotal moment in the global games industry.
During the sessions, attendees from fields such as law, psychology, sociology, game studies and human–computer interaction convened to share insights. They discussed topics ranging from probability disclosures in East Asia, digital asset ownership to the role of leaks as cultural capital.
The conference prioritised early-career researchers, fostering a dynamic and welcoming atmosphere. Among the participants, Lin Bitong, a PhD student at Nanjing University and a devoted player of miHoYo’s games, combined her personal experience with academic observation to explore, from a sociological perspective, how players rationalise spending within gaming communities. She found that explicit criticism of in-game spending is relatively rare among players in the Chinese Mainland; instead, many tend to view it as a means of supporting high-quality creative content and engaging in a cultural community. Que Yixiang, a PhD student at Erasmus University Rotterdam, analysed Genshin Impact from the perspective of cultural representation, pointing out that the integration of rich Chinese cultural elements in the game can effectively shape and strengthen players’ understanding of, and identification with, Chinese culture.
GachaCon 2026 showcased the multifaceted nature of gacha games and underscored their growing relevance to public discourse, policymaking and cultural debate. By fostering cross disciplinary collaboration and amplifying early career scholarship, the conference shed light on how gacha gaming intersects with consumer protection, cultural production, platform economies and evolving regulatory frameworks across regions.
Building on the momentum of GachaCon 2026, CityUHK’s SCM will continue to serve as a platform for critical inquiry into emerging gaming cultures. Upcoming events include a conference in September on the convergence of video games and gambling and the next GachaCon in February 2027, which will turn its focus to Otome games, aiming to further expand the global conversation on interactive entertainment.
