Even by gacha standards, progression and monetization in Arknights: Endfield is pretty confusing. Before and at launch, the newly released action RPG spin on Hypergryph's Arknights drew criticism for convoluted currencies, opaque character drop rates and "pity" maximums, and a rotating banner system that obscures how your investment is tracked. In an interview with GamesRadar+ at GDC, lead developer Ryan (his preferred name for press) discussed the response to Endfield's gacha system and some plans to refine it, as well as the impact of these systems on games as a whole.
Ryan acknowledges different responses to gacha systems between Asian and Western audiences. "People can be critical about the gacha part of the game because they are not used to this monetization method," he says. "But in East Asia, players are more used to the gacha system."
