The developers of have agreed to a 20 million dollar settlement with the United States Federal Trade Commission regarding alleged deceptive loot box practices against those under the age of 16.
Cognosphere, also known as HoYoverse, was named in the lawsuit as having marketed a «gambling model» to children, as well as collecting their data.
While continues to be a massive success for HoYoverse with its open-world RPG gameplay, the FTC's settlement, which suggests a purposeful mishandling of children's data and personal information, is deeply disappointing for fans.
According to Forbes, made 1 billion dollars in its first six months on mobile platforms, and this amount re-occurred every six months for a sustained period. Despite the lawsuit focusing on the exploitation of players, Polygon has reported that the $20 million will be sent to the United States Treasury, and won't be reimbursed to players.
The FTC's complaint against Cognosphere focuses on the alleged misleading of players surrounding their odds of winning rare items in , with the true costs of these transactions obscured.