Genshin Impact cost to play

Genshin Impact's characters and weapons come from Wishes, a gacha system. HoYoverse shows the wish odds on an in-game Details screen, and its banner notices point players there rather than giving the numbers. Because we only publish rates we can link to on a publisher's own web page, this page leaves the rates out. The guarantees are a different matter: HoYoverse sets those out on its own site.

Wish guarantees (pity)

Does Genshin Impact have pity? Yes, and HoYoverse states the guarantees on its own site (see below). Our guide to how pity works shows what a guarantee does to your odds. HoYoverse's Chronicled Wish rules state that a 5-star item is guaranteed within a maximum of 90 wishes, and a 4-star or better at least once every 10 wishes. Before wishing you choose a 5-star item as your Chronicled Path. Each 5-star you get has a 50% chance of being that item; if it isn't, you get a Fate Point and the next 5-star is guaranteed to be your choice. The wish count carries over to the next Chronicled Wish, but the Fate Point doesn't.

For the Character Event Wishes, HoYoverse's current notice says the two banners share one wish count, kept separate from every other wish, and refers players to the Details screen for the rest.

Banners and maintenance

Which banners are on now, and when they end in UK time, is on our Genshin Impact banner countdown. The next update downtime is on the Genshin maintenance timer. Both are updated from HoYoverse's notices at every banner and version change.

How it plays

Genshin Impact is a free-to-play open-world action role-playing game set in Teyvat, a world flowing with elemental energy. You play the Traveler, who arrived from another world with a sibling, was separated from them by an unknown god and now sets out across Teyvat to find answers from The Seven, the gods of each element.

HoYoverse describes an open world where you can climb any mountain, swim across any river and glide over the land below. Combat is built on seven elements, Anemo, Electro, Hydro, Pyro, Cryo, Dendro and Geo, which react with each other: you can vaporise Hydro with Pyro, electro-charge it with Electro or freeze it with Cryo, in battle and when exploring.

You build a party from a cast of characters, each with their own abilities, and level them up to take on enemies and domains. You can team up with friends on other platforms, up to four players together, for boss fights and domains.

What it costs

On the PlayStation Store UK, Genesis Crystals run from 60 for £0.99 to 6,480 for £87.99. The store descriptions say the first purchase of each pack doubles it (60 extra on the 60 pack, 6,480 extra on the 6,480 pack). After that, the extra crystals are smaller: 30 on the 300 pack, rising to 1,600 on the 6,480 pack.

At those repeat-purchase amounts, crystals cost about 1.65p each in the smallest pack, falling to about 1.36p for 330 (£4.49) and about 1.09p for 8,080 (£87.99). Crystals are spent on in-game bundles or exchanged for Primogems, which are exchanged for the Fates used to make Wishes. The exchange rates are shown in the game rather than on a public HoYoverse page, so we haven't converted a Wish into pounds.

The Blessing of the Welkin Moon costs £4.49 and gives 300 Genesis Crystals plus 90 Primogems a day for 30 days.

Wishes are paid random items. Under the criteria that took effect in June 2026, PEGI has re-rated Genshin Impact from PEGI 12 to PEGI 16 because of them, and its pegi.info entry notes that the game can still be played without buying them (see what PEGI's paid random items label means).

How we checked

Prices and pack descriptions are the PlayStation Store UK listings, read on 3 October 2026. The PEGI rating was rechecked on pegi.info on 7 November 2026. We also read HoYoverse's Chronicled Wish rules and its Version 7.1 Phase II wish notice (8 October 2026), which refers players to the in-game Details screen for odds. Genshin Impact isn't on Steam, so we don't show a player count. The gameplay description is based on the publisher's PlayStation Store page.

Page images: screenshots from COGNOSPHERE's Genshin Impact PlayStation Store page. © COGNOSPHERE PTE. LTD. All trademarks belong to their owners. GamesChart is not endorsed by or affiliated with HoYoverse or COGNOSPHERE.