Gossip: Are there any proven cases of mobile game gacha rate manipulation followed by an official apology?

Recently, a player sparked a discussion on whether there are any proven cases in the mobile gaming industry where a company was caught 'shadow-nerfing' gacha rates and subsequently issued an official apology. In the ACG (Anime, Comic, and Game) community, tampering with players' 'hard-earned money' is considered a major taboo, yet most claims of rate manipulation remain based on player intuition rather than concrete evidence.

In response, the comment section quickly gathered enthusiasts to revisit past controversies:

The 'Dream Heart Lake' incident from *Mr. Love: Queen's Choice* was cited as the most iconic example. Another frequently mentioned case is the '0.98%' controversy from the early days of *Honkai Impact 3rd*. Regarding the latter, opinions are divided: some believe the developer truly miscalculated the rates and only acknowledged the error after initial pushback. Others argue that it wasn't a 'shadow-nerf' in the traditional sense, but rather a greedy design choice—grouping characters and fragments into the same probability pool—which backfired during a time when probability disclosure wasn't yet legally required.

In summary, while suspicions of 'shadow-nerfing' are rampant among players, developers typically frame such incidents as 'system calculation errors' or 'design oversights.' True, intentional, and officially admitted instances of malicious rate manipulation remain exceptionally rare in the industry.