Half of all mobile games money comes from 0.19% of users

[itechy21]

As it turns out almost half of spending on mobile games comes from the same 0.19% 

 

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2016-03/23/mobile-gaming-micropayments-who-pays

 

So basically it's a minority ruining what used to be a good industry.. (remember doodle Jump and fruit Ninja before they went F2P?)

[Prysin]

neat. Makes it a lot easier to brainwash 0.19% of people into paying for the real shit rather then candy crush

[VinsinityKT]

It was explained before in that one South Park episode where Canada made an game app and people would get hooked and spend outrageous amounts of money and this is the goal of today companies. Just get a few hooked and they will pay.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Heres why....

[Tomsen]

Mobile games often target people who is easily been addicted. Most mobile game follow the same kind of scheme (not by coincidence), to try empty ones pockets for either been able to play more, or gain some kind of advantage.

[potoooooooo]

The number being so low probably comes from the bloated amount of mobile devices that exist.

[VinsinityKT]

It's kind of like drugs addition, only in a legal version involving games and catering to your interest and desires.

[porina]

Thy have to optimise their income but I have to wonder how extreme some companies get.

 

I do dabble in a fair bit of mobile gaming, and rarely pay much if at all. Basically, if I like the game, and have gotten some fun out of it, I will buy something to support them. But games are making it hard for me to do that, since the lower payment tiers (equiv. <US$10) often are near worthless in in-game value. Is it really easier for them to target a tiny high paying minority, than a greater amount of smaller spenders?

 

I'm currently active in Fantasy War Tactics. It has been described as "Final Fantasy Tactics with boobs" in reference to some of the female character designs. The monthly basic package is the only thing I find worth getting, as everything else is reaaaaaaaally expensive. Currently there's a time limited character package, for near enough US$100. Just no! Is this really worth more than buying a AAA PC game you get to keep? Mobile games, particularly those relying on servers, may disappear at any time. As fun as I find it, there isn't that much content. I just feel they're missing out on income by crippling lower payment levels so much.

 

What annoys me more is the effective breaking of games in order to try and get an income. Intrusive advertising is the worst offender. 

[That Norwegian Guy]

22 minutes ago, potoooooooo said:

The number being so low probably comes from the bloated amount of mobile devices that exist.

No, it's the same in MMORPGs (especially ones that are some degree of pay 2 win like Rift)

 

They target "whales" intentionally, people who have less intelligence or are compulsive buyers, most of these people can't even afford it.

What these games will have are for example RNG lockboxes with a 0.075% drop rate of something that everyone wants, most people will buy 1 or a few and call it a day, but a whale would buy hundreds.

 

Obviously whale-targeting cash shops in video games is the most unethical practice you'll find in the industry today.

 

 

 

 

 

[suicidalfranco]

looks at newly bought space leoric, still feeling good a bout buying it! no regrets

[FPSwithaWacomTablet]

Hm... Here I am enjoying Cytus and Deemo.

 

IMO the song packs are expensive af..

[deviant88]

why would i pay for anything anymore... everything thats on mobile quality and experience i played on PC 10 years ago, or better why would i play mobile at all its just a waste of effort to even try it on touch crap.

[Katorice]

5 hours ago, porina said:

-snip-

yup. this.

I'm playing Starwars Heroes and although I've played almost a month and gotten more than $10 of enjoyment out of it, I don't think its worth $20. but anything below $40 (WAT?) is practically useless.

They won't sell you a character out-right, you must buy packs that give you shards, enough shards=character.

 

but when they have "specials" they will sell 3 characters (or the chance of one) for >$30. How can these still be classified as "micro-transactions"? bullshit if you ask me.

 

the mobile platform was morphed into a playground for maximum profit by firms looking to milk this new and crazy idea of "if it has enough development, it isn't gambling!"

[Trik'Stari]

2 hours ago, deviant88 said:

why would i pay for anything anymore... everything thats on mobile quality and experience i played on PC 10 years ago, or better why would i play mobile at all its just a waste of effort to even try it on touch crap.

^my exact sentiment.

 

If I am not at my PC, I am doing something else. Why in the fuck would I be playing games on a tiny, annoying, touch screen?

[CTR640]

I never buy buy something from games that are riddled with ads. Fuck that.

The devs have only themself to blame if they add shitload of ads in their games. It's annoying.

While the game takes ages to load your savegames which are saved on the cloud of the devs, the ads

easily can do 1080p60 ads videos and audio is at full blast.

[Nineshadow]

Don't they include ads?

[Stuff_]

I simply don't understand why people purchase games (or micro-transactions within the game) on a mobile device? You literally have the entire world at your fingertips, the computing power of a PC. Why not use it to your educational advantage? Instead of playing mindless games that you have to pay to play at some point. 

 

The only thing I purchase on the Play store are actual apps. Things that work for me. Not some titans game, or war game, or anything that has the polygon count of 5.

[Teddy07]

I ain´t comming from me bro. I actually dont even have a game installed on my smartphone

[SurvivorNVL]

I've made the mistake of buying in to pay to win.  It was a dark and stormy--year, and I spent several car's worth on MMO's.  I learned my lesson.  Now I just gamble.

[Doobeedoo]

Wow, sad. So easy to brainwash people indeed.

[Crazy Ginger]

I am one of those types of people that actually pays for their mobile games (not with inapp microtransactions, but actual up front payment of apps) and I almost never encountered problems such as intrusive adverts or intrusive microtransactions.  There are games out there that are not microtransactions riddled filth, like VVVVVV, Out There, the iPad port of FTL, Super Hexagon, Boson X, all of these games cost upfront money and have no inapp purchases of ads.  My view of mobile games is, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. If you are going to not pay a cent, you will get a shit game in return.  If you pay even a tiny amount of money, the quality of what you get goes up immensely in most cases.  There are shit apps you need to pay for dont get me wrong.  But the majority of them are far far better than most free to play games out there.

[Belgarathian]

11 hours ago, Prysin said:

neat. Makes it a lot easier to brainwash 0.19% of people into paying for the real shit rather then candy crush

0.19% of 2 billion devices is a shit load of people. 

 

I have no source, this is complete guesswork but I thought on the conservative side. 

[Daegun]

I thought this was known already. Something like 90% of revenue of the free to play, pay to win games comes from 5% of the players as well.

 

Personally, I have no problems paying for apps. If I enjoy it and get some time out of it, I'm all for supporting it and I'm willing to pay up front for well done games with good reviews. Unlike others say, there are quality mobile games out there, sadly they're buried under all the massive amounts of clone of popular games and just generally bad ones. But they do exist and not all of the developers are greedy.

[mikat]

12 hours ago, itechy21 said:

As it turns out almost half of spending on mobile games comes from the same 0.19% 

 

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2016-03/23/mobile-gaming-micropayments-who-pays

 

So basically it's a minority ruining what used to be a good industry.. (remember doodle Jump and fruit Ninja before they went F2P?)

we knew this already, because there are people with multiple 10k$ maxed out clash of clans bases lol

[mikat]

6 hours ago, deviant88 said:

why would i pay for anything anymore... everything thats on mobile quality and experience i played on PC 10 years ago, or better why would i play mobile at all its just a waste of effort to even try it on touch crap.

clash of clans was pretty good before supercell completely ruined the game