I wonder to what extent gambling addiction is fueling the growth of casual/social gaming.
Loot boxes in video games have been linked to problem gambling.
Candy Crush is using a strategy that is “known as a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement and is the same tactic used in slot machines”.
Honestly, this should have been outlawed long ago.
It is an absolute sham that they aren’t regulated as strictly as casinos, exclusively for adults, with the company liable if they fail to prevent minors from participating.
It’s just idiotic. Even more idiotic is the idea that we cant change these things. Dump letters on the government, pressure them, make groups to fight for this, and if that’s not enough, protest. It’s a minor change that will only have positive consequences. Why won’t we do it? (Spoiler: because it is easier to think nothing can be done)
On one hand I accept casual gamers but on another hand I don’t want people to stop making non-casual games, so seeing casual games make much more money is a little alarming. I also don’t want casual gamers to get flooded with freemium trash that’s padded to the gills with microtransactions. They deserve more Animal Crossing and less Slot Machines Disguised As A Game.
“Around 85% of all video games revenue comes from free to play games”
We really are the problem. They wouldn’t add all these microtransactions and manipulative payment methods if we didn’t sucker up.
We are the problem in so much it’s very well known that psychologically conditioning tactics work on the human brain.
The real problem is a lack of education and regulation. People know regular casino gambling is a problem but governments act to make people aware and limit its harm. Meanwhile even rating agencies play coy about the effects of lootboxes in games rated for actual children. They try to argue that it’s not “real gambling” because players can’t officially redeem rewards as money, but it’s exactly the same as far as the negative effects go, incentiving compulsive spending which can be financially damaging.
and that folks, is why the gaming industry is not only in such an dystopian god awful state, but it only goes down from here, there aint no bottom
Half of the data is made up and from the future
Yeah, like why the fuck isn’t it at least split in the middle with present data. The whole thing is just a garbage ad.
Expecting growth to keep up forever is investor nonsense, but it is very relevant that, up to 2021, mobile games which are largely based on the freemium model have overtaken the rest of the industry by far. Console and PC games are now a secondary market, which is sad to see.
It’s the same for piracy, you can’t expect people that don’t have the money to play games that they have to pay for. Nothing beast free when you just have a phone or chrome book and download a game or play embeded after watching ads. The graph didn’t tell you where the money come from or the avg dollar spend per player.
The graph and tables are for total revenue across the industry and they even separate ad revenue into a different category. What this shows is that freemium is more expensive than paid at this point.
I think it’s simply a matter of volume. Everyone has a phone, not everyone has a console or gaming pc
There is some merit to that but we aren’t just counting players. People seem to be ultimately paying more. If mobile gaming was more available but also more affordable the revenue might not surpass console and PC games.
Which is no surprise, since most freemium games are structured to get players spending, dangling extra lives and new characters in front of them, often escalating to the point where even people grinding hours every day struggle to advance without paying. It’s not uncommon to see people in mobile gaming communities saying how they spent thousands of dollars on a game and regretting it, something that is not even a possibility for console games without microtransactions.
I‘m not questioning the data, but this whole „article“ is advertising to sell an ETF to invest into this trend.
The data is misleading, it only shows data from 2017 and then a projection. Sure, one that’s pretty reasonable (other sources have similar numbers) but still anything could happen.
I spend a hundred quid or so, every year for the last ten years on Steam (Steam for Linux onwards), but in exchange for that, I have several hundred quality games - probably more than I can ever play in my lifetime.
How are people spending so much on imaginary gold rings for “Sweetshop Diamond Solitaire Saga Origins”?
Is it simply a matter of there’s 100 of them for every 1 of me?
My guess is either gambling addiction or money laundering.
