I‘m not questioning the data, but this whole „article“ is advertising to sell an ETF to invest into this trend.
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”.
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)
“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.
I’m not sure there is much intersection between PC & console gamers and social/casual gamers.
I can’t speak for anybody else, I guess, but neither I nor any gamers I routinely interact with play these freemium/social/mobile type games. Like, at all.
I think that looking to ourselves and our habits for answers will not tell us much, as those gamers are not in our sphere of influence.
I meant the collective “we” as in humanity. You are an outlier among gamers I assure you, the vast majority are just “normies”.
Half of the data is made up and from the future
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.
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
