{"id":72107,"date":"2015-02-19T06:59:59","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T04:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=72107"},"modified":"2015-02-19T07:01:24","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T05:01:24","slug":"how-freemium-games-are-tearing-you-a-new-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/72107-how-freemium-games-are-tearing-you-a-new-one","title":{"rendered":"How freemium games are tearing you a new one"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s be honest &#8211; freemium mobile games are the absolute pants, and have set a nauseating standard which has now crept into <a title=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/42130-freemium-is-the-future-says-ea.html\" href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/42130-freemium-is-the-future-says-ea.html\" target=\"_blank\">mainstream studios<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A freemium game, if you&#8217;re oblivious to the concept, is a game offered for free which makes money through the sale of in-game bonuses or benefits.<\/p>\n<p>In mobile terms, these games are often based on waiting x hours for a task to complete, giving a player the option to pay in-game currency to move the task ahead.<\/p>\n<p>But really, the end game is always the same thing: make loads of money. Let South Park spell it out for you.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5CbWr0zO7Ac\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Some freemium games aren&#8217;t terrible, and allow you to play the game and enjoy all aspects of it without having to purchase premium currency (Brave Frontier is a good example).<\/p>\n<p>Other games simply take the piss.<\/p>\n<p>Kotaku pointed out that the new Transformers: Battle Tactics game, while fun, <a title=\"http:\/\/kotaku.com\/the-latest-transformers-game-had-me-until-i-spent-20-o-1684424229\" href=\"http:\/\/kotaku.com\/the-latest-transformers-game-had-me-until-i-spent-20-o-1684424229\" target=\"_blank\">could see you spend $40 and not even get a guaranteed premium item<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While that&#8217;s a shameful tactic, it&#8217;s not the worst one employed by freemium game developers. Here are some of the most abysmal freemium in-app purchase wastes.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Final Fantasy: All The Bravest<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_72113\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/All-the-lamest.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-72113\" class=\"wp-image-72113\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/All-the-lamest-450x600.png\" alt=\"All the lamest\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/All-the-lamest-450x600.png 450w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/All-the-lamest.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-72113\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Final Fantasy: All the lamest<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Square Enix has some of the most notoriously high-priced games in the app store. But those are full prices for full games &#8211; so they&#8217;re almost forgiven.<\/p>\n<p>But Final Fantasy: All The Bravest is a blight on the face of all gaming. The free game has you tapping on heroes to battle it out against demons.<\/p>\n<p>When your characters are KO&#8217;d, you can wait and have them regenerate over time (or use premium &#8216;energy&#8217; to skip ahead). That&#8217;s not why it&#8217;s here.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to add premium characters to your party, it will cost $0.99. But the character you get is completely random, so you may not get the one you want.<\/p>\n<p>To get all 30 premium characters (at $0.99 each) and all the extra levels (at $3.99 each) &#8211; you will have to <strong>fork out close to $45 (R520)<\/strong> for what is effectively a shallow, bland, and repetitive tapping mess.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Super Monster Bros by Adventure Time Pocket Free<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_72111\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Super-Monster-Bros-by-Adventure-Time-Pocket-Free.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-72111\" class=\"wp-image-72111\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Super-Monster-Bros-by-Adventure-Time-Pocket-Free.png\" alt=\"Super Monster Bros by Adventure Time Pocket Free\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Super-Monster-Bros-by-Adventure-Time-Pocket-Free.png 960w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Super-Monster-Bros-by-Adventure-Time-Pocket-Free-600x400.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-72111\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even for free, this game cost too much<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Thankfully this game is no longer available, but if you&#8217;re looking for the biggest rip-off in mobile gaming this is a contender.<\/p>\n<p>The shameless Pokemon\/Mario Bros. rip off sought to prey on unsuspecting kiddies who don&#8217;t know any better by charging $99.99 right off the bat to unlock another knock-off character.<\/p>\n<p>Run out of fireballs? $0.99 for 30, thanks. Want to unlock easy mode? Another $99.99 please.<\/p>\n<p>To unlock everything (not including the unlimited amount of fireball purchases you can make), it would cost <strong>upwards of $250 (R2,900)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>No wonder Apple has pulled this poo from the store and changed its purchasing rules.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">The Simpsons: Tapped Out \/ Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_72115\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Simpsons-freemium.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-72115\" class=\"wp-image-72115\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Simpsons-freemium.png\" alt=\"Simpsons freemium\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Simpsons-freemium.png 1024w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Simpsons-freemium-600x450.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-72115\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Donut make the mistake of paying for this tripe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This is the exact type of game South Park was referencing.<\/p>\n<p>As a former player of both titles, I can attest to both their addictive quality as well as their absolute shittery in trying to suck out any cash you may have.<\/p>\n<p>The games offer a lot of premium content, bought with in-game premium currency (doughnuts or clams). The real world value attached? <strong>Well over $300 (R3,500)<\/strong> for the Simpsons and <strong>over $200 (R2,300)<\/strong> for Family Guy.<\/p>\n<p>Did I mention that these games aren&#8217;t really games? They&#8217;re city builders at best and the basis for justifiable planetary destruction by an alien force at worst.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Clash of Clans<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_72109\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Clash-of-gems.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-72109\" class=\"wp-image-72109\" src=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Clash-of-gems.png\" alt=\"Clash of gems\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Clash-of-gems.png 1136w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Clash-of-gems-267x150.png 267w, https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Clash-of-gems-600x338.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-72109\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Clash of gems<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Surprisingly, looking at the top-grossing apps in iTunes the\u00a0top earners aren&#8217;t\u00a0games that offer premium items (Clash of Clans, Candy Crush, Game of War).<\/p>\n<p>Instead, these games rake in the most cash\u00a0by simply offering users a way to skip the waiting. And there is so much waiting.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s right, the games making the most money &#8211; <a title=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/67047-how-big-are-mobile-games-really.html\" href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/67047-how-big-are-mobile-games-really.html\" target=\"_blank\">enough to publicly list companies worth billions<\/a> &#8211; are playing off users&#8217; inability to wait weeks (yes, weeks) to complete a single process.<\/p>\n<p>The highest-grossing app, Clash of Clans, carries a staggering real-world amount if you were to skip ahead to a fully-upgraded everything.<\/p>\n<p>Now, to be fair, you don&#8217;t have to skip ahead &#8211; but here&#8217;s some perspective: to do it the long way &#8211; without gems &#8211; it would take you a <a title=\"http:\/\/clashofclans.wikia.com\/wiki\/Cumulative_Costs\" href=\"http:\/\/clashofclans.wikia.com\/wiki\/Cumulative_Costs\" target=\"_blank\">total of 3,036 days to do everything<\/a> (cumulatively, assuming you do nothing else with your life).<\/p>\n<p>The gem equivalent to skip that is 1.4 million gems. <strong>The real money value? $12,400<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, that&#8217;s right: for just over <strong>R140,000 (or just over 8 years of your life)<\/strong>, you too can have the best digital fortress to show off to your friends.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More on mobile gaming<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/70874-why-people-are-addicted-to-mobile-games.html\">Why people are addicted to mobile games<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/67047-how-big-are-mobile-games-really.html\">How big are mobile games, really?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/news\/42130-freemium-is-the-future-says-ea.html\">\u201cFreemium is the future\u201d, says EA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Freemium games promise free play, with an option to completely rip you off<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":67053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[5980,21,1163],"class_list":["post-72107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-freemium","tag-headline","tag-mobile-gaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72357,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72107\/revisions\/72357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}