The People Who Spend Millions of Real Money on Mobile Games
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Yep. Really. And here is a link to my new podcast. IF YOU DARE: / @thesimonwhistlershow2896
Simon's Social Media:
Twitter: / simonwhistler
Instagram: / simonwhistler
Simon's Other Channels:
TodayIFoundOut: / todayifoundout
TopTenz: / toptenznet
Biographics: / @biographics
Visual Politik: / @visualpolitiken
Highlight History: / @highlighthistory
Geographics: / @geographicstravel
Shadow Legends - um - Business Blaze Meme Counts for today;
Hard script slaps: 1
Soft script taps: 2
Porn Hub flash frames: 1
References to cultural emptiness (doesn't know that the Sinclair "Speccy" Spectrum was a defining part of home computing in the UK): 1
I feel quite gutted by this episode... 24 minutes and no Bada-Boom-Boom-Tshhh...
It's the build up, ... imagine how good the next one will feel!
still have my speccy with the light guns for the james bond games, and dizzy, remember the dizzy games?
Those are rookie numbers Simon. You can do better.
@@jphilb lmao
You should add Rick Roll threats
one business blaze reaches 100.000 subs Simon MUST show us an old picture of himself with a full head of hair. This is the way.
This must happen
He already has! From when he was in uni.. It was hilarious!
This is the way.
I don't believe Simon ever had hair he was just born with a beard
This is the way
This is my favourite Simon Whistler channel.
What makes it so great, in part, is that everywhere else Simon is so serious. Here, he might rick roll the links... 🤣
The man has a gift at oration. My favourite of his channels. Although he does need to buy more clothes
@@sagesheahan6732 Yeah, it's like a different person.
Viorp hard choice right? 7 months ago I was torn between TIFO & Geographics.
@@EMurph42 tbh. my 2nd favourite is Biographics
I love that Simon thought Triple J is a person as opposed to a radio station.
a government funded radio station at that
Are they not a Hive Mind?
Actually triple J is a small time rapper with defjam lol. Doubt it's what he meant
I thought it was a wrestler
@@wraightai nah, that's his cousin
I spend 15$ on Minecraft.....
9 years of fun
Lololololerz
"Raise your kids!"
Yeah, taking my dad's credit card to purchase anything was also an insane concept. It wouldn't even occur to me, and if it had, it would quickly wind up in the category of "things to do if I want to get thrown through a wall"
And my dad wasnt abusive. But when I did something stoopid, he made sure I knew just how stoopid it was.
$47,000 dollars. OMFG
Yeah, spending thousands of dollars with your parent’s credit card is insane. A friend of mine bought stuff on ebay for his father and set up a paypal account for that. He once bought some ink cartridges for our printer for like twenty euro when we both were broke. I mean twenty euro once for something useful is sneaky but not that bad. Also, how can it be legal in some countries that a business accepts thousands of bucks from a minor? In Germany parents could just object. (Paragraph 106 to 111)
“That’s coming out of your education fund!!!”
I think I took $5 out of my mom's purse once, she apparently knew exactly how much she had and I was the only one around. She quickly put 2 and 2 together and I was grounded for a month. I did however know where my dad kept his spare change to sneak to 7eleven for a slurpee.
@@janedunlap6879 Yeah I had the benefit of an older sibling who stole money a couple times and she got spanked so I learned wow, I don't wanna do that! If I ever wanted something I just asked and either got it, or didn't... maybe offered to do chores or something if I received a "no."
@@RepubsWannaMarryKids it's amazing how quickly you learn. Either by getting away with it or not. Or watching someone else go through it. I figure slurpee money on a hot Florida day was worth it, lol.
I never realized that the terminology of FGO, if described poorly, makes it totally sound like a game about some ungodly combination of slavery and dogfighting.
Though I'm disappointed that Simon wasn't told about the game's literal genderbent King Arthur and Emperor Nero as hot blonde babes because I feel he'd have gotten a kick out of that.
Checked the comments to see if FGO is mentioned at all and this confirms it. Now to watch the video.
Tbh I thought it was some version of Pokemon.
It feels like over half the cast are genderbends in it... I personally have never spent a cent but I have a ton of super rare characters like lily arthur and marie antionette. if you collect the daily rewards you're bound to get lucky eventually. I have a friend who pays some amount and he was piiiiiiiiiissssssssed to say the least. Esp given that I am kinda meh about the game.
@@RepubsWannaMarryKids There is like... maybe a dozen genderbent at most out of about a hundred characters? I mean, not counting variants ofc, cause there is like a dozen Artorias alone.
Off the top of my head, Artoria, Nero, Nobunaga, Drake, Altera, Okita, Mordred, Miyamoto, Ushiwakamaru, Xuanzang Sanzang.
Not sure if da vinci should count, as "historically" he is still male, he just chose a female body(of Mona Lisa) for laughs and giggles. So lore wise he is not bent...
I've only ever spent on GSSR cause that's not much of a gamble. All my favorite char I got by free rolls. I'm very lucky in that regard, I joined the game for Ishtar(because Rin is waifu), and got her for free after like a month(just happen to have an event for her). Also got Eresh(again, Rin is waifu)
@@Wolfkey13 1+
Simon: "If I wanted to take turns I'd play board games!"
Me: *played 12 hours of Civ 5 yesterday*
I used to play evony & managed to quit ! it was a monarch- keep(castle)- gathering- monster killing & quests type game with alliances & if your shield drops you can be wiped out in moments! then you gradually rebuild.🤯
"They are not loot boxes! They are surprise mechanics!" - EA, paraphrased, 2019
"It's not a beatdown, it's aggressive affection"- EA
its not a robbery, its a surprise donation
You can't tell she doesn't even beleive herself as she's saying it.
I let my brother download games and I thought it would be fine because he knows not to buy things without my permission a week later I get charges for 50 DOLLARS from a "free trial" and all it was is some shitty slime game turns out they say its free but after 1 week they charge you 50 dollars PER WEEK
It gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment
I can't stand pay to win games. Especially the ones that start out you're doing okay but, then the further you go the more you realize that in order to actually make it anywhere you're going to have to pay money or play the game for years to save up the money in the game.
Battle warship: naval empires. Vagrant commander. Also NFS payback lol. Just a few examples.
Oh Candy Crush, how you have broken my spirit. And my wallet.
No bucks, No Buck Rodgers. I don't have a lot of money to spend on games, but the end game just isn't worth it in most cases. And paying 500 dollars a week to stay competitive is not sustainable for everyone. Learn how to play the games without spending your college fund on them, and you can actually get a real career and hire people to game for you.
@@thedarkdragon1437 Now I know where they got their huge advertising budget. Seen big ads on TH-cam and other places for those games. Assumed that was their revenue model.
My nephew has spent hundreds of dollars on skins and ingame gems e.t.c. once, he spent his mom's money for about a hundred dollars, when she found out, he was punished accordingly. Now he has a yt channel where you can watch him play. And he earns money to play. Crazy world.
I'm so glad someone finally called out raid shadow legends. a lot of youtubers act like they like it. but I suspect, they're all being paid off. I realize simon didn't call it out, the editor did, but same same
They're literally being paid to say they like Raid whether or not they actually do like it, though from what I hear Raid pays very well to schill their crappy app, so I guess sacrificing part of their dignity to pay the bills is worth it for most TH-camrs.
@@Dargonhuman their script generally has them saying it's good and/or fun and/or hinting that they played it some tiny bit. I've never heard a single one claim specifically to personally like it, or use any language that can be taken that way. Big difference between taking a lame commercial deal and ACTUALLY lying and selling one's soul
Only youtubers I watch that is Sponsored by Raid Shadow Legends is MXR Plays and the girl,Jeannie/PotasticP, actually plays it.....even has streamed playing it on Twitch
@@ItsAsparageese Hmm...well flashgitz usually has a character who tries to get away from the ad while the guy going on about raid shadow legends is forcing him to listen to it.
We could call that borderline calling them out while still being vague/artistic enough that they don't mind and pay the sponsorship.
Or maybe not, but the way they do it is at least entertaining. (You can see one at the end of "Sonic gets cucked")
Simon: **mentions FGO and says it's basically gambling**
Me: Yup pretty much.
I’m more and more convinced Simon is fueled by coffee and cocaine maybe his “cool nickname” could be Double C
Even better: CoCo. Both his cool name AND the official name of his Coffee & Cocaine empire
Double C? That's a bra size 😂
Who doesn’t like tits?
DOUBLE C. I love it.
You're a genius! Double C it is!
Protip for parents of young kids that wanna buy stuff:
* Teach them how to use TH-cam
* Buy Minecraft ($7) and let them learn on their own
* Install Google Earth and let them explore
* Angry Birds (but dont let them buy stuff)
My 3-4yr kid was addicted to Thomas and Ping Fong games/apps (nice for when they are like 2-3, but then they want more). At almost 6 now, he still likes playing with the older apps, but 90% he spends on the 4 above and havent 'demanded' that we buy him anything extra.
I think Minecraft was probably the biggest contributor. When he asked me to help, I would be just as clueless as him, and he probably felt he can do it better. Over time he learnt how to find Minecraft TH-cam videos, and then he gos and builds the stuff he sees. It is facinating to see a 4-5yr old kid start building portals, replicating MacDonalds restuarants, constucting giant 20th Century Fox signs and even learning how to make train tracks and ride a cart on it. He really like structures, so he spends a lot of time now in street view on Google Earth checking out pretty much every bridge in the world. I guess that gives him inspiration for building more complex stuff in Minecraft.
My approach probably wont work for most kids, but find something that your child is passionate about, exploit the fact that they can have fun without having to pay for it.
(this was going to be lot shorter initially /o\)
Maybe he'll be an architect one day :).
@@lemaygaming6952 its possible, my younger brother was like this but his current plans include selling smoothies.
Minecraft is great for teaching people architecture, maths (1 stack is 64 pieces), and programming (redstone)
@@joheyjonsson2825 redstone can be used to make every logic gate, it is an interesting feature.
Another pro tip for parents. Allowances and chores. Start it early and only buy things like toys and games as presents and rewards. My dad had me picking up sticks while he cut trees at 5. When I wanted something, I knew I had to work for it. By the time I was 14, I had bought my own laptop and Xbox 360. If I wanted an M rated game, my mom would look it up, then give my dad the okay to buy it for me using my pay.
And my parents were not overbearing with it. My Xbox was my Xbox. My laptop was my laptop. They never took those away from me, they would cut power to my room and shut off the internet. They had their control, I had mine. Only had power cut once and the internet was cut three times. I think a light touch reinforced with reasonable punishments is the best parenting.
Another thing Simons never heard of - the ZX Spectrum.
So we have: Bullseye, Barbara Windsor and now the ZX Spectrum.
Somebody buy him a copy of horace goes skiing
@@PoloDaBear That's a classic!
Horace and the Spiders was a bit too dark and intense for me, though.
I'm seriously beginning to doubt Simon is British. He's either a clever imposter or he paid almost no attention to anything that was happening around him whilst he grew up.
he must be grown in a lab or something
He's only 32, so he didn't grow up with them. He probably has HEARD of them but doesn't remember.
This video shows that we didn't need the toilet paper panic to learn that the world doesn't have a shortage of idiots.
We didn't need anything to prove there isn't a shortage of idiots, it's a growing pandemic that threatens mankind more and more withevery setback we face... we need to investigate their possible relationship with cockroaches otherwise we might never be rid of them
Businesses are really figuring out how to absolutely embody the old adage "a fool and his/her money are soon parted."
The more people they help turn into fools, the more money they make!
Until 80%+ are just good little consumers, national, cultural and societal impact be damned.
😢
Humans are dumb af
Source: am a dipshit
as a 28 yr old American who grew up in arcades: I'm sorry, Simon
as a 52 year old Australian, I too am sorry for Simon.
Time to get blazed... BUSINESS BLAZED!
Raj M I think I have a new tradition
@@EMurph42 you better
Im 35 and I play mobile games with my kids.on my games I pay nothing....ever. But the kids are so pushed into in game purchases it seriously drives them nuts. Great video as always !
Bar none, Simon unleashed is my favorite TH-cam person.
:) thanks!
I love Biographics for a while now and just two days ago got aware of BB. I always imagined you would be a way more introverted person but honestly to see you in a way more relaxed and unscripted environment shows me that impression can be false. Now I just want to hang out with you and go for a coffee or a couple of beers. Much love from germany, keep up the great work my friend
Hahha, I'm a pretty significant extrovert :D
I think I’m around the same age as Danny I get all of his old references 😁
Simon:
-says he does a podcast with a friend
-later says he has no friends
....I see right through you, Simon. 👀
Hi how are you
He has Danny.
He said he didn't have friends when he was a kid.
Can’t hear too good tho
he said he had XD
There is so much chaotic energy in this video and honestly I’m here for it
"I still get out the ol joystick for an occasional wiggle"
Danny must be a defeated married man
Should have cued a photo of the Australian children's entertainment group "The Wiggles" instead. 👨🏫👼📸🙄 🙋♂️🇦🇺👥🎊
16:21 this becomes a bit less cut and dry when you consider that these games are rated as being suitable for children. A parent shouldn't expect to have to keep a super close eye on their child while they watch a G-rated movie, thats literally what the rating is there for. A parent who isnt particularly knowledgeable about how scummy the video game industry is, isnt going to expect a game with the same rating as Sesame Street to contain real money gambling.
It's kinda why parents should play or review any games their kids are interested in. Of course, for 30 years, you could buy a game as a single purchase and at worst realize it's too mature for your kids (enter the rating system again) then return or sell it, but now these little fun-of-the-moment games or goofy internet videos can turn dark real quick, asking for money like a crackhead behind 7-11.
parent's should not give there kids access to credit accounts, they are perfectly safe for kids to play unsupervised, you just need to be a responsible parent.
@@LegDayLas The problem with that is a lot of these scummy exploitive "games" do everything they can to get ahold of the parents' CC information. I've seen almost every trick in the book - requiring you to enter your card information at signup, requiring you to log in with an account with a CC saved to it and slipping in a hidden permission to charge the saved card, etc. I saw a friend get his entire bank account drained from a "free" game that installed a data worm on his device that rooted through his saved info and found a CC he'd saved to a completely different and unrelated app, then started hitting that card with a slew of microtransactions that were disguised as purchases with in-game currency.
All that said, though, yes, a large part of that responsibility still falls to the parent to secure the device their kids are using to make sure the kids aren't installing those kinds of scam games and should be regularly screening the devices and apps their kids are using.
@@Dargonhuman Not hard to keep your cc info off the device you give your kid, and not hard to make sure they don't steal the cc from your wallet. It doesn't matter how scummy the tactic, you can easily avoid it with common sense practice of not giving your kid access to something they do not understand.
Simon in the video:
"Final Fantasy sucks"
Simon reading the comments:
*[Current Objective: Survive]*
Well, to be fair I don't see any comment raging because he said that.
I'll back Simon on this. I played it a couple times and was less then impressed.
The one game of Dragon Quest I played and beat was way better than the 3 Final Fantasy games I attempted to play.
@@NathanCassidy721 never played that one. I might check it out.
@@NathanCassidy721 Dragon Quest games are wful. FFIX is great.
Monument Valley is a really great mobile game. You purchase it once, and they never ask for more. It's beautifully illustrated and creative, and you solve optical illusion puzzles that lead you through a story. The music is lovely as well. Every other year I go and redownload it just to have a playthrough, it's that enjoyable. It's definitely an outlier in the mobile game world.
I remember when you programmed computers with cassettes. I am that old.
My first experience with a computer was the Tandy TRS-80 with a cassette tape for loading a program. I remember spending hours typing programs from a magazine, only for the program to not work, because there was a typo.
Oh my god. Rewinding the tape, just so you could press ‘play’ to actually start loading the game.... the 80’s were rough.
My earliest computer were those large floppy diskets. And dialnet was just started being introduced here.
I had a c64 and had over 100 games. I also remember the cassette loader would sometime break and start folding the cassette tape. Spent a tiny fortune on repairs 🥺
I did own 1 cartridge game for c64, Navy Seal 🤩
Simon W, keeping the RickRoll Alice in 2020.
Also, thank you for having some standards on sponsors.
Always. On both counts.
Much respect for this, RSL is a complete Scam, pretty sure Gotcha games have no regulations, so there set RNG could be a complete lie
This editor Soo needs a raise
Wow the editor has a lot of alts
Hang Fire oh no....youtube is making the alts self aware 😧
I play Star Trek Fleet Command. The huge spenders - those who spent US$50,000+ between Aug 2018 beta testing and Dec. 2019 - have whole systems named after them.
$50k in ONE YEAR on a mobile game!!
Just thinking that's coming up to April fools soon. Unrelated to Business Blaze but kind of, could we have an April Fools Biographics about Rick Astley. The ultimate rickroll on ancient rickroll day. As a Business Blaze side 10 best memes that led to new revenue.
The biggest Rick Roll here is that hes making us think hes british
Russian-bot 01101010 obviously we know he’s not British, he’s not drinking tea and eating dog treats (I am told those are British biscuits... weird)
@@claimingseven72 🤣
And for Business Blaze April Fools thing it has to be Danny reading script that Simon write.
Someone saw Karl’s recent video
i expected to hear "hello darkness my old friend" when you talk about your sad childhood. so conditioned to that meme on youtube
I have to say that his past got really dark really fast
Sound of silence
West of the Atlantic, “cassettes” for video games were called “cartridges.”
ZX Spectrum games used cassette tapes, like C60. Very easy to copy (apparently).
Yes, but actually no. The first home computers used actual magnetic reel cassette tapes (pretty much identical to the audio cassettes that replaced 8-tracks) to store and load data to the active memory, which included video games. Cartridge based games as we know them - a plastic case with a small motherboard and several dedicated chips to run the onboard software - weren't a thing until quite a bit later. Atari 2600 was the first breakout hit that used ROM cartridges to store and play game data, but they weren't the first either. I don't remember which home console was the first, and it's too obscure of a point for me to care to look it up.
I still have a N64 console with cartridges. I even play games on it now and then, just to do something different. Conker's Bad Fur Day is difficult for me to win, I'm laughing too hard
“But it’s alright, the boiler man is coming tomorrow!” oh Simon honey...
Watching your other channels just seems anticlimactic after seeing these.
:)
Oh Gawd Danny left out the best part of FGO, the "servants" are historical figures in history. As in Nikola Tesla and Nero Claudius. I love the game for its' characters and setting, but it is highly exploitative and expensive (to those who have poor impulse control). Also, the company behind FGO actively attempts to stop the "trading" of characters, since that is done by selling your personal account, not through any in game mechanics, meaning they don't see any of this money. The greedy b1234rds.
Are you so fucking dumb you have to fucking censor bastards you dumb bitch.
@@theenzoferrari458 Jesus Christ calm down kid 😆
What's even more sad is how the playerbase see no problem with it, and some even actively fight prospects of improvement.
@@georgehh2574 fuck off before you get punched nazi.
@@crypto66 Cognitive dissonance is a helluva drug.
Kids can always find ways to run up big stupid bills without their parents knowledge. In 1978 when I was 14, my best friend Wendy and I found out that you could actually call foreign countries on the telephone without involving an operator. We found this out while looking through the new phone book one day when we were really bored. All the instructions were there, right up front. Also, they listed all the country codes and all the information you would need to call random numbers in countries all over the world to find one who spoke English and was interested in talking to two 14 year old girls in Alabama. We didnt find that many and we got yelled at fairly often considering we didnt fully understand how to calculate the time difference. We were persistent though, but we finally stopped when the phone bill showed up and my mother was madder than I had ever seen her. It was around $800. That's 1978 dollars. She got them to remove it and they put a block on long distance calls from our number unless the person dialed a code or gave a credit card number or called collect, and my mother replaced the long 12 foot cord that allowed me to take the phone into my room with a 5 foot cord that meant I had to stand in the livingroom to talk on it, whi h I also wasnt allowed to do for a very long time.
Wendy however, got off totally scott free by leaving for a month long sleep away summer camp a few days before the bill showed up. By the time she was home her mother had forgotten what my mother called her and told her.
I am so very glad the only video games I ever had access to were at the game room and required quarters to play.
Shut up Danny you're making me feel old. 10p in the arcade. Commodore 64... I don't need to be reminded of my age!!!
I can't believe Simon games for 30min/week and hasn't monetised it on TH-cam yet!
I'm a fool. Gotta get on that.
Yeah. I'd watch.
@@brainblaze6526 This aged well.
Yaaaas was looking for a new business blaze video! Keep up the good work
Thanks :)
I have to say I really do appreciate that if Simon does not like a sponser he will not take them. Even when they throw thousands of dollars. Very few people actually follow their principals when it comes to money. The world needs more people like him.
Okay, can you do an episode on the 8-bit computer wars then, since England actually had around a dozen completely incompatible systems fighting each other, including one time the head of one company attacked another in a bar.
Who else has been staring at that majestic beard the whole time?
Nebuchadnezzar Quellcris THANK YOU! It’s hypnotic isn’t it?
Yep
YES
I've been starring at Simon's T-shirt, actually {and the blue VSV sign on the wall}. 👨💻🇦🇺📻🎶TripleJ
Always. I get lost in my own beard.
* cries in Clash of Clans *
A game so evil that it counts people being addicted and blowing entire paychecks on it.
Simon doing a video on Fate Grand Order lore would be a delight but I'd genuinely worry for his health
I'm a single mum and a University student, my 10 year old son last year spent £1753 on mobile gaming in 2 months. I thought I had been hacked or scammed in one day he had spent £297 pounds on Roadblocks. He later explained that he just stopped paying attention to the amount of money when something popped up on his games saying 'You don't have enough Roadblocks money to complete this whatever, how about buying some so you don't have to wait?' They feed off kids lack of patience and need for immediate gratification ( I do take some responsibility for telling him that I wasn't going to password protect his purchases because I didn't want to have to enter a password every time he bought something for 99p ). I also think they rely on parents having little knowledge of the fact that they can spend so much money on these games. I had no idea you could buy packages for £99! To people my age, I just plain old don't get spending £99 on nothing and would rather these games were like our video games where you spent £20-£30 on a game and that was it, it was yours to play end of, no other costs, no waiting to unlock stages, no needing coins for skills. It seems like a scam that is pretty unregulated.
I played a game where the strongest guy on the planet was a 15 years old chinese boy who spent over 600k on the game at the time I left. He controlled how everything worked because no one could beat him. Its everything you would expect when you give a 15 year old that much authority
Or that much money. Damn.
"I have no friends..."
HELLO DARKNESS MY OLD FRIEND
This is actually refreshing to know you don’t endorse a product less you personally like it, adds so much more to the endorsement.
I was having a conversation with a fellow PUBG player, and casually drops he’s spent $37,000AUD in the game micro transactions. PUBG isn’t really pay to win, but it is pay to participate. There’s two subscription services, and a season ticket reward system, and the loot boxes are really just cosmetic. He spent them all on cosmetic loot boxes that didn’t aid his gameplay at all.
Not all gambling is pokies and blackjack.
For me mobile games are known to be expensive. not the download itself, but the points and items youre able to buy.
"My granny extended her conservatory once. "
TMI, Simon. TMI.
I personally have known many people like this (however the ones I knew personally spent only in the tens of thousands, not millions) back when I played Game of War. And I myself would have been one of these people as well most likely if it wasn’t for the fact that I was only 12-16 (I played for 4 years) when I played so physically couldn’t, instead I only spent a little over $500 and do not regret it one bit. I should mention that I would play this game for like 8 hours a day and absolutely loved it, even though it was p2w it was still possible to do well without being a top spender and I was enthralled by the math aspects of the game to the point where in my classes I would spend a lot6 of the time just mapping out different troop layouts and how to get the most strength while still looking like an easy target.
What eventually made me quit was when the game reached a state of hyper inflation that made p2w the only viable strategy.
*Simon just GLARES @ Siri for two minutes flat, not saying a single word until finally breaking the silence* "....it....it's not me..... it's her....right???" *Everyone in the audience nods their heads in unison before someone at the back of the group finally speaks up* "Oooooh, it's definitely her duder, yer all good!"
Here's idea for a topic - Cost-cutting disasters. Some examples of businesses that tried to save money but actually cost them far more than if they'd done nothing. It's inspired by when an Australian TV network was sold in the 80s. The new owners wanted to cut costs so they closed all the news rooms around the country and ran one news bulletin out of Sydney with stories of interest to the whole country. The problem was that in trying to make reports of interest to anyone they alienated everyone and their news bulletin ratings fell below those of a rival stations re-runs of Inspector Gadget. They ended up reviving, at huge expense, all the news rooms they had closed.
'kin hell! If I, as a kid, had pilfered a couple of quid off my Dad's credit card, he would've had me skinned and turned into a hand puppet.
“The house always wins...”
You're definitely right about the differences in monetization between various companies running free games.
There's basically two types:
Good Game: Usually gains players through word-of mouth. Maintains players by having a game that's fun to play whether you spend money or not. Monetizes through cosmetic skins, ability to pay to unlock content early, or Battle Passes that provide those things. Usually they don't provide purchasable advantages, but there ways to still do this in a good game, like how Clash of Clans only pairs people of similar progress against each other, so it doesn't matter how much money you did or didn't spend to get there.
Bad Game: Usually gains players through incessant marketing. Game design based around being fun for a while until the game becomes increasingly frustrating and time-wasting to incentivize you to spend money to save time or gain advantages over players. Maintains players through exploiting sunk-cost fallacy.
For everyone wondering "Wow, how can someone spend $40k (or more) on a single game!" Well, they don't, not really. Yes, the total may be that absurd amount, but those games are designed in a way so you don't actually notice how much you're spending.
Most of those (mobile) games have a system of in-game "currency" that you can buy for real money, and it's always some stupid rates of say $1.49 for 1000 "GOOOOLD", £2.99 for 10000, up to like £100 for 1,000,000. See, very few people actually buy the 100-dollar option since, well, they know $100 is a lot to spend on a game at a time, even though it's the "best value". But $1.49? Yeah, I can swing that. Oh, that thing I wanted is 1500? Weeeell, fine, I'll get another £1,49 pack... Imagine that every day, a couple of times a day.
Plus, a lot of those games are designed around mechanics that promote spending actual money - Oh, you want to build this thing? Well, you could wait 5 hours... Or - pay 500 "GOOOOLD" to (still) wait 5 minutes... Your choice... (Some actually offer a paid speed-up AND a more expensive paid instant)
So in the end, you don't actually spend the $40k all at once, not even in large chunks - just $1.49 or $2.99 at a time, which is much harder to notice on a bank statement.
Ok, I know it's been 6 month... but spending 3 dollar a day wouldn't amount to 40K, common.
If you spend 4 dollars a day (for easy math...) it would take 27 years for it to amount to 40K.
Even if we assume they are buying 10 packs a day, it would still take years. People that end up spending 40K on a game are definitely buying significantly larger packs than 3 dollars ones.
Dude I have seen screen shots 40k in one shot! These games are in other countries where they pay low taxes and live like kings.
@@johnclinete6193
"Other countries"? You don't even know where the guy you're talking to lives.
Also, there aren't any countries where the average person can afford spending 40K on a single mobile game.
Yes I know where these players are from Russia and China mostly I figure they work in the technology industry.
“I should read these!” I’m loosing count how many times you have said this. But Simon please please please don’t! Honestly the amount of times you and Danny are on the same page without even trying. 😆lol. Also DON’T STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING (you keep asking this question and yet you’re often making a video about questionable business practices Simon) lol
"Honestly the amount of times you and Danny are on the same page"
Literally?
Simon: Microtransactions are horrible.
Me: Totally agree.
Simon: Total rip off. How pays for that?
Me: Preach it! Hallelujah!
Simon: And Final Fantasy sucks!
Me, a raging fanboy: SMASH THAT DISLIKE BUTTON!!!
And me being a weeb, is angry at him making fun of Fate, until I played the games and choose to stick with the anime.
Simon you're my hero for saying no to raid shadow legends. They are a complete pain in the ass.
My oldest daughter once spent $100 on Minecraft. I was able to get the transaction reversed. Later, my middle daughter bought a whole bunch of videos on Google Play Video, and I was again able to get the transaction reversed. Both times the girls were disciplined, told why they weren't allowed to do what they did, and it hasn't happened since.
Well, Las Vegas wasn't built by the winners.
I guess that would depend on your perspective... The "winners" in this case would be the casino fat cats getting rich on the poor decisions of others, and legally, the money they get from gambling addicts becomes theirs as soon as it goes into the machines, so technically Vegas was built by the winners, but the winners were bankrolled by the losers.
Simon and Danny, TripleJ is a radio station in aussie btw
*AND ALSO* Triple M {& Triple R}. Simon & Danny, you can listen to them both on this web links: radioau.net/ www.radio-australia.org/ radio.garden/visit/pyrmont/2ww3gI6T 👨🏫🎰📲🙄 🤩🇦🇺📡📻
Gamer: I'm gonna spend some cash to get some upgrades & new costumes.
Microtransaction: We got a dumbass here requesting some virtual stuff for hard cash.
When my son was 14, he and a friend cloned a popular browser game for kids. They were angry that companies lured money from kids from a young age. They ran it and everything was free, but they would have competitions like friend of the week and give the stuff out as prices, that was usually paid stuff. But after a short period, they were contacted by the owners and asked to shut it down.
P2w is even worse than what Simon talk about. One game have this strategy that, at some point you reach max and can't be beaten and all new players will go to the new servers they open. New servers are opened every 3 month or so. The top players who spend a lot of money, will soon find their server abandon and will have to start over.
I grew up with Pokemon on the game boy, they didn't care: here kids, have team rockets dodgy gambling establishment. Atleast it wasn't actual money!
I had forgotten that!
lol u should see pokemon now... i mean i have never seen it go so low.. they released a shitty buggy ass game, at full price.. $20 more than any other game in the series, and yet it had no effort put into it, don't even include all the pokemon, dens are effectively to do without online becuase they purpsoly make the ai so bad so u need t "nintendo online" which is $20 a year, they then want u to buy the expanion to get SOME of the older pokemon back, they removed one of the most leaved feature of all time.. megas in farvor of some shitty horrendously done dynamax.. and then they make pokemon "home" and charge not the $5 of bank.. but $15 PER YEAR plus if u want to continuely tranfer becuase breeding is god aweful in the newer gen becuase the removed most of the egg moves you still need tro pay $5 for bank..
so compared to oras and usum were we payed $40 for absolutely phenomenal games and $5 a year for basially infinite boxes and not having to deal with BP
we get this shit show of a sword and shield game for $60 would need nintendo online for $20, need pokebank to tranfer up older mon.. so $5 and $15 for home. oh and then the $30 expansion.
do 60+20+5+15+30 is $130 for a game which is about 1/3rd the quality of the past 3 games which were $45
is paying that much money an issue for me? no its not... but i sure as hell an not ganna do it.
games like Xenoblade 2.. absolutely PHENOMENAL, the dlc literally comes with an ENTIRE PREQUEL. and is worth MUCH more than it costs
other newer games like "ori: and the wil of the wisps" $30 but is WORTH more because damn is that game fucking amazing.
it saddens me to see companies i loved sink this low
The age rating of Gen 1 through 4 in PAL regions went from a 3 rating to a 12 rating due to simulated gambling. Too bad EA games arent rated higher for real gambling
19:05 I started crying from laughter
Simon says "I can't stand strategy ..." Cut to 2 strategy game commercials 🤣🤣🤣
pokemon: hey, lets add completely fake gambling with no real money involved, in a random building that no one would find, and is completely avoidable
Pegi: uh, if you do that you'll get an 18+ rating
EA: hey lets add gambling on games aimed at children, design them to be as addicting as possible constantly asking them to spend. and try and trick children into thinking they're not spending money, by using alternative currencies for the gambling, and simply saying "do you want more" instead of "do you want to purchase more for *insert price*" and, lets not call it gambling, lets call them "loot boxes"
Pegi: ye thats completely fine 3+ rating. what? no our bank accounts increased in size because of a completely reasonable event occurred that just so happened to involve EA. we were not brought out.
Doing my part for the environment, also who can dislike any of Simon's videos especially on business blaze.
The owners of play to win games perhaps...
@@SergeantSquared touché, that is a good theory and probably correct
RAID SHADOW LEGENDS.
Dude if I ever touched my dads card without his permission he would of beat me into next year!!!!
Having to live with your parents is par for the course in Japan. They literally don't have space, most people either live in the family house or tiny, cramped apartments with one room, and many people live in capsule hotels.
This is why in the EU, Loot boxes are legally considered gambling, and therefore Illegal to be included in games in the EU.
Loot boxes themselves (open a box, get a thing) aren't illegal, but having to buy them for IRL currency, or having to pay to open them, is.
It’s weird to see such an unhinged Simon.
My son loves Rick Astley’s music, so we’re Rickrolled on an almost daily basis.
Mastertroll.
Simon, you are living proof that if people spent as much time living as they did gaming, they would be a success.
You have something to show for your time.
Some people accuse the businesses for they're bad business practices but I blame the players, too, for having no self-control.
Hmmm, wonder what Sam is trying to tell us in the subliminal editing... 🤔
Love the credits too!!!
Kevin Flynn: super-genius computer engineer physically transports himself into the internal world of computer data, befriends elite champions within that world, and defeats the dastardly master control program.
Mobile gamers: hold my beer.
This does have a follow up story: 10 years later, anime producers: hold my pencils... we can advertise this isekai as avtrue story... THE MARKETING
I used to play a game, and to get to VIP 15 cost roughly $16k. There are at least 25 players I know who have spent, at this point, $60k on it. One of them sold their character which they spent $25k on for about $15k - and the new player didn't spend money on it, and then fell behind in the power curve. They later dropped several grand in a few weeks to catch up.
I have so much respect for you Simon. Keep telling those gambling companies to fuck off. Not all heroes wear capes.
10:23 triple double 👌🏾
You’re welcome.
Ha ha, if he tells his parents how much he spends on the game they'll throw him out. He's good blackmail material. He wickedly needs to grow the hell up.
Or maybe it's a very different culture where it's normal to live with your parents even when married because you're talking care of them.
Also, it's unusual there for someone not to live with family or the person they're married to, people are much less less likely to live alone.
I'll admit that the idea of using my parent's credit card to pay for something did occur to me as a kid, but my mom did the family finances in front of me, and I knew that she would catch it immediately and I also knew that the punishment wouldn't be worth it. Parents, there's a simple solution to this sort of thing: make sure your kids know you keep track of your money.
You know i remember playing this mobile game that was set up quite pay to win, a few years back. While i did not spend a single cent, and relied on patience, help from my guild and pure, old fashioned luck to progress through the game, you could attack other players to take their resources ( which to be fair were only a small part of the game ), i became aware at some point that the first top 3 to 5 guilds on the server were full of paying players, and each week they would be in direct competition with each other for prizez, dominance and resources. What felt mindblowing to me was that these 3 to 5 guilds were full of( can't remember the exact numer) 50 to 80 people each, and that all members would spend around 100 to 200 dollars PER WEEK on the game. And because they were in that permanent state of war, the could not stop spending, and that personal spending for eaxh guild member was actually growing at a slow rate of a few dollars more each week, which is insane when you think about it, with the only party winning from this state of affairs being the game developers. Really fucking makes you atop and think.
Simon Shadow Legend
Danny Shadow Legend
Samuel Shadow Legend
🙃
Marissa Bones lol right tho
world of warships is a genuinely good game and the devs give out alot of free stuff
I've worked for two different companies make those "free-to-play" games. There are indeed people ("whales") who unaccountably spend UNGODLY amounts of money on these games. There was a case where some little old lady played one of these games at rates up around $30,000 per month. She had an ancient iPhone - and when we wanted to stop supporting that phone, we sent her a free new, top of the line iPhone. Our stats showed that she didn't use the new phone even once. So we figured it was worth employing an engineer to deal with supporting that old phone JUST for her. Crazy. Then we had some guy who the stats suggested was in the a Russian mafia who was spending over the $100,000 per month level. There was much hand-wringing over whether we should tell the FBI about it. What actually happened was not revealed to us engineers.
Fun fact: The developer studio of Raid: Shadow Legends is owned by an australian gambling company. Like, on the higher levels of management they aren't even pretending that Raid is a game, it's a fancy online casino without actually having to follow gambling laws.
Simon, if you know you are getting screwed by the casinos, then you perfectly understand casinos.
Also, the returns (at least for electronic games) are typically within 93-97%, meaning, that for every dollar you put in you walk out with 93-97 cents. One armed bandit is pretty accurate.
Danny’s on the cocaine train. Not a surprise, really, seeing as he and his ex are longtime “residents” of Simon’s basement. Probably got into his stash a few times and got a taste for it
Simon seems to be very excited by mentioning cocaine.
I work for a bank answering the phones because my life is a roaring success, and I’ve had so many dudes ring in like ‘my shit of a son has spent £200 on this fucking game I don’t understand, can you stop the transaction, plEaSE STOP THE TRANSACTION’
I forgot what year this happened, there was a class action lawsuit in the US against Google and Apple for in-game purchases when their respective apps did not have a password verification to make those purchases over 5+ years. A majority of the purchases were made by children when certain carriers allowed Google and Apple to bill the phone accounts for the purchases.
I remember getting an email from Google with a list of in app purchases that I was able to get a refund from. Over the span of 5 or 6 years, I spent over $600 in these purchases. I think my total settlement was over $800 at the end.
From someone who spend well above 5000€ in the past 6 years on mobile games:
Yes, it is totally gambling, no mistake there.
But it is also a hobby. While some people take thousand dollars vacations, collect all kinds of goods and objects, pay hundreds for gym subscriptions, I prefer wasting my money in games. Is it wise? Probably not, let's be real. Do I regret it? Yeah, sometimes. Does that make me a crazy person, not much more than you.
70k does seem a bit over what could be considered normal, granted, but if the guy has the wallet to support his hobby, I don't see where the fucking harm is.
Just because someone likes different things doesn't mean they're bad people.
I have a few games on my phone that I have zero compunction about spending money on. But, in my defense, their prices are reasonable, the rewards are worthwhile and the games I choose to support are actual games that have care and effort put into them as opposed to the glut of cheap cash grab games saturating most online game stores. For example, I play a game called Galaxy Invaders that is 100% free to play, doesn't force ads on the player (the only ads in the game are optional to get bonus game currencies) and the microtransactions are reasonably priced. The most important part is the gameplay is the foremost priority, and to that end it feels like an old arcade shooter like 1941, R-Type or Gradius, so I don't mind spending $7 a month for what they call a "trade license" which grants me 30 days of daily bonuses or taking advantage of certain limited time offers; they've put in the effort to earn my money.
On the other hand, games that are clearly designed around the Skinner Box theory and meant to simply push you to spend money get quickly uninstalled from my phone.
I feel so old...last games I played came on a CD for stand alone desktop computers...that and Simon’s only 32
If I had only know what a cash machine was coming and like...studied and stuff
In Fate (the novel, but I assume the game is the same) te servants are dead great people like Alexander the Great. They can choose to not help you (or kill you) if they don't want to fight for you. Bu if they win, both the necromancer and the servant can make a wish to the holy grail so the servants want to fight. Usually. The servants are only alive because the mage is giving them mana. It's mutually beneficial
Alright now, I’ve been a lurker for forever but I respect the shite out of Simon abstaining from Raid, on the basis on children getting addicted to planting themselves on a phone and pumping money into it, and also upon the principle that Raid’s parent company is pushy and deceptive.
Therefore, my commitment-phobic ass is finally subscribed, notified, certified and solidified. Hoorah