A few updates after having seen the response to this video: 1. From the feedback I've gotten, Pokemon Unite is one of the less malicious Free-to-Play games in this genre. I still stand by the fact that it employs manipulative strategies to earn more from players, but in hindsight there were a few things I could have done to save me spending quite as much as I did. That said, I don't want this to take away from the key message of the video, which still stands and is still incredibly important. 2. Most of the shots in the video and screen recordings were sourced by my editor on my editors account, and so are more to demonstrate the points being made, as opposed to being representative of my own gameplay. 3. I've been informed that it is currently possible to upgrade an item to level 30 without paying real money in Pokemon Unite - this hasn't always been the case and isn't made clear to the player - it seems to be a limited time thing - but nonetheless an oversight on my part! 4. I am completely happy to admit that I am far from the best Pokemon Unite player. That said, while it is true that people with more skill can certainly get away with paying less, for the vast majority of the player base, paying is still the key legitimate way to make progress.
You would NEVER expect a channel this big to go this HARD and effectively side with the consumer on such a personal level. You are very genuine. Thank you for what you do!
@@abhishh_ek He started out by dissing some of the biggest names in terms of sponsors and anti consumerist practices. I didn't need the whole story to know where this was going, although I was going to watch the whole thing. Not very hard to comprehend, you know.
To be fair to the game you don't need those holowears (the fancy costumes for your Pokemon) to play the game. They don't boost any of your stats or affect gameplay in any way. Also once you obtain those level 20+ items you are pretty set because the game is actually quite skill based. I have been playing the game for about a year now and so far I spent only 9 dollars for the holowears in the battle pass (never once spent them buying the item enhancers), and I have gotten the "Master" rank (the highest rank tier in the game) for 4 out of 6 seasons now. Granted I am not saying the system is in any way a good system, but it's not as bad as it seems.
Whoa as a kid I honestly thought those energy bar things that run out when you play, is to make sure no kid can spend too much time on the game and go outside to socialize 💀
Dude same. I remember wanting to tell my mom that i wont be wasting my time because there's an energy bar system in this game (i forgot the name but it was a racing game)
Bro Don't listen to him He's a noob I literally play the game about 2 yrs ago and still didn't pay a single dollar on it Also the held items just needs to be lvl 20 not 30 to be good
the game i want to make works like this: FREE STUFF: Points Parts Enhanced Parts Base Magic Air Magic Earth Magic Water Magic Fire Magic Space Magic Time Magic Magic Part Fire Magic Part Air Magic Part Earth Magic Part Water Magic Part Fire Magic Part Space Magic Part Time Magic Part And more paid stuff
As a Pokemon Unite player I agree that the monetization is some of the worst things about the game, but the game is not pay to win, it's pray to win. As in pray that the trolls, afk and clueless players are on the enemy team instead of your team XD
I KNOW RIGHT!!! Was literally thinking that's gotta annoying all the youtubers that are sponsored by them.. So good of Arun to expose these shady tactics. Had a fair idea about it but this explained it all so well. Reminded me of the one time I ever went through a phase.. thought it was a bit different but clearly followed these tactics.
also, can see why they have the money to sponsor every youtuber.. assume it's well worth the add money to have popular creators push your addictive ...products
@@turkeysgotmorecloutthanyou Hacksmith has that many subs and advertises Raid so....... whilst you're right, Arun does have 12 Million subs and does not 'need' too.. that same argument could be made about others, who still do it..
Yeah that's true, you play a game for a few minutes then you get bombarded by ads that you can exit, sometimes you need to watch ads to unlock some hidden features
I've seen games that are legitimately so ad-ridden that it's faster to close out of the program and restart it than it is to skip through them. I've also seen games where the performance goes up by a noticeable amount after turning on airplane mode so the ads can't load, though many games will have countermeasures if you choose to block ads that way
This is why I’ve gone back to play ‘retro’ games and avoid online gaming as much as I can. If I want to play games on my phone, I use emulators and just play classic games I loved growing up.
I do retro gaming on my computer, but on my phone I actually go with one time purchase games. They can be more expensive upfront, but once I buy it I own it without restrictions
It's not just mobile games - so many apps have embraced this business model. From dating apps to language learning apps - it's the same techniques over and over again. They don't set out to deliver what the app promises - be that teaching you Japanese to finding a partner - they just want you to pay.
renshuu is a free Japanese learning app I've found to be pretty helpful 🤷 I could go on about how cool it is but it's probably better if you check it out yourself
There’s a mobile game I play, where there always seems to be some kind of special offer. There’s a banner that says *16 HOURS LEFT!* , the next day it says something like *18 HOURS LEFT!*
I come from a generation where no one has even heard of microtransactions. We were shocked by the $2.50 horse armor in Oblivion. And for today's young generation, microtransactions are normal. It's really terrifying.
I played Unite on my Switch when it was first released. I never spend any real money, I ground out everything and leveled up everything. There is an amount of strategy involved in knowing each Pokémon's skills and abilities. Like I said, I never spent a single cent on the game, and I would still destroy people who clearly spent money on Pokémon and extra tidbits. This was of course when the game came out, so I don't know how much it has changed since then.
They added a lot more inclusivity, with multiple new player bonuses and more free things at the start (such as the power to make three of your items fully levelled instantly). If you take advantage of those and still lose, you realise that maybe you’re not playing the game right and its about how you play. The game is actively putting you in a position where you dont feel like you are monetarily behind and that its not about that at all, its actually how good you are as a player.
This is the sole reason, I love skill-based games. BGMI, CODM and other battle royales where you just can't be good by spending money. Spending in these kinds of games will only get you as far as good skins. Battle royales need your time in the game for you to actually be good. You can't just buy your way to 'Ace' or other high ranks. The currency of battle royales is time.
no way bro, codm has weapon skins that do more damage than normal skins among other things, whether you like it or not, all of these give you advantages if you pay
@fauzan9752 all mythic gun skins in codm either have better iron sights or straight up built in red dot sights, not to mention these mythics cost up to 150$-200$
thank you for doing this! my daughter plays these kind of games and she always wants her allowance in some different game currency. and she's always like "I only have 6 minutes left to get this thing I've always wanted!" I'm going to have her watch this video hopefully it will open her eyes a bit. I always tell her it's a scam but she just doesn't get it.
It has to be so tough. When I was a kid you just didn't care if it was a scam or not. You dont understand the true meaning and value of money at that age. You are hooked line and sinker. Have you showed her yet?
Don't just give her an allowance directly because they won't appreciate it, you should make her earn her allowance through house chores etc so she can appreciate the value of money.
I work as an artist in one of the mobile gaming giants and all the strategies to pull out cash from players are really dirty sometimes! A lot to left for you to dig...
Yeah good video and can really relate, even if a game is getting slow the grinding is going, you don’t want to lose all the time and effort you put into it, so then you have to pay or you have to put even more time and effort, and if you aren’t on the paying side, you will ALWAYS be playing catch up, or they would have to keep really weak for a very long time to be strong one update like saving gems, the best option is to honestly just quit but it’s a really hard decision to make, they give free to play players like max rarity units who use to be good but a new max rarity character would be way way way better and maybe even non max rarity characters so you feel you got something good but in reality it’s nowhere close to the new stuff, I just quit all games like this and that’s why I was so sad overwatch closes yesterday, I legitimately don’t want to play overwatch 2 (I got overwatch preordered) and overwatch 2 locks so much behind levels and battle passes, all my friends want to try it but I can’t go from overwatch one which close to the 2nd game today because of that, I’m probably going to log in see it then just close the game for a really long time.
@@rimimimimimimimim4170 No. Very bad video. Yes many game use those tactics. Pokemon Unite was a poor choice and showed how content he is with putting out a video while being blissfully ignorant on the subject or just flat out clickbait.
I’m 34 now. I learned all this when I was in my early twenties from playing clash of clans. I also have a PR and advertisement degree where we learned how to create desires within people and the art of spin
Pretty much. Seems like Arun made this for the new generation, rather than those of us who were around for the birth of smartphones' mobile gaming micro transactions. I always hated clash of clans when all my buddies would play it in high school.. I was like, " wow, I get the wait 7 hours in real time to do anything after 3 moves? How fun is this!😑"
we originally thought the amount you'd need to spend to "max out a character" in diablo immortal was $130,000 - BUT if you actually max out one of the legendary gems, it opens up five extra (previously invisible) slots - meaning it costs at least 6x as much as we thought.
He is never ever getting sponsored by a mobile game in his life and he probably knew that yet still made this video my respect for him is through the roof.
@@paarshadtrivedi7569 nah bro it will take years to max the base in coc or get all the cards maxed in clash of royal they are the most greedy mobile game co.
Every law making country are so far behind or being bribed into not taking actions against this scam. Thanks for talking about it, this is a huge problem world wide.
I've played Pokemon Unite for a long time and used to win most of my matches. Never felt the need for buying anything, even when my items weren't fulled out, it wasn't that hard to win.
You have probably played moba before, that's why. The dude was probably a complete noob. After the tutorials had to face real opponents and got steamrolled because of the lack of experience. He thought the problem were the items and not the fact he was trying to 1vs2 against players with higher level.
And this is why I don't bother with any free to play game, as they all seem to be designed to make you pay money. And often compromise how fun the game is to do do so.
The unecessary updates on the apps on your phone, even the software updates trains your mindset that you will always need to upgrade and change phones and it always has to be the latest
Great video! But, as a Pokemon United player who reached Master Rank without spending any money at all, I have to say that in PU game knowledge and skills are far more important than the money you spend. Look at Spreagels reaction to this, he points out what is actually correct about Pokemon Unite's costs.
Everything he said still stands, but I also think if you spend a lot money on in game purchases your an idiot ,as for example I've spent nothing and I've even played clash of clans since 2013 and many other similar games to this)
@@elismart13 He used a bad example and played like a complete idiot. His opening had me thinking: "If Pokemon Unite was actually P2W, would he spend 100$ to easily beat every match and make a video about PU being P2W?". He was going to shame Pokemon Unite as a game regardless of whether it was good or not. He got so much wrong in this video, if he had reached out to a PU streamer or looked at the community he would've gotten more clarity on the tricks PU uses to keep people playing AND judge how P2W this game is. "I poured so much time and love into my account" UniteAPI: This user played 28 matches (= 280 minutes = 4 hours 40 minutes) with a fairly decent win rate. He nitpicked, he strawmanned, he lied to you. If he wanted to make a good video he would've chosen a better game to review.
I'm never playing any game which gives me first 10 levels for free within first 5 minutes. It's like a sign screaming "I'M NOT A REAL GAME, I'M ONLY A FACADE"
Pokemon Unite: I've only spent money in consideration for the skins/holowears, not so much in upgrading item, earning tickets/coins, for someone who has been playing since its release, they have been more than enough. I agree though that the game seems to be overwhelming for those just starting one, you would have the feeling of being left behind.
I'm honestly the ULTIMATE anti-consumer for these games lmao. I've played a few of these types of games, never paid and always end up putting the game down when i run out of stamina or game coins and it needs to recharge. To the point that I sometimes even forget to open the game to the reward bonus. I am completely unable to form a habit with these games at all, because it feels more like a hassle to just get the game open and thus I become somewhat resistant and end up dropping the game out of boredom or play real games on my switch or pc.
The ultimate anti consumer would be someone who doesn't play the game at all. As stated in the video, even if you don't spend, you are still providing the whales another player they can safely know beneath them, adding to their rush and making them play and spend more (as long as their is even the tiniest amount of competitiveness in the game, which most games have. Even just a simple leaderboard suffices. Being first out of ten thousand feels way better than being first out of ten, even if 9990 of the other players don't really play the game at all. The number is still there). So while your contribution is admittedly very small and your resistance to these manipulations is admirable, you are unfortunately still contributing to the system, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Just play non competitive games like nonogram or sudoku on your mobile and play the real games on your pc, it is better for your eyesight anyways. ;) (I mean, you already said you are basically doing that, I would just encourage you to not even try these competitive mobile games like you said you do. They are literally nothing but a waste of time anyway, they offer you nothing worthwhile in return.)
There's a game called homescapes, this guy's give insane bonuses and by the time you realize it you are spending 7 hours a day and you are doing nothing but playing it
I am also that person who is always free to play never spending any money on the game For me brawl stars is the game which actually cares about their f2p players and give tham every other brawl pass to enjoy And win depends on the skill not money
True. They make you do chores after chores. Sure kids would love to play these kind of game for the first time. But maan it dies fast. In the end they going to go for forum and community which filled with Narcisist. Its funny how this generation kind of shaped, while classic one were shaped by community. Today it shaped by company. Wiseman once said. 'The more perfect you feel, the more greedy you are.'
Ready Player One addresses some of that, but yes. It is a fearful thing when people do not want to educate themselves about tech. They are too distracted by the experience.
War robots worst example of that, they literally sell brutally overpowered bots for 100 of dollar and then in few months nerf them to the ground. And release new op bots.
@@RazerClaw7 the difference between him being poor and you spending money on mobile games is at least he isn't stupid enough to lose thousands.. or more! I'd say the poor have out classed most suckers for mobile games.
I was literally hooked to marvel contest of champions for 7 years and honestly it cost me thousandsb and stressed me out so much. Many thanks for doing a video like this!
I used to be addicted to that game as well, but only for like an year. And I personally don't feel accomplishment from "buying" things in games; I like to grind. So I never spent any money, it was never even a thought. But it was a fun ride while it lasted.
I actually did my bachelor thesis on this exact same subject (dark patterns in gaming) and I can tell this is spot on! I was baffled by the lengths developers will go to, to make users spend more and more money.
I’ve been playing Pokémon Unite since it came out last year, I’ve spent the entire time as a free to play player. It’s just a matter of knowing what you need to do to not have the urge to spend any money. (for me it’s not having any lol)
@@chiaki_dr true he just played it for like a 2 weeks ago and say some wrong information about the game, he clearly dont know the mechanics of the game.
Some people just think they win few games and they are the best of the world that can win against the experienced players. He didn’t really make research before being such a whiny baby.
This is well done! I have been thinking about all of this and you did a great job explaining the trap of “free to play” games. I mostly play CODM but will never pay $100 for an untangle item that has no value. Some people pay $200-$300 for the mythical weapons! That’s insane!!! The game doesn’t hold you back from competing so that’s good.
Codm is kinda p2w most of the mythic guns has rlly good ironsight compared to the normal one like the mythic ice drake on krig 6 but normal normal krig 6 has rlly rlly trash iron sight and krig 6 is also onr of the best gun rn but still a 10/10 game
It's funny because a lot of these hideous tactics being abused so much it does not feel like a big issue as it should be to a lot of gamers nowadays. Thank you for spreading awareness about this
@@NxVernxual If you've been playing mobile games for long enough you will grow cynical about this these sorts of issues. It's kinda like how DLCs and microtransactions were normalized and people are essentially fine with games coming out uncompleted.
@@piro_ch you’re right, i play a couple of mobile games but luckily none are quite as bad as pokemon unite. But all of them have their own ways of trying to make you pay ridiculous amounts of money for small gains, which just goes to show how widespread the issue is but also how people don’t really mind anymore.
@@piro_ch @Piro Hiponotic I've been playing games like Minecraft Pocket edition, Geometry dash and Fruit Ninja nearly for over than 10 years now or probably less, I've grown thought really weird nonsense and bigger issues than these would you think that may turn you "cynical". It's about this generation's games with the new ones like gacha, genish impact, call of duty and even PUBG that is going on the same road as Free Fire. As MrWhosetheboss said, they are intentionally programmed like this to make you feel better and addicted and continue playing "normally" as you would imagine. I'm saying you're right but the problem is so MUCH BIG to handle on so many different ways financially, economically and even morally not just on the side of the player but even on the government side that supports it with Google by not looking at scams or purchasements
I remember a few years ago when Arun made video that had a sponsorship from a Mystery Box scam company I felt so disappointed because I genuinely loved his content and was a huge fan for years. I'm so glad to see him grow and learn to where he is today. Awesome content as always!
@@vaanivijay6552 the website was called MysteryBrand and a lot of other TH-cam channels had sponsorships from it at the time. I can't remember which video it was but I'm sure it's deleted after other TH-camrs exposed the website as a scam
Arun definitely does a lot of good “exposé” content like this around scams/consumer issues for a while now, etc and that is what I’m here for (along with the insightful product reviews, I don’t really care for or click into the “I bought the worlds xyz tech” but others do and that’s fine). But anyway glad he’s just using good sponsors like phone case companies or whatever, that has a simple transparent product we can choose to buy or not buy, but we aren’t being misled to buy into dodgy businesses.
This is why I mostly play single player games nowadays and avoid anything free to play. I usually have enough self-restraint to avoid buying microtransactions, but they are so annoying that I'd rather buy a full-priced game than have to deal with F2P microtransactions and the systems that come with it. I also hate when games try to get you to play daily whether it's through timers/energy or daily rewards/missions. The "habit" part was what burned me out on MMOs since it ended up feeling more like work than fun to log into the game every day and play the bare minimum just to not fall behind on progression.
He makes good points but used an absolutely terrible example. Pokemon Unite isn't as Pay to Win as he makes it appear to be. You could literally reach Masters without paying a single penny. If you want new Pokees on release date (which is grindable after the first week) or new skins then yeah spend some money! Devs have to make a living.
@@dumzacs7628 They shouldn't make money by praying on neuro-untypical people. I'm clad you haven't spent a dime, but millions of people whose financial situations don't allow it have.
I'm glad people are pointing out the Pokemon Unite part. If this was actually one year ago, then you could see the argument like MoistCritikal's video, but Pokemon Unite has actually improved since then. Now they have free lvl 30 item enchancers you can get by just playing the game so your not behind on item levels. The only "predatory" thing in the game is arguably the skin and gacha mechanic with emblems. Skins are just skins and they dont affect stats. Emblems you can't just outright buy them. You have to earn them by consistently playing the game and doing good in those games. TLDR Pokemon Unite was not a good example for being Pay to win.
Moistcriticals video was also bullshit even back then. The major advantage from items comes at level 20 which you were able to get easily without paying even on the games release. The stat increases you get from lvl 20 to 30 are negligible and a complete non factor to having more success.
this man just pick randomly while keeping hes eye shut and have the mindset of this game will milk me AND make a very bias research u can tell from all hes "proves" are just general game marketing and not really about the game not to mention he dint even mention the recent real predatory marketing strategy that unite made up being new released pokemon now is actually behind real money paywall when it released
Sounds like you're on a mission! Exposing the tactics and practices of some mobile games can be quite enlightening. Many people might not be aware of the ways these games can manipulate users into spending money or watching ads.
The videos that you made lately are incredible,you truly show that you care about your viewers and not the companies that can "one day sponsore you". Well done, you deserve full respect 👏
Lol u don't even play games i bet..i can play same game without paying single penny easily..on top can win easily Pokemon unite is eSports of mobile moba type game this guy doesn't even know anything about moba games in first place Quite misleading video
@@BabyIshii obviously you can play without giving a single penny.. because you don't have any 😂... looks like you don't play games or know the Gacha gaming community lol.. they amount of money spent is humongous and most of them use this tactics lol. No harsh to you but the video delivered what it said.
This video hits me SO hard. Unfortunately, I have an addictive personality and I'm extremely impatient and simply cannot abide grinding for something unless there is immediate rewards. What I'm saying is, I need to be the strongest player, but I don't have the patience to grind my way to the top. About 10 years ago, I fell into an MMO (I honestly can't remember the name). The first "mission" (tutorial) gave me a taste of what was to come and the second mission made it seem like I should be able to take down these monsters easily! In the 3rd mission, I got my ass kicked and went back to the character page with my tail betwixt my legs. I tried everything I could to get strong enough without money but, in the long run, I knew my toon would be a weakling without spending a little money.. At that time, I had just opened a company that had an incredibly successful launch and, if projections were correct, I expected a very strong trend for several months. In other words, I had (what seemed to me to be) a ridiculous amount of disposable income! I decided I was going to pay to win! I bought the best armor and the highest ranking spells (I was a sorcerer). I then tried a daily group mission and realized there were toons stronger than I was! Back to the store! I purchased multiple pieces of armor so I could meld them and get a higher level armor. I purchased multiple spells and combined them to make stronger spells. With my new "disposable" income, I became one of the top 5 players on my server within just a month of playing. I was the guy everyone wanted on their team. I was the guy people begged to join the server-wide attack on the incredibly high ranking beastie. Everyone on my server knew who I was and I was loving it! Any time I found my toon not up to a task, I headed back to the store to buy whatever I could to increase my stats. After about 2 months, Jackie (the person I had hired as the bookkeeper for the company) approached me. It seems she was confused about numerous charges, to some company that didn't match any of our suppliers. I told her "Yeah, I know it's stupid but I've been playing this game and I've spent a little money on it. Just take it out of my next couple of checks". When she told me I wouldn't be getting a paycheck for the next 4 months, that got my attention. Jackie showed me list of charges ranging from $10 to $100. I thought I had spent around 4 or 5 thousand dollars but, in light of my new income, I wasn't worried about it. Jackie literally laughed in my face when she heard me say $5k. She then handed me a sheet of paper of charges, filling the entire page. I focused on the bold number circled in red at the bottom right of the sheet and was dumbfounded by the number printed there. $12,470! Yes. I spent $12,000 on a stupid fucking online game in about 2 months! Lemme say that again. I FUCKING SPENT TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ON AN ONLINE GAME...IN TWO MONTHS! Yes. I know. I'm an idiot. I'm not an idiot because I spent the money. I'm an idiot because I didn't see the flaw in the "pay to win" mentality until I had already lost my mind. Unless I had literally a limitless fortune, there would always be someone willing to spend more money to be better than me. It's crazy how quickly $10-$100 charges will accrue! So, realizing my addiction had blown past the "unmanageable" phase and was firmly in the "idiots do this" realm, I contacted a friend from that game and literally gave them my character and walked away from that game, and those like it, forever. Be careful about the "store" page of these games! It's way easy to justify one payment, but after you've paid once, you feel obliged to do it again because you're already invested. Then when you find something you can't do because you're one level short, it's way too easy to simply pay for that upgrade. Now that you've paid for that upgrade, it doesn't make sense to stop now or you've wasted all that money! So you buy more. And more. And more. I know many people can see through the scam and just play the game without paying for anything, but those games wouldn't exist if there wasn't plenty of people willing to spend their hard earned money on intangible, digital merchandise. One purchase is all it takes to start the cycle. If you're able to resist, great! For those with addictive personalities, like myself, it's probably best to stay away from these kinds of games.
I’m so sorry about you man… I read your entire thing and all I can say is that it is unbelievably easy for these companies to trick you. Remember my words : F2P FOR THE WIN, BABYYY !!!
I remember when we were all clamouring for the removal of loot boxes and we were happy when we started seeing them be removed from games or new games not having them but it turns out all that was is that they found a better method to scam people.
@@TheAkashicTraveller trust me, they will ALWAYS find a way... and they found it after all. Battle Passes are the new scam method and they should be stopped ASAP.
Speaking as indie dev and one who moderately get into those kind of games, unfortunately these types of games *flourish* on the mobile game market, and they flourish HARD. Based on my findings from mobile gamer buddies, many mobile players are dissuaded by the idea of paying $30 for a premium single player game with content you expect from PC/console games, but they willing to spend more than $70 to for an uncertain gacha item (and some games would practically cost thousands of dollars for pity system). Free to play players would pay in time of timely rewards and grind. Mobile game market sucks for design ideology expected from PC/console game space and the old timey shenanigans, and unfortunately market crash for it is not in sight.
Wow I started this video thinking "Yeah I know these games are scammy and bad" but I never would've thought they're THIS bad and manipulative. Thank you for opening my eyes to this and spreading the message
Just letting you know Pokemon unite is not pay to win. Yes they are trying to make money, that is the entire reason why almost all games exist. The amount items do is not enough to deny you access to the highest rank. It is almost as easy to get to the highest rank with or without items. Most of the things you can buy are cosmetic, game has to make money some how. Pokemon unite has a extremely high skill cap and a really low skill floor. The Pokemon unite portion is fake to an extent. Yes they try and get more money out of you than you want but it's not even tempting if you realise that the game is skill based you aren't remotely tempted by the in app purchases.
@@brodyroberts5230 There are lot of game which you can enjoy without these riggied money minting system . Games that are make you relax is a real game for ex Minecraft, gta , terties. People who play Competitive games are not only gamers. Eg dream , technoblade are biggest names in the gaming industry and they do not play the shitty compative moblie games. they are lot of games which you can enjoy without compativiness . Sandbox games, Rpg games, p v e games these are types of games that you can enjoy
@@brodyroberts5230 I understand that they’re a company trying to make money. I think it’s more about how they’re trying to hide that fact by implementing different currencies etc to make it harder to see that. Keep in mind a large portion of players for most of these video games are kids, who probably aren’t as aware either
@@jeeva1 yes there are, but all games need money. A game can cost money initially like terraria, Minecraft ect or they can be free and have some in-game purchases. Pokemon unite is not perfect but it is better than all the other games mentioned in the vid. And by no means is it pay to win
The saddest Part why most people doesn’t oppress this is that it has become such a common thing nowadays, creating a feel that this is just what a game should be… kudos to Arun for standing against it
Even worse, some people actually still like it and defend such practice because they think " I have fun with this game for free, why should I care about addicted people being exploited"
@@S41t4r4 fax. Most common thing people say to defend these predatory practices is that " it's a free game and you don't HAVE to spend money so it's no problem"
@@apexheat6553 Another take I see often is " But game XY has no p2w just visual stuff" to defend games like COD mobile, Overwatch et cetera. Basically, ignoring most of the argument against psychological manipulation.
@@S41t4r4 yup. Codm is the main game I play and I'm sure you know about the custom Red dot for ironsights on the mythic and some legendary guns. This may not be directly pay2win but its very close as you are paying for a tangible advantage compared to if you didn't. The subtlety of theses purchases is what allows it to get so far without receiving backlash
I do appreciate it that despite the fact that Arun is a huge TH-camr in the tech space, he still CHOOSES to be honest about things like this. He could stay quiet, or make zillions from sponsors shilling mobile games and probably never have to work another day in his life. And that's what makes it respectable that he still tries to advocate for average consumers with regard to things like this or right to repair.
Lol he's a total nooob. I've been playing pokemon unite on the switch since season 1. I've got all my items at level 30 and I've never spent a single penny on the game. You really don't need to. Like right now you can buy scizor with real money, but in a couple of days you can just get him with aeos coins so you don't even have to buy him at all. So yeah, Arun is a total noob. I hope I won't ever get him on my team ; -)
As a pokemon unite player myself I feel like there is one more thing. The fondness you have with the Pokémon, whether you see it in the anime or play it on one of the mainline games, the fact that you can play as your favourite Pokémon that you have so many fond memories with makes you go to any height to unlock it. That is why they are now releasing more popular Pokémon and having them behind a gem wall
I think unite is pretty good and loved the game, the only complaint I have is that new Pokémon are behind a pay wall for a week, coming from a 8month unite player
@@skoopmc9119 same, I've been playing PU from the next week it got released on Android and believe me, the game never felt more stressful and hard before. It brings us to a dark conclusion that with time, the developers do get greedy, very greedy.
And am also a big fan of you as your information is very valuable. I prefer your videos instead of a tech channel, honestly speaking. Your videos are very resourceful and I got to know many things that are very important for you
Except he picked the wrong game for the topic. Pokemon Unite is anything but p2w. All the resources he mentioned, save the gems, are obtainable in the game completely for free. Of course you can purchase those resources with gems, but you dont have to. Paying doesnt affect matchmaking at all, by watching his footages I can conclude this boy just sucks hard at this game
@@ibnu9969 Its all a gradient of PTW. They don't make these games just for the experience. Their main priority is to make money. How effectively they disguise that determines their success.
@@Stealther no shit sherlock I thought this was a charity OF COURSE they need to make money somehow. Look, I completely agree with his arguments, except he chose the wrong game to be the main subject of the discussion. If it were ANY other moba games I will 100% agree with him. There is no paid gacha element in Unite, you can obtain Aeos energy to use the gacha FOR FREE. There's no such thing as paying customers getting better matchmaking, me for example still getting vegetables as my teammates despite me buying the season pass. This boy just lack the knowledge and the skill at the game, but he's good at spinning his skill issue into an interesting content
2:45 "Practically forced to make a purchase..." Wow. You know, a lot of the problems you address in this video, you could learn about by watching a "How to get started in Pokémon Unite" video by one of the many wonderful content creators here on TH-cam - most of which will teach you about the best strategies about using and leveling held items and how to hit the ground running. Also, saying skill has practically nothing to do with winning is something only someone too lazy to learn about actual skill would say. If you would watch some of the VoDs from the recent Pokémon Unite World Championship in London, you'd see that its skill and only skill that makes the true difference. The fact that this man didn't do the research - and then posts THIS - is quite unprofessional and simply ridiculous.
Man got pinched by two opponents and he didnt even level up his charmander quite. He didnt have any mobility gear on him either. He's blaming the monetization of the game for this?? Man hasn't seen sylveon, absol etc when they were at their peak lmao
@@friedkake1876 ye. And it's truly sad that this ytber who's known for his sophisticated videos backed by practicality and research has released such an outrage
This is one of the reasons I mostly stopped playing video games anymore. Instead, of making a fun enjoyable game, video games are now used as money making machines. Kids are specially vulnerable to this. This video needs to spread further to bring awareness, so eventually a law might be passed to prevent video game develops from exploiting an addiction.
mostly mobile games and those games made by money hungry studios, if I may recommend some games for you, Webbed, Cuphead, Don’t Starve Together, Untitled Goose Game and of course Minecraft are all very much personal favourites of mine. The only one that may offer purchases is DST, but they are all for skins and characters, which do not break the pure difficulty and survival aspect of the game. Webbed is a personal favourite of mine, second only to Minecraft. Love the mechanics and web physics it comes with. Aanyways this message is way too long so goodbye
Many full price games also do this, like call of duty with its crazy slow grind for maxing out a gun or any Ubisoft game that lets you pay to skip the grind, but there are a lot of really good games from indie studios that are made as passion projects.
I’ve worked 6 yrs in the online gambling industry. All the concepts discussed were disco and first used in online gambling. Sign up bonuses to break the barrier is essential to the acquisition strategy. Push towards slots with high volatility (small wins but much more often) gets you hooked on the reward stimulation and perception that the big win (like levelling up quick but the level you want to be is so far and impossible) that only whales really get. The concept of in-game currency comes from buying tickets for tournaments in the casino. This was developed in the 90s. I think I made my point in how the mobile gaming system is literally and purposefully designed based on the online gambling industry. The difference I think is most important is that online gambling has regulations in place. There are companies that monitor and reign in industry. Even worse, the mobile gaming industry is aimed at children and is much more sinister in fostering addiction than online gambling could ever be.
@@fabiaaquino2207 "I know he made a good point and the game clearly shows some signs of the system you mentioned but other mobile game are worse" that isnt an argument. He could have used effectivly every multiplayer mobile game from clash royale to rise of kingdoms. All of them employ predatory marketing techniques to bleed people dry
I agree, cause I am tired with all mobile online games especially Honkai Impact. I understand that people want and like to play those games, bur they must realize that EVERY online games have a server and a limited time such as time-event, offer limited to shutting down thr server of game. I have four games that have been closed, so I dont wanna play every online game again and stick with offline games and indie games.
I agree with this 100% and cannot understand why there are no real policing of these mobile games!??? I know for a fact but cannot prove (or have anybody to ask for help proving this, can't call the police like you would do if any other crime was happening to you) a mobile game I have been playing over six years changes drop rates on items as they see fit. This is false advertisement in any other business pretty much around the world I would think.?? False advertising is illegal and know for a fact some have been caught with no real consequence for doing it. We need laws and someone who goes into these gaming apps and makes sure devs are being honest & KEEPING them honest. It is literally the wild west for the mobile gaming industry with Google as their president.
@@fickdich564it’s not arguing against the OP; it’s adding to it lol, and that person isn’t wrong “no u stoobid u hardly have an argument” is hardly an argument
This is the channel which gives the most right information on so many tech topics. But now it has stepped up to create awareness as well. I love how Arun is trying to make everyone aware of the digital world and escape from its ill effects.
Pokemon unite is completely free to play and is not pay to win in any way. You can get the highest rank without items almost as easy as without. The items do do things, but they barely change stats
The issue is, taking Diablo Immortal as an example, when the game was launched, it received horrendous feedback due to their monetization and was slammed on Metacritic with the lowest user score ever for a game. Afterwhich tons of media coverage and TH-camrs taking about this and publications and forums were flooded with this topic. Fast forward to 2 months ago, Diablo Immortal still made 97million in August. The moral of the story is, players know what they are getting into and they still knowingly play the game. Due to this, the industry isn't going to change anytime soon I am afraid.
@@WEEDH3X Yeap. Just make it so that these monetization practices are treated as gambling, and raise the rating to M. Their largest target demographic are teenagers. Taking that away should be a good blow.
@@WEEDH3X the government have benefits from those companies, like Drugs, Alcohol. So they will do nothing for them if the companies is a source for The economic country, Like Football in Spain.
@@KingWolfdz don’t spread misinformation the government receives nothing but normal taxes, the government worked always on ethics that’s why the food you eat the product you buy have all standards they follow and if theese companies don’t respect those rules and standards they get fined or shut - gaming companies and virtual goods shouldn’t be different
We definitely need more people talking about this. Lots of people spend money and get nothing. So they are stuck in a loop of spending more and more money to get that "one" item they want (and the chances of that could be 0.01%). Marvel Contest of Champions is a good example of that. Anyway, I thank you for talking about this. You have a big channel with a large audience and it takes a lot to make a video like this.
I totally agree. Pubg mobile is the same thing imagine spending a 150$ to get a gun skin and they have people spend more. These things don't even enhance your ability to play the game.
If you create content like this you instantly lose sponsorships. MrWhostheboss is big channel itself so he is self-sustainable and no longer relies on game sponsorships to survive, thus this video. Im pretty sure all people share the same opinion as him about mobile games but nobody is reckless enough to attack their practises when they're paid to advertise them.
Leveling up those held items to level 20 is enough actually level 10 would be enough already. Also use ur tickets on items not ur coins! And it’s not just mashing ur powers u need a move to get them low and then secure the kill. ALSO Pokémon unite gives u many free Pokémon and tickets, and after that u can use tickets to get item enhancers.
I have poured a total of 700 hours during lockdown into such mobile games and i have finally left playing. This video is absolutely on point on why players spend so much money. It's the time and love they put in the game and when they land in a situation where they have to spend money, they do it. Lockdown was indeed a dark time in my life and i can proudly say I left these games for the good. All I want to say is you should keep yourselves at a distance from mobile games.
Well not all mobile games are bad, it's just important to know what u rlly want and not spend cuz u feel preassured to. I'm glad you got out of that mentality and if that meant stopping to play the game as a whole then that worked for you!
I miss just playing games. Where I buy a game for like 2.99 -4.99 and I just own the game and can play and redownload it later . Never ending games are crazy. Separately I love the editing and production on this vid. The funds you guys have dropped on the LED and monitors and such are so cool. The color coordination makes these even more enjoyable to watch.
I think that mobile gaming needs a big change.I am curently working on a metroidvania that will land on mobile also and it will be just one time pay.Other developers should do the same and give mobile gaming more credit.
@@iulianhagea5815 gotta get that never-ending cash flow. I get it but I just don't have it in me to start a game and then realize it has tournaments and a built in resource and time management game ala Farmville. Lol
I think unite is one of the worst examples for showing this problem. If one informs themself sufficiently, you can quickly find out that spending money does almost nothing for your wins lol. And you can get everything non-cosmetic by just playing the game. There are 1000s of games that are way better examples that rly are p2w to their core..
@@raceris7309 Not to mention Pokémon is one of the biggest IPs in the entire world, which makes him bringing it up as a main example feel like it makes a lot more sense for more casual people that don't know what's going on with some of their games at hand in the first place.
Yes I feel he blatantly criticised the wrong game. Now the current players know how it is. But the ones who might download in the future are stopped from doing so, given his fame in this platform
@@raceris7309 I get what u mean but there's only one paid currency. The rest you can easily get through playing. And nothing in the game other than skins and other cosmetics is gated behind a paywall, meaning that your stats can be maxed without paying. This fact alone makes it better than 99% of every other mobile game. Also unite is primarily a nintendo switch game, thus also not fitting into the trope of 'mobile' game as much as many others. Its just a bad example for the point he is trying to make.
The mobile game market has spread to many AAA titles and it's annoying. I'm extremely grateful for so many games I can play that do not have this mess and never will. Future mods that fix multiplayer games SBMM and added problems.
@Shmarky yes, its shows you, but that doesn't guarantee the outcome, lotteries are pretty much like that, you know what can go out but it won't guarantee that thing will come out
@Shmarky You clearly didn't watch the video. The whole thing is set up to lure you into thinking you're getting a guaranteed result, but you're really just gambling.
You have no idea how absolutely anxiety inducing this video is. I have always played mobile games and I was hooked to some but I never spent money but I always yearned for some satisfaction some these games give.
In the end video games, or whatever else like money, drugs, over indulgence on food, etcetera will never satisfy, we will always want more, which is a sign that our heart can never be fully filled and satisfied on this earth because only Jesus can fill that God-sized hole in our heart that we all long to be filled. We are meant to be with God in heaven, not be here attached to a million things here on earth. However, we have to choose God, which requires daily repentance, discipline and self denial, otherwise we will just continue to sin.
Polytopia is the best example of in-app purchases done right. The only purchases are for playable tribes beyond the four default ones. Once you buy the tribe, you can play as that tribe. And that's it.
@@Abu_TuesdayI’m guessing she had Apple Pay or something and she bought stuff using parents money connected to Apple Pay without knowing it was real money
I really wanted to get Minecraft on my phone years ago, but I realized that you have to be a banking expert to purchase this as you have to know the method of spending real digital money...
yeah, honestly he's being sarcastic here. also the footages of him playing unite were all feeds (him vs a ninetails >2-3 levels higher or him vs 2-3 opponent pokemons)
How is he being sarcastic? He simply disproved his entire video with this one statement. Yes, the examples shown in the video are feeds, but that doesn’t imply sarcasm to the viewer. More so he’s trying to misinform others about Unite by showing only bad plays that he made.
@@LocalHobo631 arun is intentionally trolling or feeding in unite. He lose on purpose just to get his point however there many players reach masters 1600 points without any items nor emblems. Its call "skill gap"
This is pure INSANITY! Thank you Arun, for bringing a better light onto this issue. I hope one day we can all go back to just enjoying video games and not having to pay money to be better.
This is why i play games on steam pc and actual consoles. If i play mobile games its usually a mobile port of an indie pc game OR it's a game with non intrusive ads where i choose when to view it and i can progress without watching any (Vampire Survivors for example).
I think the points made are real and important, but the Unite example isn't the best one. Unite is very F2P friendly, handing out a lot of things for new playes to start at a similar item level to other players. Another game you could have covered that would have made more sense imo is Genshin Impact. A lot of the points made can easily be translated to Genshin, and a lot more people spend a lot more money in it. Overall, great video topic, it's important that people know that most free games are designed to make you spend. Edit : to rephrase a little more, the point of this comment was to say that Genshin Impact is a better and more pertinent example as to how a game makes you spend since it has made an insane amount of money for a free game.
I don’t know about that, money on Genshin can only buy you characters, and a well built 4* can easily be better than a poorly built 5*. I’ve been f2p since I started two years ago, and my account is way better than a lot of paying accounts.
@@maelysearl-sur4777 It's true that you can play Genshin Impact as a f2p, but my point is that Genshin Impact is a much better topic when talking about a free game designed to make as much money as possible
@@finiraelkhami8251 They spent 100 million to make the game, and spend 200 million a year on maintaining it. How much do you think this pokemon game cost to make and maintain?
@@finiraelkhami8251 I don’t think it is desinged to make people spend money, there’s no pop-ups, limited time deals and stuff like that. Some of the better characters and equipment is free (Bennett > Qiqi, the catch > Vortex Vainquisher, thrilling tales > everlasting moonglow) and I’ve not ever been pushed to pay, at least not by the game.
Looks like all that work out is paying out. A channel this big need balls to speak up. You've said everything I wanted to tell the world. More power to you bro 💪
Problem is he went after the wrong target. You can easily progress fast and be very competitive for free in Pokemon Unite, and what made it worse is he was trying to progress with one of the worst characters in the game - Charizard, whose early game Charmander and Charmeleon are trash.
@@darthraider450 I think you're focusing on the wrong aspect of the video. The practices Arun talks about are all over the game industry, it's a common business model. He just used some games as examples, and he didn't say it was a practice specific to pokemon unite. Also, even if you can progress in the game for free, it doesn't change the fact that they employ all these tactics to subconsciously manipulate people.
11:39 an incredibly huge amount of games make you first compete against bots, so they are easy to defeat. and when you reach a specific point, you suddenly play against real players who are much better than bots, and this can make you feel like you got worse, but only your enemies are getting stronger. (like Stumble guys)
Whats more depressing is the fact that genuine mobile games made with passion such as Angry Birds, Stardew Valley, and Jetpack Joyride no longer exist and get overshadowed by games that guilt trip you into spending tons of money. I'm glad lucky patcher and modded games exist. That should teach those money hungry companies a lesson Edit: I didn't say Angry Birds is different now. I'm saying that mobile games are different now. You can't really find games like Angry Birds anymore. Just look at Rise of Kingdoms and other misleading games. They force you to spend money to progress Edit2: I apologise for mispelling Jetpack Joyride as Jetpack Royale. It has been fixed now
@Marek Krajčovič i think they're aware that the games are still up, they're just saying that there aren't many mobile game developers nowadays that genuinely make games for people to just have fun with, and instead are mostly just money-hungry people and sometimes companies
@bluehawk56 i love gaming and it's a huge part of my life, I used to think of it as a distraction but now I'm starting to see it as it is. Something i enjoy and something i live for. Basically don't try to escape life try to find things to live for
At first I thought most of these points were obvious because it's always been intuitive to me that you can't have much fun in these games without paying a ton of money and that's why I've always felt discouraged in investing my time in these games, even though I tried to play and enjoy them. But you explained all the tricks that these developers use very well and I realised that most of the people will fall for them easily. Good video!
He actually misunderstood every system he talked about, and had no idea what anything he spent money on actually did, or how the fundamental game works. What he said is true for other free-to-play games, but Pokemon Unite doesn't reward spending money with anything other than skins to make your characters look cooler. Everything he spent money on is extremely easy to get for free, just by playing the game for more than 10 minutes.
@@jordanyeet5347 He actually lied to you about A LOT of the stuff he talked about, and if you actually want me to point it all out, I'd love to. The game uses these mobile game strategies to get you to buy skins. That's it. If you simply don't care about cosmetics, there's nothing stopping you from playing the game for free, without any real disadvantage.
There are definitely mobile games out there that are p2w, but Pokémon Unite isn't one of them. Certainly you can spend money to get new Pokémon, but you can also farm the coins to aquire them as a f2p. Most people spend money on the cosmetics which has no bearing on the stats of the Pokémon. Buying new Pokémon or those cosmetics also have no impact on the gameplay. That is entirely skill-based and tries strongly on your team (if were all working together, etc). I'm F2P and if I do spend money, it's just gonna be for the Unite Membership, some cosmetics and/or some Pokémon... and that's if I choose to. Even if I don't choose to, I don't feel like I'm behind other players (unlike other mobile games) and it's nice.
He's not saying Pokémon unite is P2W but P2P, pay to progress, again his take on the game is from the perspective of a newbie player, hence exactly the perfect target for the developer and their monetisation system, experienced F2P obviously won't fall for it and ofc the game isn't blatantly unfair, it still matches you with bots occasionally, but getting into the competitive leagues is very very difficult for F2P, as someone with almost 10 years of experience with gacha, nothing he said in the video is wrong about the monetisation nor the tactics used
@@Hhhh22222-w I'm Veteran rank working my way to Ultra, and I didn't spend any money to get there. It's not p2w or 'pay to progress'. It's a switch/mobile game that has p2w aspects, sure, but a new player or f2p player can get to the same spot as an experienced player without opening their wallet. It just requires skill (I.e. knowing your Pokémon and what it can and can't do) and decent teammates. And yes, it will be a bit slow in upgrading your held items if you're full f2p (as it is for me), but again... I'm at Veteran rank working my way to Ultra. So I'm progressing fine.
@@Hhhh22222-w that’s the thing. Unite was a bad example because it is not P2W or P2P at all. It is a MOBA. It is all about skill, you get three lvl 30 items for free, and if you choose the correct ones, that can be the best three for almost half the roster. You have to play to progress, not pay. As evidenced by his own experience... he payed a ton, equipped the wrong items for his chosen character, is honestly just bad at the game and got trounced by better players who likely didn’t spend a dime. I could start a fresh account right now and get to masters within a week spending nothing on the game.
@@Hhhh22222-w your 10 years of gacha should show you how wrong his take it but either you're lying about your experience or you've learned absolutely nothing from it. The only ones who pay to progress are ones who will never be good enough and are desperate for success.
I just want to say that I have got into Master Rank in Pokémon Unite without spending a single dollar ever, not even on skins. I don't think that it's pay to win as it's showed in this video, they usually gift A LOT of Licenses and items to enchance Items to lvl 30 for free. Lately they have been letting you get new Pokémon without paying but by making daily missions. Also, the weekly coin limit is really high, specially compared with other free mobile games, so you can get a lot of skins and items just by playing. I do hate that they try to push you that much into buying stuff, though, but that's just 21th century consumism.
I’m with u. I’m an 1800 master player and have all my items all over lvl 20 and almost all licenses w/o spending money. This game is very generous and I know that cuz I used to play mobile legends (another f2p mobile moba) and I had less than half the charters and couldn’t keep up with new charter releases.
Although u need to spend money for cp on call of duty mobile, the on thing u didn't know is that u only need to buy it once because once u complete the battle pass which is 50 levels and isn't hard, u get back enough cp to buy the next battle pass. U just have to buy it once and make sure u complete it. Sure the is still p2w
Yeah, what a shame that he didnt actually do any research into the main game he talked about. He just pick and chose the bad bits. Skill? I just run into enemies and die! That means I need to buy items. Literally shown in the video...
the level 30 held items isn't a limited time thing and is accessible to all players and is permanent and it has been in the game since the day that the game came to mobile
Unite is not pay to win. It is monetized. The issue is matchmaking and how little people are punished for trolling/AFKing. I’ve had similar matches where we turned around being down into wins but then same situation have players rage quit and AFK. There’s also issues with game not telling you effective strategies to winning and solo que is much worse than running with friends where you can chat on a discord call and coordinate better.
That's not the biggest issue. Not that many people troll. The main issue is that you get paired up with people who are clearly total noobs and have no idea how to play the game, even when you're already high level master. That's the part I hate And the thing I hate the most is the fact that you get instantly muted for hours and then days at a time just because someone reported you. You might not have said anything bad at all. It's just because THEY decided to report you, that you instantly get punished with no verification at all. The game just believes them. That's really bad
So the items that you can buy don't give any buffs in the match? because that would then be pay to win. Skins and cosmetics that don't effect game play is monetisation i.e. league of legends
A few updates after having seen the response to this video:
1. From the feedback I've gotten, Pokemon Unite is one of the less malicious Free-to-Play games in this genre. I still stand by the fact that it employs manipulative strategies to earn more from players, but in hindsight there were a few things I could have done to save me spending quite as much as I did. That said, I don't want this to take away from the key message of the video, which still stands and is still incredibly important.
2. Most of the shots in the video and screen recordings were sourced by my editor on my editors account, and so are more to demonstrate the points being made, as opposed to being representative of my own gameplay.
3. I've been informed that it is currently possible to upgrade an item to level 30 without paying real money in Pokemon Unite - this hasn't always been the case and isn't made clear to the player - it seems to be a limited time thing - but nonetheless an oversight on my part!
4. I am completely happy to admit that I am far from the best Pokemon Unite player. That said, while it is true that people with more skill can certainly get away with paying less, for the vast majority of the player base, paying is still the key legitimate way to make progress.
I have actually, by pokemon unite as well
hi
yes
Yass
yes genshin impact it was so addictive glad i left it without wasting a single penny
You would NEVER expect a channel this big to go this HARD and effectively side with the consumer on such a personal level. You are very genuine. Thank you for what you do!
Bruh how did this guy get a heart? The video is 22 mins long and was posted 4 mins ago.. OP didn't even watch the video 💀
Well said
@@abhishh_ek He started out by dissing some of the biggest names in terms of sponsors and anti consumerist practices. I didn't need the whole story to know where this was going, although I was going to watch the whole thing. Not very hard to comprehend, you know.
he should do a meet and greet in nottingham city centre
To be fair to the game you don't need those holowears (the fancy costumes for your Pokemon) to play the game. They don't boost any of your stats or affect gameplay in any way. Also once you obtain those level 20+ items you are pretty set because the game is actually quite skill based. I have been playing the game for about a year now and so far I spent only 9 dollars for the holowears in the battle pass (never once spent them buying the item enhancers), and I have gotten the "Master" rank (the highest rank tier in the game) for 4 out of 6 seasons now. Granted I am not saying the system is in any way a good system, but it's not as bad as it seems.
Whoa as a kid I honestly thought those energy bar things that run out when you play, is to make sure no kid can spend too much time on the game and go outside to socialize 💀
Same, I always thought that too, thank god I did though so I didn't waste any of my pocket money on them.
Dude same. I remember wanting to tell my mom that i wont be wasting my time because there's an energy bar system in this game (i forgot the name but it was a racing game)
i used to just adjust the clock
It's a double edged sword and the other edge is really sharp.👀
@@ramiztudio3208 need for Speed no limits?
Normally when a game bombards me/spams me with in app purchases, I just uninstall the game.
same, but i just dont play it, I'm too lazy to uninstall.
same
Bro
Don't listen to him
He's a noob
I literally play the game about 2 yrs ago and still didn't pay a single dollar on it
Also the held items just needs to be lvl 20 not 30 to be good
Agreed played it since it released have almost every pokemon have every held item at 30 no money paid
@Anas-fu6mo, As a kid you have no money to spend either way lol.
Big red flag: when a game has like 10 different in-game currencies
That is a giant neon red flag the size of Texas
Yeah! The aeos energy made it even worse and so much more confusing
the game i want to make works like this:
FREE STUFF:
Points
Parts
Enhanced Parts
Base Magic
Air Magic
Earth Magic
Water Magic
Fire Magic
Space Magic
Time Magic
Magic Part
Fire Magic Part
Air Magic Part
Earth Magic Part
Water Magic Part
Fire Magic Part
Space Magic Part
Time Magic Part
And more paid stuff
@@superasax3245EA be like
Is cat food, NP, and XP too many currencies?
As a Pokemon Unite player I agree that the monetization is some of the worst things about the game, but the game is not pay to win, it's pray to win. As in pray that the trolls, afk and clueless players are on the enemy team instead of your team XD
+1
Same
Is pay to win faster
Totally!! 😂😂
Totally agree, game is really fun. Only downside I see is as you mentioned the afk or clueless players otherwise this game is one of my favourites X.
I miss when you could just buy a game, enjoy a good story, and that was it
You still can. Just stay away from mobile games, free to play games, and live service games.
@@Zack_Mee_Nhatz Actually, he can play a few mobile ports, as Dead Cells (only "extra" pays are the expansion DLCs), Stardew Valley, and many more.
@@Pestigirioso DLC is not really comparable to this practice. You still get fair value (or you don't if reviews are bad)
Well unfortunately whole world goes to subscription. Its a plague of today's world.
Kinda like skylanders
I'm guessing Arun isn't sponsored by Raid Shadowlegends.
Probably the only youtuber 🤣🤣
I KNOW RIGHT!!! Was literally thinking that's gotta annoying all the youtubers that are sponsored by them.. So good of Arun to expose these shady tactics. Had a fair idea about it but this explained it all so well. Reminded me of the one time I ever went through a phase.. thought it was a bit different but clearly followed these tactics.
also, can see why they have the money to sponsor every youtuber.. assume it's well worth the add money to have popular creators push your addictive ...products
He doesn’t need too, he has 12 million subscribers
@@turkeysgotmorecloutthanyou Hacksmith has that many subs and advertises Raid so....... whilst you're right, Arun does have 12 Million subs and does not 'need' too.. that same argument could be made about others, who still do it..
It's not only purchases but also smaller mobile games being full of ads
Yeah that's true, you play a game for a few minutes then you get bombarded by ads that you can exit, sometimes you need to watch ads to unlock some hidden features
I've seen games that are legitimately so ad-ridden that it's faster to close out of the program and restart it than it is to skip through them. I've also seen games where the performance goes up by a noticeable amount after turning on airplane mode so the ads can't load, though many games will have countermeasures if you choose to block ads that way
Only pubgm and codm are two mobile game that are not pay to win
Nah man ur wrong @Legend55250
This is why I’ve gone back to play ‘retro’ games and avoid online gaming as much as I can. If I want to play games on my phone, I use emulators and just play classic games I loved growing up.
likewise bro
What emulators do you use and how? Id love to play retro games on my phone
Ya me to i am play psp and 2ds games i never played because of p2w games like free fire shits stuff
I do retro gaming on my computer, but on my phone I actually go with one time purchase games. They can be more expensive upfront, but once I buy it I own it without restrictions
all hail sonic the hedgehog
It's not just mobile games - so many apps have embraced this business model. From dating apps to language learning apps - it's the same techniques over and over again. They don't set out to deliver what the app promises - be that teaching you Japanese to finding a partner - they just want you to pay.
I read that with a genuine Arun voice in my head - his inflections sure rubbed off onto your post there.
this comment is like dlc to the video
renshuu is a free Japanese learning app I've found to be pretty helpful 🤷 I could go on about how cool it is but it's probably better if you check it out yourself
There is still a game that’s 2$ and has a lot of content and has no in app purchases/ads:geometry dash
Yes, the dating app will show me the picture of a real hot girl who liked me.
But I can’t like her back unless I sign up for their subscription. 🙄
There’s a mobile game I play, where there always seems to be some kind of special offer. There’s a banner that says *16 HOURS LEFT!* , the next day it says something like *18 HOURS LEFT!*
Codm do that a lot! 😂
@@JakeSmith-c2bfr bro
What game?
ROK is notorious for this. I got hooked and spent like £3000 on it. However, there were people on my server who had spent 10s of thousands. It's crazy
I come from a generation where no one has even heard of microtransactions. We were shocked by the $2.50 horse armor in Oblivion. And for today's young generation, microtransactions are normal. It's really terrifying.
I played Unite on my Switch when it was first released. I never spend any real money, I ground out everything and leveled up everything. There is an amount of strategy involved in knowing each Pokémon's skills and abilities. Like I said, I never spent a single cent on the game, and I would still destroy people who clearly spent money on Pokémon and extra tidbits. This was of course when the game came out, so I don't know how much it has changed since then.
They added a lot more inclusivity, with multiple new player bonuses and more free things at the start (such as the power to make three of your items fully levelled instantly). If you take advantage of those and still lose, you realise that maybe you’re not playing the game right and its about how you play. The game is actively putting you in a position where you dont feel like you are monetarily behind and that its not about that at all, its actually how good you are as a player.
Hasn't changed that much. What he said was false
You didnt upgrade leftover didya?
@@구구구-v5i the one of the useless held item in the game?nah
yeah your experience is the usual. He prob just got rekt by real players after feeling good against bots
This moment, when you don't play the game, but the game plays you.
This has an "In Soviet Russia" vibe to it. "In the west, you play games. In Soviet Russia, the games play you!"
@@wolf1066 make sense
😢
Holy crap this is a casino disguised as a video game.
average mobile experience
Me with no money : YOUR POWER IS USELESS AGAINST ME FOOL
ACTUALY TRUE HAHAHA
F2P PLAYERS ARE THE GOAT OF GAMING 🗿🗿🗿
F2P all the way baby!! Never had to spend a cent and still got to master rank... Not sure what he complaining about 😂
@@AdounisCedolin lmao
@@AdounisCedolin GrandMaster IV without a cent. Trying for legendary
This is the sole reason, I love skill-based games. BGMI, CODM and other battle royales where you just can't be good by spending money. Spending in these kinds of games will only get you as far as good skins. Battle royales need your time in the game for you to actually be good. You can't just buy your way to 'Ace' or other high ranks. The currency of battle royales is time.
Yes, I liked my own comment......
no way bro, codm has weapon skins that do more damage than normal skins among other things, whether you like it or not, all of these give you advantages if you pay
@@Samuel-sjqwa Which call of duty do you play, I've been playing CODM for 4 years and never knew this
@fauzan9752 all mythic gun skins in codm either have better iron sights or straight up built in red dot sights, not to mention these mythics cost up to 150$-200$
what is bgmi?
thank you for doing this! my daughter plays these kind of games and she always wants her allowance in some different game currency. and she's always like "I only have 6 minutes left to get this thing I've always wanted!" I'm going to have her watch this video hopefully it will open her eyes a bit. I always tell her it's a scam but she just doesn't get it.
Give her good ideas for things she could do with her allowance. DIY stuff, planning stuff with friends etc.
It has to be so tough. When I was a kid you just didn't care if it was a scam or not. You dont understand the true meaning and value of money at that age. You are hooked line and sinker. Have you showed her yet?
SHOW HER
Don't just give her an allowance directly because they won't appreciate it, you should make her earn her allowance through house chores etc so she can appreciate the value of money.
@@Miraclelnvoker you only know that she gets an allowance in some way
I work as an artist in one of the mobile gaming giants and all the strategies to pull out cash from players are really dirty sometimes! A lot to left for you to dig...
Why do you work with them then?
@@thatgreypain Money! 🦀
Spill the tea buddy! We're all ears
that's how a tech channel should be,not just mobiles and laptops
Sadly he is out of his element here and got almost everything wrong. Maybe it's best to just stick to mobiles and laptops.
@@catbeans4685 true...
Yeah good video and can really relate, even if a game is getting slow the grinding is going, you don’t want to lose all the time and effort you put into it, so then you have to pay or you have to put even more time and effort, and if you aren’t on the paying side, you will ALWAYS be playing catch up, or they would have to keep really weak for a very long time to be strong one update like saving gems, the best option is to honestly just quit but it’s a really hard decision to make, they give free to play players like max rarity units who use to be good but a new max rarity character would be way way way better and maybe even non max rarity characters so you feel you got something good but in reality it’s nowhere close to the new stuff, I just quit all games like this and that’s why I was so sad overwatch closes yesterday, I legitimately don’t want to play overwatch 2 (I got overwatch preordered) and overwatch 2 locks so much behind levels and battle passes, all my friends want to try it but I can’t go from overwatch one which close to the 2nd game today because of that, I’m probably going to log in see it then just close the game for a really long time.
@@rimimimimimimimim4170 No. Very bad video. Yes many game use those tactics. Pokemon Unite was a poor choice and showed how content he is with putting out a video while being blissfully ignorant on the subject or just flat out clickbait.
@@catbeans4685 you're soo addicted you even side with the game jeez
I’m 34 now. I learned all this when I was in my early twenties from playing clash of clans. I also have a PR and advertisement degree where we learned how to create desires within people and the art of spin
Pretty much. Seems like Arun made this for the new generation, rather than those of us who were around for the birth of smartphones' mobile gaming micro transactions.
I always hated clash of clans when all my buddies would play it in high school.. I was like, " wow, I get the wait 7 hours in real time to do anything after 3 moves? How fun is this!😑"
we originally thought the amount you'd need to spend to "max out a character" in diablo immortal was $130,000 - BUT if you actually max out one of the legendary gems, it opens up five extra (previously invisible) slots - meaning it costs at least 6x as much as we thought.
That’s still like $20,000 to max out a character.
@@trueskillz1567 you don't make any sense
@@rahulk2633 I misread 6x as much as 6x less
Cool
@@trueskillz1567 untrueskillz moment
He is never ever getting sponsored by a mobile game in his life and he probably knew that yet still made this video my respect for him is through the roof.
Not supercell games, in that games F2P players can get everything whales get... expect cosmetics, which gives 0 competitive advantage
Well any mobile game that's in the video to say the least lol.
@@paarshadtrivedi7569 nah bro it will take years to max the base in coc or get all the cards maxed in clash of royal they are the most greedy mobile game co.
Raid shadow legends doesn't care 🤣
@DoriDorisuke its ok? you dont even need to pay real money to buy battle pass
As someone who foolishly spent money in genshin impact, I felt this on a spiritual level.
I think someone here has lost their 50/50 on Qiqi💀💀💀
🤣🤣🤣
gayshit impact? lol
😂😂😂
Same same, remembering the total I've spent I'm glad I stopped spending beginning this year 😢😢
Every law making country are so far behind or being bribed into not taking actions against this scam. Thanks for talking about it, this is a huge problem world wide.
It would have been hilarious if in the middle of this video, "But first, thanks to this videos sponsor, RAID Shadow Legends!" 🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Tru
I've played Pokemon Unite for a long time and used to win most of my matches. Never felt the need for buying anything, even when my items weren't fulled out, it wasn't that hard to win.
You have probably played moba before, that's why. The dude was probably a complete noob. After the tutorials had to face real opponents and got steamrolled because of the lack of experience. He thought the problem were the items and not the fact he was trying to 1vs2 against players with higher level.
@@mence5992 yep, i did play moba before and Pokémon Unite is by far the easies one to play
@@diegopestana808 unite is a really accessible moba
I agree. This video can be true about other games but not pokemon unite.
cool blog bro
‘Preying on Addiction’ is a very accurate and disturbing term.
Mobile publishers have turned into modern-day drug lords
this vid is why i play fortnite
bruh i typed this comment before i watched the vid ;-;
😆
I have never played Fortnite - is it filled with micro transactions and such described in the video?
@@st.michaelthearchangel7774 Nah everything is free except for skins. It's fun but hard.
And this is why I don't bother with any free to play game, as they all seem to be designed to make you pay money. And often compromise how fun the game is to do do so.
Wdym they compromise?
Would sacrifice be a better word?
What I've noticed is once you identify the manipulative techniques being used you start to see them everywhere not just in gaming.
Enlighten me....
The unecessary updates on the apps on your phone, even the software updates trains your mindset that you will always need to upgrade and change phones and it always has to be the latest
@@makyu9176 for me, latest means the newest android versions. i just throw a custom rom on my phone and I'm good
@Shortest Movie Rants ok?
This video itself is a good example of it.
He makes up some controversy on a popular game he knows nothing about and… bam… clicks.
Great video! But, as a Pokemon United player who reached Master Rank without spending any money at all, I have to say that in PU game knowledge and skills are far more important than the money you spend. Look at Spreagels reaction to this, he points out what is actually correct about Pokemon Unite's costs.
Everything he said still stands, but I also think if you spend a lot money on in game purchases your an idiot ,as for example I've spent nothing and I've even played clash of clans since 2013 and many other similar games to this)
@@elismart13 a lot of the things he said do not stand...
@@elismart13 He used a bad example and played like a complete idiot. His opening had me thinking: "If Pokemon Unite was actually P2W, would he spend 100$ to easily beat every match and make a video about PU being P2W?".
He was going to shame Pokemon Unite as a game regardless of whether it was good or not. He got so much wrong in this video, if he had reached out to a PU streamer or looked at the community he would've gotten more clarity on the tricks PU uses to keep people playing AND judge how P2W this game is.
"I poured so much time and love into my account"
UniteAPI: This user played 28 matches (= 280 minutes = 4 hours 40 minutes) with a fairly decent win rate.
He nitpicked, he strawmanned, he lied to you. If he wanted to make a good video he would've chosen a better game to review.
@@elismart13 coc is ass noting is good to have
@@elismart13 I do not see a point that stand, i am a very dumb being, please point it out
I'm never playing any game which gives me first 10 levels for free within first 5 minutes. It's like a sign screaming "I'M NOT A REAL GAME, I'M ONLY A FACADE"
Wdym
Pokemon Unite: I've only spent money in consideration for the skins/holowears, not so much in upgrading item, earning tickets/coins, for someone who has been playing since its release, they have been more than enough. I agree though that the game seems to be overwhelming for those just starting one, you would have the feeling of being left behind.
True
Same with War Robots, great game but can get expensive trying to stay meta
I reached legend in a free to play. Yes, you must bleed 🩸 before reaching peak competitive.
I reached top 1k leaderboards in 2 weeks f2p. Hearing pokemon unite is not about skill and its just button mashing is absurd
@@mitachi9033 which game?
I'm honestly the ULTIMATE anti-consumer for these games lmao. I've played a few of these types of games, never paid and always end up putting the game down when i run out of stamina or game coins and it needs to recharge. To the point that I sometimes even forget to open the game to the reward bonus.
I am completely unable to form a habit with these games at all, because it feels more like a hassle to just get the game open and thus I become somewhat resistant and end up dropping the game out of boredom or play real games on my switch or pc.
yeah i know right haha
The ultimate anti consumer would be someone who doesn't play the game at all. As stated in the video, even if you don't spend, you are still providing the whales another player they can safely know beneath them, adding to their rush and making them play and spend more (as long as their is even the tiniest amount of competitiveness in the game, which most games have. Even just a simple leaderboard suffices. Being first out of ten thousand feels way better than being first out of ten, even if 9990 of the other players don't really play the game at all. The number is still there). So while your contribution is admittedly very small and your resistance to these manipulations is admirable, you are unfortunately still contributing to the system, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
Just play non competitive games like nonogram or sudoku on your mobile and play the real games on your pc, it is better for your eyesight anyways. ;)
(I mean, you already said you are basically doing that, I would just encourage you to not even try these competitive mobile games like you said you do. They are literally nothing but a waste of time anyway, they offer you nothing worthwhile in return.)
There's a game called homescapes, this guy's give insane bonuses and by the time you realize it you are spending 7 hours a day and you are doing nothing but playing it
I am also that person who is always free to play never spending any money on the game
For me brawl stars is the game which actually cares about their f2p players and give tham every other brawl pass to enjoy
And win depends on the skill not money
True. They make you do chores after chores. Sure kids would love to play these kind of game for the first time. But maan it dies fast. In the end they going to go for forum and community which filled with Narcisist. Its funny how this generation kind of shaped, while classic one were shaped by community. Today it shaped by company.
Wiseman once said. 'The more perfect you feel, the more greedy you are.'
This makes me scared for what company’s could do by deploying tactics like this in the meta verse
People care about Metaverse?
@@rohitlohan9854 the foolish investors do
That is literally why people are trying to bring it about. It's just a giant grift
Don't forget the owner of Meta has paid millions in criminal finds.
Ready Player One addresses some of that, but yes. It is a fearful thing when people do not want to educate themselves about tech. They are too distracted by the experience.
War robots worst example of that, they literally sell brutally overpowered bots for 100 of dollar and then in few months nerf them to the ground. And release new op bots.
The fact that the whole first half of this is the bare minimum I expect from any mobile game I play. But eh, can't scam you out of what you don't have
Poor
@@RazerClaw7 a good protection
Nice pfp
@@RazerClaw7 the difference between him being poor and you spending money on mobile games is at least he isn't stupid enough to lose thousands.. or more!
I'd say the poor have out classed most suckers for mobile games.
For real
I was literally hooked to marvel contest of champions for 7 years and honestly it cost me thousandsb and stressed me out so much. Many thanks for doing a video like this!
Bro I used to play that game I was gonna spend but my game stopped working so didnt glad to see you got out of it oo
Hello there, fellow summoner
I feel you
I ve played the same game for like 2 yrs.. But never spend a single cent
(one of the reasons being, my parents not allowin me to spend any😂)
I get you man
I used to be addicted to that game as well, but only for like an year. And I personally don't feel accomplishment from "buying" things in games; I like to grind. So I never spent any money, it was never even a thought. But it was a fun ride while it lasted.
I actually did my bachelor thesis on this exact same subject (dark patterns in gaming) and I can tell this is spot on! I was baffled by the lengths developers will go to, to make users spend more and more money.
You had a bachelor’s thesis?🤨Where tf they do that at😭😂🤦🏽♂️
Can you please share with my your findings, I am from South America and I am conducting a similar research.
@@luisvalencia7939 México, for example.
The first game he mentioned is not even pay to win and yall just eating it up😂
@@iso2885The game still forces you to pay alot of money in order to be successful at it, so it still belongs in the list of games trying to scam you.
16:22 Call of duty mobile advertisement is playing when I seeing the video....😂😂
I’ve been playing Pokémon Unite since it came out last year, I’ve spent the entire time as a free to play player. It’s just a matter of knowing what you need to do to not have the urge to spend any money.
(for me it’s not having any lol)
Dude not everyone is smart like you and me, there will be people who will be fooled by it.
If he had patience and determination he could have climbed up w/o spending any money
Lot of kids play these games , do you think they can think reasonably? They will definitely fall for this.
@@chiaki_dr true he just played it for like a 2 weeks ago and say some wrong information about the game, he clearly dont know the mechanics of the game.
Some people just think they win few games and they are the best of the world that can win against the experienced players. He didn’t really make research before being such a whiny baby.
This is well done! I have been thinking about all of this and you did a great job explaining the trap of “free to play” games. I mostly play CODM but will never pay $100 for an untangle item that has no value. Some people pay $200-$300 for the mythical weapons! That’s insane!!! The game doesn’t hold you back from competing so that’s good.
you can grab them on the floor for free just like in VALORANT 😅
Hey atleast its cosmetic right?
Codm is kinda p2w most of the mythic guns has rlly good ironsight compared to the normal one like the mythic ice drake on krig 6 but normal normal krig 6 has rlly rlly trash iron sight and krig 6 is also onr of the best gun rn but still a 10/10 game
I'm playing codm since 2020 but I didn't spend a single $
@@haroldhuntergaming9584 Better iron sights don't make u good if u have crappy aim
It's funny because a lot of these hideous tactics being abused so much it does not feel like a big issue as it should be to a lot of gamers nowadays. Thank you for spreading awareness about this
Just... FUNNY?
@@NxVernxual If you've been playing mobile games for long enough you will grow cynical about this these sorts of issues. It's kinda like how DLCs and microtransactions were normalized and people are essentially fine with games coming out uncompleted.
@@piro_ch you’re right, i play a couple of mobile games but luckily none are quite as bad as pokemon unite. But all of them have their own ways of trying to make you pay ridiculous amounts of money for small gains, which just goes to show how widespread the issue is but also how people don’t really mind anymore.
@Jack Wrath Bot..
@@piro_ch @Piro Hiponotic I've been playing games like Minecraft Pocket edition, Geometry dash and Fruit Ninja nearly for over than 10 years now or probably less, I've grown thought really weird nonsense and bigger issues than these would you think that may turn you "cynical". It's about this generation's games with the new ones like gacha, genish impact, call of duty and even PUBG that is going on the same road as Free Fire. As MrWhosetheboss said, they are intentionally programmed like this to make you feel better and addicted and continue playing "normally" as you would imagine. I'm saying you're right but the problem is so MUCH BIG to handle on so many different ways financially, economically and even morally not just on the side of the player but even on the government side that supports it with Google by not looking at scams or purchasements
Thank you ❤
I remember a few years ago when Arun made video that had a sponsorship from a Mystery Box scam company I felt so disappointed because I genuinely loved his content and was a huge fan for years. I'm so glad to see him grow and learn to where he is today. Awesome content as always!
Could u mention which video it was? 😊
@@vaanivijay6552 the website was called MysteryBrand and a lot of other TH-cam channels had sponsorships from it at the time. I can't remember which video it was but I'm sure it's deleted after other TH-camrs exposed the website as a scam
@@DatzAdam ahh thank you very much
His name is Arun not aron lol
Arun definitely does a lot of good “exposé” content like this around scams/consumer issues for a while now, etc and that is what I’m here for (along with the insightful product reviews, I don’t really care for or click into the “I bought the worlds xyz tech” but others do and that’s fine).
But anyway glad he’s just using good sponsors like phone case companies or whatever, that has a simple transparent product we can choose to buy or not buy, but we aren’t being misled to buy into dodgy businesses.
This is why I mostly play single player games nowadays and avoid anything free to play. I usually have enough self-restraint to avoid buying microtransactions, but they are so annoying that I'd rather buy a full-priced game than have to deal with F2P microtransactions and the systems that come with it. I also hate when games try to get you to play daily whether it's through timers/energy or daily rewards/missions. The "habit" part was what burned me out on MMOs since it ended up feeling more like work than fun to log into the game every day and play the bare minimum just to not fall behind on progression.
He makes good points but used an absolutely terrible example. Pokemon Unite isn't as Pay to Win as he makes it appear to be. You could literally reach Masters without paying a single penny. If you want new Pokees on release date (which is grindable after the first week) or new skins then yeah spend some money! Devs have to make a living.
And thats why Minecraft is good
@@dumzacs7628 fr. This video is absolutely misleading
@@dumzacs7628 They shouldn't make money by praying on neuro-untypical people. I'm clad you haven't spent a dime, but millions of people whose financial situations don't allow it have.
@@gekkouga2828 WHY WOULD YOU PAY 100 DOLLARS IN A FREE TO PLAY GAME
I'm glad people are pointing out the Pokemon Unite part. If this was actually one year ago, then you could see the argument like MoistCritikal's video, but Pokemon Unite has actually improved since then. Now they have free lvl 30 item enchancers you can get by just playing the game so your not behind on item levels. The only "predatory" thing in the game is arguably the skin and gacha mechanic with emblems. Skins are just skins and they dont affect stats. Emblems you can't just outright buy them. You have to earn them by consistently playing the game and doing good in those games.
TLDR Pokemon Unite was not a good example for being Pay to win.
Moistcriticals video was also bullshit even back then. The major advantage from items comes at level 20 which you were able to get easily without paying even on the games release. The stat increases you get from lvl 20 to 30 are negligible and a complete non factor to having more success.
@@JamesDaCostaMusic was about to say this
Agreed. You actually need skill to play. It's a MOBA.
@@JamesDaCostaMusic right
this man just pick randomly while keeping hes eye shut and have the mindset of this game will milk me AND make a very bias research u can tell from all hes "proves" are just general game marketing and not really about the game not to mention he dint even mention the recent real predatory marketing strategy that unite made up being new released pokemon now is actually behind real money paywall when it released
Sounds like you're on a mission! Exposing the tactics and practices of some mobile games can be quite enlightening. Many people might not be aware of the ways these games can manipulate users into spending money or watching ads.
The videos that you made lately are incredible,you truly show that you care about your viewers and not the companies that can "one day sponsore you". Well done, you deserve full respect 👏
yes.
Lol u don't even play games i bet..i can play same game without paying single penny easily..on top can win easily
Pokemon unite is eSports of mobile moba type game this guy doesn't even know anything about moba games in first place
Quite misleading video
@@BabyIshii obviously you can play without giving a single penny.. because you don't have any 😂... looks like you don't play games or know the Gacha gaming community lol.. they amount of money spent is humongous and most of them use this tactics lol.
No harsh to you but the video delivered what it said.
@@BabyIshii jealous guy lmao
@@yugotchords thanks to that I m not getting manipulated...jokes on u
I like how they are just openly telling us how they trick and manipulate us in a recorded presentation.
They're not telling us, they're teaching devs.
@@realisticadvisor9931 I meant like their telling us the consumers how they manipulate and drain us of our cash
@@WillysStuff pretty sure we're not the target audience and there are classes in university in CS and psychology teaching in depth too
You know what I mean
The same goes for other businesses. They teach how to attract consumers to buy the products. Basically, they are tricks and manipulations.
This video hits me SO hard.
Unfortunately, I have an addictive personality and I'm extremely impatient and simply cannot abide grinding for something unless there is immediate rewards. What I'm saying is, I need to be the strongest player, but I don't have the patience to grind my way to the top.
About 10 years ago, I fell into an MMO (I honestly can't remember the name). The first "mission" (tutorial) gave me a taste of what was to come and the second mission made it seem like I should be able to take down these monsters easily! In the 3rd mission, I got my ass kicked and went back to the character page with my tail betwixt my legs. I tried everything I could to get strong enough without money but, in the long run, I knew my toon would be a weakling without spending a little money..
At that time, I had just opened a company that had an incredibly successful launch and, if projections were correct, I expected a very strong trend for several months. In other words, I had (what seemed to me to be) a ridiculous amount of disposable income! I decided I was going to pay to win! I bought the best armor and the highest ranking spells (I was a sorcerer). I then tried a daily group mission and realized there were toons stronger than I was! Back to the store! I purchased multiple pieces of armor so I could meld them and get a higher level armor. I purchased multiple spells and combined them to make stronger spells. With my new "disposable" income, I became one of the top 5 players on my server within just a month of playing. I was the guy everyone wanted on their team. I was the guy people begged to join the server-wide attack on the incredibly high ranking beastie. Everyone on my server knew who I was and I was loving it! Any time I found my toon not up to a task, I headed back to the store to buy whatever I could to increase my stats.
After about 2 months, Jackie (the person I had hired as the bookkeeper for the company) approached me. It seems she was confused about numerous charges, to some company that didn't match any of our suppliers. I told her "Yeah, I know it's stupid but I've been playing this game and I've spent a little money on it. Just take it out of my next couple of checks". When she told me I wouldn't be getting a paycheck for the next 4 months, that got my attention.
Jackie showed me list of charges ranging from $10 to $100. I thought I had spent around 4 or 5 thousand dollars but, in light of my new income, I wasn't worried about it. Jackie literally laughed in my face when she heard me say $5k. She then handed me a sheet of paper of charges, filling the entire page. I focused on the bold number circled in red at the bottom right of the sheet and was dumbfounded by the number printed there. $12,470!
Yes. I spent $12,000 on a stupid fucking online game in about 2 months! Lemme say that again. I FUCKING SPENT TWELVE THOUSAND DOLLARS ON AN ONLINE GAME...IN TWO MONTHS!
Yes. I know. I'm an idiot.
I'm not an idiot because I spent the money. I'm an idiot because I didn't see the flaw in the "pay to win" mentality until I had already lost my mind. Unless I had literally a limitless fortune, there would always be someone willing to spend more money to be better than me. It's crazy how quickly $10-$100 charges will accrue!
So, realizing my addiction had blown past the "unmanageable" phase and was firmly in the "idiots do this" realm, I contacted a friend from that game and literally gave them my character and walked away from that game, and those like it, forever.
Be careful about the "store" page of these games! It's way easy to justify one payment, but after you've paid once, you feel obliged to do it again because you're already invested. Then when you find something you can't do because you're one level short, it's way too easy to simply pay for that upgrade. Now that you've paid for that upgrade, it doesn't make sense to stop now or you've wasted all that money! So you buy more. And more. And more.
I know many people can see through the scam and just play the game without paying for anything, but those games wouldn't exist if there wasn't plenty of people willing to spend their hard earned money on intangible, digital merchandise. One purchase is all it takes to start the cycle. If you're able to resist, great! For those with addictive personalities, like myself, it's probably best to stay away from these kinds of games.
Damn
Man...12,000?!!
I’m so sorry about you man… I read your entire thing and all I can say is that it is unbelievably easy for these companies to trick you. Remember my words : F2P FOR THE WIN, BABYYY !!!
I remember when we were all clamouring for the removal of loot boxes and we were happy when we started seeing them be removed from games or new games not having them but it turns out all that was is that they found a better method to scam people.
@@TheAkashicTraveller trust me, they will ALWAYS find a way... and they found it after all. Battle Passes are the new scam method and they should be stopped ASAP.
Just wait till bro sees supercell games now
Speaking as indie dev and one who moderately get into those kind of games, unfortunately these types of games *flourish* on the mobile game market, and they flourish HARD.
Based on my findings from mobile gamer buddies, many mobile players are dissuaded by the idea of paying $30 for a premium single player game with content you expect from PC/console games, but they willing to spend more than $70 to for an uncertain gacha item (and some games would practically cost thousands of dollars for pity system). Free to play players would pay in time of timely rewards and grind.
Mobile game market sucks for design ideology expected from PC/console game space and the old timey shenanigans, and unfortunately market crash for it is not in sight.
Thats really just the cons of all mobile games with a gacha system in place, for a big example..... *genshin impact*
@@MarvinYoani Genshin is a bad example the game can be beaten in 5 days after creating a new account and not spending any money at all.
I have big respect for indie game devs. Keep on going!
Wow I started this video thinking "Yeah I know these games are scammy and bad" but I never would've thought they're THIS bad and manipulative. Thank you for opening my eyes to this and spreading the message
Just letting you know Pokemon unite is not pay to win. Yes they are trying to make money, that is the entire reason why almost all games exist. The amount items do is not enough to deny you access to the highest rank. It is almost as easy to get to the highest rank with or without items. Most of the things you can buy are cosmetic, game has to make money some how. Pokemon unite has a extremely high skill cap and a really low skill floor. The Pokemon unite portion is fake to an extent. Yes they try and get more money out of you than you want but it's not even tempting if you realise that the game is skill based you aren't remotely tempted by the in app purchases.
@@brodyroberts5230 There are lot of game which you can enjoy without these riggied money minting system . Games that are make you relax is a real game for ex Minecraft, gta , terties. People who play Competitive games are not only gamers. Eg dream , technoblade are biggest names in the gaming industry and they do not play the shitty compative moblie games. they are lot of games which you can enjoy without compativiness . Sandbox games, Rpg games, p v e games these are types of games that you can enjoy
@@brodyroberts5230 I understand that they’re a company trying to make money. I think it’s more about how they’re trying to hide that fact by implementing different currencies etc to make it harder to see that. Keep in mind a large portion of players for most of these video games are kids, who probably aren’t as aware either
@@brodyroberts5230 you're right my dude
@@jeeva1 yes there are, but all games need money. A game can cost money initially like terraria, Minecraft ect or they can be free and have some in-game purchases. Pokemon unite is not perfect but it is better than all the other games mentioned in the vid. And by no means is it pay to win
The saddest Part why most people doesn’t oppress this is that it has become such a common thing nowadays, creating a feel that this is just what a game should be… kudos to Arun for standing against it
Even worse, some people actually still like it and defend such practice because they think " I have fun with this game for free, why should I care about addicted people being exploited"
@@S41t4r4 fax. Most common thing people say to defend these predatory practices is that " it's a free game and you don't HAVE to spend money so it's no problem"
The problem lies with the game being Free, this shit happens in free pc games too because that's their only way of income
@@apexheat6553 Another take I see often is " But game XY has no p2w just visual stuff" to defend games like COD mobile, Overwatch et cetera. Basically, ignoring most of the argument against psychological manipulation.
@@S41t4r4 yup. Codm is the main game I play and I'm sure you know about the custom Red dot for ironsights on the mythic and some legendary guns. This may not be directly pay2win but its very close as you are paying for a tangible advantage compared to if you didn't. The subtlety of theses purchases is what allows it to get so far without receiving backlash
I do appreciate it that despite the fact that Arun is a huge TH-camr in the tech space, he still CHOOSES to be honest about things like this. He could stay quiet, or make zillions from sponsors shilling mobile games and probably never have to work another day in his life. And that's what makes it respectable that he still tries to advocate for average consumers with regard to things like this or right to repair.
It was nice knowing you Arun, the gaming companies are already sending hitmen on your location for speaking truth
Lol he's a total nooob. I've been playing pokemon unite on the switch since season 1. I've got all my items at level 30 and I've never spent a single penny on the game. You really don't need to.
Like right now you can buy scizor with real money, but in a couple of days you can just get him with aeos coins so you don't even have to buy him at all. So yeah, Arun is a total noob. I hope I won't ever get him on my team ; -)
💀
Rip arun
Codm takes skill so you can not spend a dime and still be good
Especially genshin 💀
Glad that there's someone who's actually talking about these problems prevailing in the internet ...
As a pokemon unite player myself I feel like there is one more thing. The fondness you have with the Pokémon, whether you see it in the anime or play it on one of the mainline games, the fact that you can play as your favourite Pokémon that you have so many fond memories with makes you go to any height to unlock it. That is why they are now releasing more popular Pokémon and having them behind a gem wall
Yes I'm a Pokémon Unite player too whenever they gonna released a new Pokémon they gonna lock it with a gem wall
i literally downloaded it and played until i got greninja and never touched it again 💀💀
That's just being stupid
I think unite is pretty good and loved the game, the only complaint I have is that new Pokémon are behind a pay wall for a week, coming from a 8month unite player
@@skoopmc9119 same, I've been playing PU from the next week it got released on Android and believe me, the game never felt more stressful and hard before. It brings us to a dark conclusion that with time, the developers do get greedy, very greedy.
And am also a big fan of you as your information is very valuable. I prefer your videos instead of a tech channel, honestly speaking. Your videos are very resourceful and I got to know many things that are very important for you
Taking shots at some pretty big names here. Excellent job on showing them up for who they are as companies. Love this channel.
1st on a 160 liked comment
Except he picked the wrong game for the topic. Pokemon Unite is anything but p2w. All the resources he mentioned, save the gems, are obtainable in the game completely for free. Of course you can purchase those resources with gems, but you dont have to. Paying doesnt affect matchmaking at all, by watching his footages I can conclude this boy just sucks hard at this game
@@ibnu9969 Whale spotted
@@ibnu9969 Its all a gradient of PTW. They don't make these games just for the experience. Their main priority is to make money. How effectively they disguise that determines their success.
@@Stealther no shit sherlock I thought this was a charity OF COURSE they need to make money somehow. Look, I completely agree with his arguments, except he chose the wrong game to be the main subject of the discussion. If it were ANY other moba games I will 100% agree with him. There is no paid gacha element in Unite, you can obtain Aeos energy to use the gacha FOR FREE. There's no such thing as paying customers getting better matchmaking, me for example still getting vegetables as my teammates despite me buying the season pass. This boy just lack the knowledge and the skill at the game, but he's good at spinning his skill issue into an interesting content
2:45 "Practically forced to make a purchase..."
Wow. You know, a lot of the problems you address in this video, you could learn about by watching a "How to get started in Pokémon Unite" video by one of the many wonderful content creators here on TH-cam - most of which will teach you about the best strategies about using and leveling held items and how to hit the ground running.
Also, saying skill has practically nothing to do with winning is something only someone too lazy to learn about actual skill would say. If you would watch some of the VoDs from the recent Pokémon Unite World Championship in London, you'd see that its skill and only skill that makes the true difference.
The fact that this man didn't do the research - and then posts THIS - is quite unprofessional and simply ridiculous.
Imagine being bad at a video game then making a whole video off of it
Skill issue*😂😂
Man got pinched by two opponents and he didnt even level up his charmander quite. He didnt have any mobility gear on him either. He's blaming the monetization of the game for this?? Man hasn't seen sylveon, absol etc when they were at their peak lmao
@@friedkake1876 ye. And it's truly sad that this ytber who's known for his sophisticated videos backed by practicality and research has released such an outrage
@@stuhff8169 like you can literally get skins in unite without even paying . I only pay for skins sometime because I like to support the developers
This is one of the reasons I mostly stopped playing video games anymore. Instead, of making a fun enjoyable game, video games are now used as money making machines. Kids are specially vulnerable to this. This video needs to spread further to bring awareness, so eventually a law might be passed to prevent video game develops from exploiting an addiction.
Play Minecraft!
mostly mobile games and those games made by money hungry studios, if I may recommend some games for you, Webbed, Cuphead, Don’t Starve Together, Untitled Goose Game and of course Minecraft are all very much personal favourites of mine. The only one that may offer purchases is DST, but they are all for skins and characters, which do not break the pure difficulty and survival aspect of the game. Webbed is a personal favourite of mine, second only to Minecraft. Love the mechanics and web physics it comes with. Aanyways this message is way too long so goodbye
Many full price games also do this, like call of duty with its crazy slow grind for maxing out a gun or any Ubisoft game that lets you pay to skip the grind, but there are a lot of really good games from indie studios that are made as passion projects.
Arun should go after Fifa next
@@cartoon29_58 u mean basically all aaa titles and other offline games on steam
A game asks if you want to pay money, you say yes, the only issue I see is you
I’ve worked 6 yrs in the online gambling industry.
All the concepts discussed were disco and first used in online gambling.
Sign up bonuses to break the barrier is essential to the acquisition strategy. Push towards slots with high volatility (small wins but much more often) gets you hooked on the reward stimulation and perception that the big win (like levelling up quick but the level you want to be is so far and impossible) that only whales really get. The concept of in-game currency comes from buying tickets for tournaments in the casino. This was developed in the 90s. I think I made my point in how the mobile gaming system is literally and purposefully designed based on the online gambling industry.
The difference I think is most important is that online gambling has regulations in place. There are companies that monitor and reign in industry. Even worse, the mobile gaming industry is aimed at children and is much more sinister in fostering addiction than online gambling could ever be.
But he used the worst examples of "P2W" games
@@fabiaaquino2207 "I know he made a good point and the game clearly shows some signs of the system you mentioned but other mobile game are worse" that isnt an argument. He could have used effectivly every multiplayer mobile game from clash royale to rise of kingdoms. All of them employ predatory marketing techniques to bleed people dry
I agree, cause I am tired with all mobile online games especially Honkai Impact. I understand that people want and like to play those games, bur they must realize that EVERY online games have a server and a limited time such as time-event, offer limited to shutting down thr server of game. I have four games that have been closed, so I dont wanna play every online game again and stick with offline games and indie games.
I agree with this 100% and cannot understand why there are no real policing of these mobile games!??? I know for a fact but cannot prove (or have anybody to ask for help proving this, can't call the police like you would do if any other crime was happening to you) a mobile game I have been playing over six years changes drop rates on items as they see fit. This is false advertisement in any other business pretty much around the world I would think.?? False advertising is illegal and know for a fact some have been caught with no real consequence for doing it. We need laws and someone who goes into these gaming apps and makes sure devs are being honest & KEEPING them honest. It is literally the wild west for the mobile gaming industry with Google as their president.
@@fickdich564it’s not arguing against the OP; it’s adding to it lol, and that person isn’t wrong
“no u stoobid u hardly have an argument” is hardly an argument
This is the channel which gives the most right information on so many tech topics. But now it has stepped up to create awareness as well. I love how Arun is trying to make everyone aware of the digital world and escape from its ill effects.
@Jack Wrath ratio, bot
@Mrwhosetheboss Is Better Than @Jackwrath! Cry About It Jack Wrath.🤣🤣😂😂
Pokemon unite is completely free to play and is not pay to win in any way. You can get the highest rank without items almost as easy as without. The items do do things, but they barely change stats
Wait until he plays genshin impact for a bit
@@brodyroberts5230 agree, im a f2p player and able to go master rank no holowears, level 20 held items ...
Remember that crawling machine that we always wanted to get a plushie and then we realize it's always been rigged
13:50 How dare you, I bought all my ikea furniture 11 years ago and I didn't have to replace Anything!
The issue is, taking Diablo Immortal as an example, when the game was launched, it received horrendous feedback due to their monetization and was slammed on Metacritic with the lowest user score ever for a game. Afterwhich tons of media coverage and TH-camrs taking about this and publications and forums were flooded with this topic. Fast forward to 2 months ago, Diablo Immortal still made 97million in August. The moral of the story is, players know what they are getting into and they still knowingly play the game. Due to this, the industry isn't going to change anytime soon I am afraid.
People wont for sure, it called addiction ! the government need to step in with regulations
@@WEEDH3X Yeap. Just make it so that these monetization practices are treated as gambling, and raise the rating to M. Their largest target demographic are teenagers. Taking that away should be a good blow.
@@WEEDH3X the government have benefits from those companies, like Drugs, Alcohol.
So they will do nothing for them if the companies is a source for The economic country, Like Football in Spain.
@@KingWolfdz The government receives absolutely nothing from game developers, aside from taxes. Which they probably get out of paying anyway.
@@KingWolfdz don’t spread misinformation the government receives nothing but normal taxes, the government worked always on ethics that’s why the food you eat the product you buy have all standards they follow and if theese companies don’t respect those rules and standards they get fined or shut - gaming companies and virtual goods shouldn’t be different
We definitely need more people talking about this. Lots of people spend money and get nothing. So they are stuck in a loop of spending more and more money to get that "one" item they want (and the chances of that could be 0.01%). Marvel Contest of Champions is a good example of that. Anyway, I thank you for talking about this. You have a big channel with a large audience and it takes a lot to make a video like this.
its not illegal tho so theres not a lot anyone can do about it other then warn people about it i suppose
It's some form of gambling, not illegal but quite disgusting when underage players are doing it
I totally agree. Pubg mobile is the same thing imagine spending a 150$ to get a gun skin and they have people spend more. These things don't even enhance your ability to play the game.
If you create content like this you instantly lose sponsorships. MrWhostheboss is big channel itself so he is self-sustainable and no longer relies on game sponsorships to survive, thus this video. Im pretty sure all people share the same opinion as him about mobile games but nobody is reckless enough to attack their practises when they're paid to advertise them.
Power to you for exposing this insidious industry, unlike most TH-camrs who seem to be happy to just take the Raid Shadow Legends advertorial money.
Exactly.
@Jack Wrath Nobody cares about you Mr. Bot because your content is trash! Cry about it. 😂👌
@Jack Wrath it sucks
@@unknownuser8836 bro dont u understand its a bot why would u watch its video ignore these type of comments
He didn't rely expose anything, any1 that has even surface level knowledge knows this goes on in both mobile and AAA games
Leveling up those held items to level 20 is enough actually level 10 would be enough already. Also use ur tickets on items not ur coins! And it’s not just mashing ur powers u need a move to get them low and then secure the kill. ALSO Pokémon unite gives u many free Pokémon and tickets, and after that u can use tickets to get item enhancers.
Also the point isn’t to get to the other side to score it’s to score the most points
U get so much free things in this game u don’t need to buy anything
U should go to some Pokémon unite TH-camrs to see how to play
Also y cant u just play ranked!
Amos gems aren’t useful cuz ur not playing as ur job
I have poured a total of 700 hours during lockdown into such mobile games and i have finally left playing. This video is absolutely on point on why players spend so much money. It's the time and love they put in the game and when they land in a situation where they have to spend money, they do it. Lockdown was indeed a dark time in my life and i can proudly say I left these games for the good. All I want to say is you should keep yourselves at a distance from mobile games.
Well done for taking the step to get your life back on track! Sorry lockdown was so hard on you
Well not all mobile games are bad, it's just important to know what u rlly want and not spend cuz u feel preassured to. I'm glad you got out of that mentality and if that meant stopping to play the game as a whole then that worked for you!
Couldn't agree more. Thanks for helping to raise awareness on these important issues in gaming.
@Jack Wrath i think Youre the one crying
Third
I miss just playing games. Where I buy a game for like 2.99 -4.99 and I just own the game and can play and redownload it later . Never ending games are crazy. Separately I love the editing and production on this vid. The funds you guys have dropped on the LED and monitors and such are so cool. The color coordination makes these even more enjoyable to watch.
I agree with you 100%.
That's how Minecraft Java works... Except its $30
I think that mobile gaming needs a big change.I am curently working on a metroidvania that will land on mobile also and it will be just one time pay.Other developers should do the same and give mobile gaming more credit.
@@iulianhagea5815 gotta get that never-ending cash flow. I get it but I just don't have it in me to start a game and then realize it has tournaments and a built in resource and time management game ala Farmville. Lol
this video needs to be shared around the entire world
I think unite is one of the worst examples for showing this problem. If one informs themself sufficiently, you can quickly find out that spending money does almost nothing for your wins lol. And you can get everything non-cosmetic by just playing the game. There are 1000s of games that are way better examples that rly are p2w to their core..
Exactly! I know this is just me personally, but I haven't spent a single dollar on unite and find it very fun and playable
I don't know about you, but having 7 currencies is a bit of an overkill and screams "give us money"
@@raceris7309 Not to mention Pokémon is one of the biggest IPs in the entire world, which makes him bringing it up as a main example feel like it makes a lot more sense for more casual people that don't know what's going on with some of their games at hand in the first place.
Yes I feel he blatantly criticised the wrong game. Now the current players know how it is. But the ones who might download in the future are stopped from doing so, given his fame in this platform
@@raceris7309 I get what u mean but there's only one paid currency. The rest you can easily get through playing. And nothing in the game other than skins and other cosmetics is gated behind a paywall, meaning that your stats can be maxed without paying. This fact alone makes it better than 99% of every other mobile game. Also unite is primarily a nintendo switch game, thus also not fitting into the trope of 'mobile' game as much as many others. Its just a bad example for the point he is trying to make.
I'm glad you are bringing awareness to this. The mobile game industry needs to be regulated for gambling.
The mobile game market has spread to many AAA titles and it's annoying. I'm extremely grateful for so many games I can play that do not have this mess and never will. Future mods that fix multiplayer games SBMM and added problems.
This isn’t gambling
@@epicawesomeguy3491 buying something for an expensive price and getting an unguaranteed result is not gambling? nice logic you got right there buddy
@Shmarky yes, its shows you, but that doesn't guarantee the outcome, lotteries are pretty much like that, you know what can go out but it won't guarantee that thing will come out
@Shmarky You clearly didn't watch the video. The whole thing is set up to lure you into thinking you're getting a guaranteed result, but you're really just gambling.
You have no idea how absolutely anxiety inducing this video is.
I have always played mobile games and I was hooked to some but I never spent money but I always yearned for some satisfaction some these games give.
me too
In the end video games, or whatever else like money, drugs, over indulgence on food, etcetera will never satisfy, we will always want more, which is a sign that our heart can never be fully filled and satisfied on this earth because only Jesus can fill that God-sized hole in our heart that we all long to be filled. We are meant to be with God in heaven, not be here attached to a million things here on earth. However, we have to choose God, which requires daily repentance, discipline and self denial, otherwise we will just continue to sin.
Polytopia is the best example of in-app purchases done right. The only purchases are for playable tribes beyond the four default ones. Once you buy the tribe, you can play as that tribe. And that's it.
When I was younger I got heavily addicted to in-app purchases. Until I counted up how much I actually spent... This was super helpful!
How much ?
Your parent's gave you money to spend? Or you made money yourself?
@@Abu_TuesdayI’m guessing she had Apple Pay or something and she bought stuff using parents money connected to Apple Pay without knowing it was real money
@@orkhepaj he spent 10000000000000000000$
I really wanted to get Minecraft on my phone years ago, but I realized that you have to be a banking expert to purchase this as you have to know the method of spending real digital money...
“And no matter how much money I paid, I still kept losing!”
Wow, it’s almost like you can’t pay to win Unite…
yeah, honestly he's being sarcastic here. also the footages of him playing unite were all feeds (him vs a ninetails >2-3 levels higher or him vs 2-3 opponent pokemons)
@@omarchesabangan7977 how is he being sarcastic? What point would that serve his argument for this vid?
How is he being sarcastic?
He simply disproved his entire video with this one statement.
Yes, the examples shown in the video are feeds, but that doesn’t imply sarcasm to the viewer. More so he’s trying to misinform others about Unite by showing only bad plays that he made.
@@LocalHobo631 arun is intentionally trolling or feeding in unite. He lose on purpose just to get his point however there many players reach masters 1600 points without any items nor emblems. Its call "skill gap"
This is pure INSANITY! Thank you Arun, for bringing a better light onto this issue. I hope one day we can all go back to just enjoying video games and not having to pay money to be better.
Ah the good old days 😔
In order to have that we must not play games that are money grabbing and manipulating you , that look like a game but theyr just to get your cash !
This is why i play games on steam pc and actual consoles. If i play mobile games its usually a mobile port of an indie pc game OR it's a game with non intrusive ads where i choose when to view it and i can progress without watching any (Vampire Survivors for example).
😂😂😂😂
You are missing out kid
I think the points made are real and important, but the Unite example isn't the best one. Unite is very F2P friendly, handing out a lot of things for new playes to start at a similar item level to other players. Another game you could have covered that would have made more sense imo is Genshin Impact. A lot of the points made can easily be translated to Genshin, and a lot more people spend a lot more money in it.
Overall, great video topic, it's important that people know that most free games are designed to make you spend.
Edit : to rephrase a little more, the point of this comment was to say that Genshin Impact is a better and more pertinent example as to how a game makes you spend since it has made an insane amount of money for a free game.
Yep. Genshin is a better example....unfortunately to say.
I don’t know about that, money on Genshin can only buy you characters, and a well built 4* can easily be better than a poorly built 5*. I’ve been f2p since I started two years ago, and my account is way better than a lot of paying accounts.
@@maelysearl-sur4777 It's true that you can play Genshin Impact as a f2p, but my point is that Genshin Impact is a much better topic when talking about a free game designed to make as much money as possible
@@finiraelkhami8251 They spent 100 million to make the game, and spend 200 million a year on maintaining it. How much do you think this pokemon game cost to make and maintain?
@@finiraelkhami8251 I don’t think it is desinged to make people spend money, there’s no pop-ups, limited time deals and stuff like that. Some of the better characters and equipment is free (Bennett > Qiqi, the catch > Vortex Vainquisher, thrilling tales > everlasting moonglow) and I’ve not ever been pushed to pay, at least not by the game.
Looks like all that work out is paying out. A channel this big need balls to speak up. You've said everything I wanted to tell the world. More power to you bro 💪
@Jack Wrath what's this dumb comment?
@Jack Wrath oh no you said cry about it what am i gonna do? (Obviously report you)
@Jack Wrath thats why you're in his comment section
Problem is he went after the wrong target. You can easily progress fast and be very competitive for free in Pokemon Unite, and what made it worse is he was trying to progress with one of the worst characters in the game - Charizard, whose early game Charmander and Charmeleon are trash.
@@darthraider450 I think you're focusing on the wrong aspect of the video. The practices Arun talks about are all over the game industry, it's a common business model. He just used some games as examples, and he didn't say it was a practice specific to pokemon unite. Also, even if you can progress in the game for free, it doesn't change the fact that they employ all these tactics to subconsciously manipulate people.
11:39 an incredibly huge amount of games make you first compete against bots, so they are easy to defeat. and when you reach a specific point, you suddenly play against real players who are much better than bots, and this can make you feel like you got worse, but only your enemies are getting stronger. (like Stumble guys)
Wait till this guy plays Clash Royale
Whats more depressing is the fact that genuine mobile games made with passion such as Angry Birds, Stardew Valley, and Jetpack Joyride no longer exist and get overshadowed by games that guilt trip you into spending tons of money. I'm glad lucky patcher and modded games exist. That should teach those money hungry companies a lesson
Edit: I didn't say Angry Birds is different now. I'm saying that mobile games are different now. You can't really find games like Angry Birds anymore. Just look at Rise of Kingdoms and other misleading games. They force you to spend money to progress
Edit2: I apologise for mispelling Jetpack Joyride as Jetpack Royale. It has been fixed now
@Marek Krajčovič i think they're aware that the games are still up, they're just saying that there aren't many mobile game developers nowadays that genuinely make games for people to just have fun with, and instead are mostly just money-hungry people and sometimes companies
Angry birds is not different right now
It isn't what it used to be
@Marek Krajčovič yea it's jetpack joyride and yea it is still running
I played pubg few years ago and it was really a good game
I mean, how are the employees behind the companies supposed to earn money if everything in their game is free
Thanks for covering this, this is getting so outta hand right now. Gaming is now just another way of looting people by their own will
@bluehawk56 wtf, why?
@bluehawk56 i love gaming and it's a huge part of my life, I used to think of it as a distraction but now I'm starting to see it as it is. Something i enjoy and something i live for. Basically don't try to escape life try to find things to live for
Please don't use the word gaming the way u are, it feels like u are lumping every single game together when it simply isnt true
@bluehawk56 no, why?
At first I thought most of these points were obvious because it's always been intuitive to me that you can't have much fun in these games without paying a ton of money and that's why I've always felt discouraged in investing my time in these games, even though I tried to play and enjoy them. But you explained all the tricks that these developers use very well and I realised that most of the people will fall for them easily. Good video!
He actually misunderstood every system he talked about, and had no idea what anything he spent money on actually did, or how the fundamental game works.
What he said is true for other free-to-play games, but Pokemon Unite doesn't reward spending money with anything other than skins to make your characters look cooler. Everything he spent money on is extremely easy to get for free, just by playing the game for more than 10 minutes.
@@Gatchu137 bruh what do you work for Pokémon lol. The games a total scam like he showed us.
@@jordanyeet5347 He actually lied to you about A LOT of the stuff he talked about, and if you actually want me to point it all out, I'd love to.
The game uses these mobile game strategies to get you to buy skins. That's it. If you simply don't care about cosmetics, there's nothing stopping you from playing the game for free, without any real disadvantage.
@@Gatchu137 yea sure pokemon dev go away shush
@@Gatchu137 Exactly, even a lot of global ranked players don't spend money
"Cawl ouf Dewtee" is one damn good example of "trying to bankrupt you dry"
There are definitely mobile games out there that are p2w, but Pokémon Unite isn't one of them. Certainly you can spend money to get new Pokémon, but you can also farm the coins to aquire them as a f2p. Most people spend money on the cosmetics which has no bearing on the stats of the Pokémon.
Buying new Pokémon or those cosmetics also have no impact on the gameplay. That is entirely skill-based and tries strongly on your team (if were all working together, etc).
I'm F2P and if I do spend money, it's just gonna be for the Unite Membership, some cosmetics and/or some Pokémon... and that's if I choose to.
Even if I don't choose to, I don't feel like I'm behind other players (unlike other mobile games) and it's nice.
He's not saying Pokémon unite is P2W but P2P, pay to progress, again his take on the game is from the perspective of a newbie player, hence exactly the perfect target for the developer and their monetisation system, experienced F2P obviously won't fall for it and ofc the game isn't blatantly unfair, it still matches you with bots occasionally, but getting into the competitive leagues is very very difficult for F2P, as someone with almost 10 years of experience with gacha, nothing he said in the video is wrong about the monetisation nor the tactics used
@@Hhhh22222-w I'm Veteran rank working my way to Ultra, and I didn't spend any money to get there. It's not p2w or 'pay to progress'.
It's a switch/mobile game that has p2w aspects, sure, but a new player or f2p player can get to the same spot as an experienced player without opening their wallet. It just requires skill (I.e. knowing your Pokémon and what it can and can't do) and decent teammates.
And yes, it will be a bit slow in upgrading your held items if you're full f2p (as it is for me), but again... I'm at Veteran rank working my way to Ultra. So I'm progressing fine.
@@Hhhh22222-w that’s the thing. Unite was a bad example because it is not P2W or P2P at all. It is a MOBA. It is all about skill, you get three lvl 30 items for free, and if you choose the correct ones, that can be the best three for almost half the roster. You have to play to progress, not pay. As evidenced by his own experience... he payed a ton, equipped the wrong items for his chosen character, is honestly just bad at the game and got trounced by better players who likely didn’t spend a dime. I could start a fresh account right now and get to masters within a week spending nothing on the game.
@@Hhhh22222-w ye but even while being F2P, I reached the highest rank of the game every season without ever feeling behind of anyone.
@@Hhhh22222-w your 10 years of gacha should show you how wrong his take it but either you're lying about your experience or you've learned absolutely nothing from it. The only ones who pay to progress are ones who will never be good enough and are desperate for success.
This is a big thing that needs to change. I’m very glad you’re shining a spotlight on it.
I just want to say that I have got into Master Rank in Pokémon Unite without spending a single dollar ever, not even on skins. I don't think that it's pay to win as it's showed in this video, they usually gift A LOT of Licenses and items to enchance Items to lvl 30 for free. Lately they have been letting you get new Pokémon without paying but by making daily missions. Also, the weekly coin limit is really high, specially compared with other free mobile games, so you can get a lot of skins and items just by playing.
I do hate that they try to push you that much into buying stuff, though, but that's just 21th century consumism.
Ya he got it wrong here.
I’m with u. I’m an 1800 master player and have all my items all over lvl 20 and almost all licenses w/o spending money. This game is very generous and I know that cuz I used to play mobile legends (another f2p mobile moba) and I had less than half the charters and couldn’t keep up with new charter releases.
Why isn't this the top comment, it shows a message that f2p is the right way to play the game
THANK YOU this video made me so mad because he did not know what he was doing in the games and frivolously spending his money for pointless things
Because they are lying
Although u need to spend money for cp on call of duty mobile, the on thing u didn't know is that u only need to buy it once because once u complete the battle pass which is 50 levels and isn't hard, u get back enough cp to buy the next battle pass. U just have to buy it once and make sure u complete it. Sure the is still p2w
Finally, a TH-camr who doesn't sell out and doesn't shill for these scumbags
Um did u watch the last 2 minutes bro😂
@@hunnymanocha being sponsored by phone cases is different than being sponsored by (essentially) casinos masquerading as innocuous games
@@hunnymanocha That's sponsorship and what he was promoting was a legit useful product
Yeah, what a shame that he didnt actually do any research into the main game he talked about. He just pick and chose the bad bits.
Skill? I just run into enemies and die! That means I need to buy items.
Literally shown in the video...
@@Shikafau no this guy is fr, your still being controlled by the game devs
the level 30 held items isn't a limited time thing and is accessible to all players and is permanent and it has been in the game since the day that the game came to mobile
Unite is not pay to win. It is monetized. The issue is matchmaking and how little people are punished for trolling/AFKing. I’ve had similar matches where we turned around being down into wins but then same situation have players rage quit and AFK. There’s also issues with game not telling you effective strategies to winning and solo que is much worse than running with friends where you can chat on a discord call and coordinate better.
That's not the biggest issue. Not that many people troll.
The main issue is that you get paired up with people who are clearly total noobs and have no idea how to play the game, even when you're already high level master. That's the part I hate
And the thing I hate the most is the fact that you get instantly muted for hours and then days at a time just because someone reported you. You might not have said anything bad at all. It's just because THEY decided to report you, that you instantly get punished with no verification at all. The game just believes them. That's really bad
this is true... its often matchmaking goes so bad, afk and troll player
So the items that you can buy don't give any buffs in the match? because that would then be pay to win. Skins and cosmetics that don't effect game play is monetisation i.e. league of legends
@@ZuperElectro you don't need to spend real money to buy/upgrade the items, hell they even give out free items when you're leveling up
yadayada the game is p2w wether u like it or not.
There’s a reason my mom taught me to never pay in games but rather on actual valuable stuff
Same here