How mobile games are designed to SCAM you. 

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!

Normally when a game bombards me/spams me with in app purchases, I just uninstall the game.

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.

that is why i only play chess

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 💀

I already knew this, but when I was a child I was playing a game on my fathers mobile, I saw all the offers in the shop and all the great rewards, and i realized that my dad probably has money on his phone, so I bought 2 of the offers. When my dad came back home, he wasn't mad, instead he taught me about what this video is teaching. I've never spent money on any in-game purchases since.

This makes a whole lot of sense. Although for Pokémon Unite I was able to climb to the highest rank in the game within just a month of playing. I'm not entirely sure if it was just luck or the bad matchmaking in the game that helped me but I never felt the urge to make any purchases in this game.

Remember that crawling machine that we always wanted to get a plushie and then we realize it's always been rigged

I miss when you could just buy a game, enjoy a good story, and that was it

This moment, when you don't play the game, but the game plays you.

Someone tell this man about gacha games

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!*

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.

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

bro just removed his chance of any game companies wanting him to sponsor their game

Man, this is an awesomely detailed explanation of how FTP mobile games work. Alot of what you say clicked heavily with me when I've fallen pray of these practices. Great vid, thank you.

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.

I'm guessing Arun isn't sponsored by Raid Shadowlegends.

Me with no money : YOUR POWER IS USELESS AGAINST ME FOOL

People don't even understand, that by Arun JUST sharing that snippet of the workshop on the "first-spend" is such a flex. The info that is being shared here is a literal 'life-easter-egg' .

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.

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.

Tip: DO NOT SPAM THE BASIC ATTACK ESPECIALLY WITH CHARIZARD JUST HOLD

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.

What I've noticed is once you identify the manipulative techniques being used you start to see them everywhere not just in gaming.

Amazing, did not expect to see a video like this on the channel. Great work

When I tried Pokémon Unite, I thought it was all bots because I never lost a match. However I also spent no money, maybe spending money triggers something now they know you're willing? Or maybe just poor matchmaking, I have no idea.

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.

As someone who foolishly spent money in genshin impact, I felt this on a spiritual level.

Bro, I never spent a single currency on pokemon unite, and I just grinded. Now my Venusaur is carrying me through the ranks. You don't need grade 30 on held items, just 20 and they are OP.

In these games, I try and think about ways to win with the least amount of money. Then it hit me, the only way to win is not to play.

that's how a tech channel should be,not just mobiles and laptops

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.

Pokémon Unite wasn’t that bad. I didn’t spend a single cent and still won fairly many games with venesaur

This entire video can be summed up with these two quotes: "Pokemon Unite is pay to win." and "No matter how much money I spent, I kept losing." Sounds contradictory if you ask me ;) (Perhaps the real issue which has not been considered is.... is it possible that you are simply bad at the game?)

Bruh, as a pokémon Unite player I reach Master 1600 without spending irl money, I can say you don't need to pay some irl money to win the game, they even give you special item that can max out held item level even you not paying anything.

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)

I don't spend money on games because I don't have them, I am broke.

Funny that genshin impact got mentioned, since this game actually playable completely for free. You can even beat hardest content without spending a dime. The only pay in genshin happen when you want a character but you didn’t save currency. .

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.

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

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

“And no matter how much money I paid, I still kept losing!” Wow, it’s almost like you can’t pay to win Unite…

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.

Thanks for yet once going down the rabbit hole for all of us! Great overview and analysis! 🙏

As a paying player in mobile games, I believe only getting the best value pack is the best way to control your urge to spend more and more (I learned that the hard way even if at the first purchase I only thought of supporting the developers). Playing once in a while (control of game time) will also "detach" your sights a little bit from the tunnel vision of "pay to get good" from the game. Having F2P friends will also help, especially if they're also in your irl circle. I personally still spend some money on best value packs in games but mostly on prime times (big updates prep and post, specific character prep, etc.) and not otherwise. These "f2p" games are quite dependent on p2w players to go on and keep up the servers, so the hierarchy of players from f2p to p2w is actually like irl situation.

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

The fact that these games are still legal astounds me.

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.

"760 dollars just for max enhance!?" People who pay 1000 dollars just for a PNG waifu: "that's cheap!"

Now people will know why most of PC, console games have a price, the devs of these games don't do scams.

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...

Let me make this clear, It isn’t hard to get item enhancers, in fact they kind of chuck em at you and super item enhancers bring your items instantly to level 30(btw, you get those for free just by playing). I’ve spent 0$ on this game and have every item at level 30, so there is NO NEED TO BUY ANYTHING. Plus, items are useful but they won’t actually completely change your chances of winning. Your probably just bad at the game (which is fine)

I am a counselor with a rehabilitation centre and I really love the way you've correlated this topic with drug addiction. Kudos for the great work.

I would not personally call this a scam. It’s a kind of tricky marketing strategy that forces players or users to purchase things they don’t need. And in some mobile games the game always gets harder when you don’t purchase in game items and when you buy them the other levels get even harder

‘Preying on Addiction’ is a very accurate and disturbing term.

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!

As online gamer since 2000, i understand this trap from the beginning in game market, thats why i never spend single penny for buying item, i play games because i want to enjoy my free time, and not being competitive (i already need to be competitive in real life). if f2p getting harder levelling, you just switch to other game. The game eventually will end when there is no whales left (except for skill oriented games like CS), and dev will make another version. Thx for Arun, who spend his valuable time to explain this better than anyone else.

I beat online levels with pikachu, not like charizard. And the game throws so many item enhancers at you, I don't even know what to do with them.

This makes me scared for what company’s could do by deploying tactics like this in the meta verse

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.

No money required to play. You just have the money to spend without the patience of learning how to play.

I can definitely agree. I’ve been really hooked on to Clash Royale. But then as soon as I got into higher arenas, the more difficult it came to win. I was also always tempted by the shop selling amazing deals. The game was really fun as first in the first few arenas. Another thing to talk about is the game’s matchmaking. Sometimes the game matches you with players with higher trophies than you, in which they completely trash me by spamming all their cards. And sometimes the game match makes me to an easier opponent which I find easy to win. Overall, Clash Royale is addictive in terms of its very friendly beginning.

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.

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

Honestly I’ve been playing unite since it’s release haven’t spent a cent and I haven’t faced any of the problems you said tbh I had no trouble grinding and upgrading and i have hit high ranks if you put in a little more time you never need to pay

I'm going to be honest. This reward factor never works on me.

It would have been hilarious if in the middle of this video, "But first, thanks to this videos sponsor, RAID Shadow Legends!" 🤣

This is hands down the best video on RU-vid!!! I am so guilty of spending money on mobile games and now I feel so dumb…. Never again not more dime. And honestly these people need to be stopped. How about we find the name and addresses of these people that make these games and go pay them a visit. Just saying I’m mad as hell

After seeing this I uninstalled all my mobile games and realized I should buy a gaming console

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

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!

This is one of the best videos I've seen thanks for the wisdom shared I'm sure a lot of people will find this video super helpful !

Even if the game is free or expensive it still has expensive add ons

To be honest, this is the only reason why the huge companies are beginning to make mobile versions of their games.

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

Brilliant content! Thank you 😮

I'm planning to develop a game, but with no ads, and purchases, because it's just pointless having purchases, and ads always interrupt, especially the horrible made games. I have always being trolled for a long time, and doing this method of you purchase, feel good, feel bad, and repeat is just a terrible trick...😞

It was nice knowing you Arun, the gaming companies are already sending hitmen on your location for speaking truth

He's been killing it recently with these videos and going right for the throat of companies BS and issues, respect to that

You just did a huge service to the people who watch this video….after watching this im going to skip call of duty this year. I don’t play much but just on MW2 over the past year with the battle pass I never complete and from buying those addictive custom weapons or having an advantage in DMZ I spent about 600$….I know myself and if I buy MW3 I’m going to get the $100 one and then I don’t trust myself when I log in to play to not make an impulse buy which averages 20$ a pop.

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.

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.

this is so true I played a game called Brawl Stars in 4 years of playing I spent 500 dollars which all of them happened several months after making my first purchase. It’s crazy how games manipulate you into doing so

as a call of duty free mobile player its super easy to not fall for it,ignore it and play happily not spending a single penny

This entire video is the embodiment of “Tell me you never played a moba before without actually telling me you haven’t played a moba before”

I've been playing mobile games for 7 years now and I've spent a grand total of $0. I refuse to fall into these traps they set up and for the foreseeable future I will be continuing that trend

I'm glad you are bringing awareness to this. The mobile game industry needs to be regulated for gambling.

one of the few perks of having Asperger's: not falling for any corporate marketing strategies

Solid rule of thumb, if it’s PVP and you can pay to be stronger, run

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.

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.

Happy to see you talking about the pay to win problem in free games and games with Micro transactions in games(especially free games) where they try to make you from a gamer who play to a customer who will pay for the game. This problem is so bad that kids play them and in regular fact get addicted and start to spend money from their parents without the parents knowing that. This is why I prefer single player games.

There should be international laws regarding this BS.

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 RU-vidrs 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.

Power to you for exposing this insidious industry, unlike most RU-vidrs who seem to be happy to just take the Raid Shadow Legends advertorial money.

I feel like even banks are going with this strategy of you not knowing what you actually pay for stuff. Because they have introduced the 'code-less - wifi' payment method. Now nobody looks at the screen anymore at what they are actually paying and therefore are losing the ability to know what something actually costs and is worth.

Netease was the first company to bring these type of paid to play concept on all of their games

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.