Many gamers have probably bought the odd item via microtransactions, while there are just as many who steer clear of any and all forms of microtransactions. The free-to-play mobile market is filled with games that gate and the only way to open that gate is to spend money or wait for a long period of time. Well, it looks like one gamer has taken the cake and ate it too, having spent over R2.2 million on microtransactions in a game called Transformers: Earth Wars.
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This news comes from a report by Kotaku, who attended a Game Connect Asia-Pacific conference in Australia. At the event, Henry Fong, the CEO of mobile game developer and publisher Yodo1, spoke about free-to-play games and how developers needed to consider the monetization process even from the design stage.
Fong talked about “whales” also known as big spenders and that most of them would spend a few hundred dollars. However, he mentioned that one player has spent over 220,000 Australian Dollar, which translates to over R2.2 million.
After the talk, Kotaku’s Alex Walker asked Fong to clarify if the number was just a projection of the highest mobile spender. Fong, shockingly, confirmed that one player actually spent that amount of money on Transformers: Earth Wars.
Things get even scarier if you can believe it. Apparently, Yodo1 created a machine-learning AI that analyses player behaviour and more to predict which players will become high spenders with 87% accuracy. Keep in mind that this isn’t necessarily implemented in their games but the example from Fong is rather to talk about the gaming industry and potential monetization of free-to-play games. It is still quite scary though and one has to wonder if other big developers and publishers could already have such a system implemented.
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What do you think about the news that someone spent so much money on microtransactions in a free-to-play game? Let us know in the comment section below and check out the Transformers: Earth Wars trailer then tell yourself someone spent over R2.2 million on this game.
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