The Daily Show Investigates Freemium Mobile Games
December 09, 2011
If you want to score a big profitable success on the iPhone and iPad App Store, then you should make your game a free download, but charge money for microtransaction credits that unlock better in-game items and knick-knacks. Then you offer a bundle of credits sold in bulk for an absurd price. These freemium apps are often played by children who authorize expensive purchases on their inattentive parents' credit cards. It's becoming more and more common to hear about a parent who handed a supposedly free game over to the kids only for the kids to rack up hundreds or even thousands of dollars in add-on purchase fees. The Daily Show investigates these poor excuses for legitimate games and brings one frustrated father's complaints straight to the people behind the Tapfish freemium aquarium. It's worth watching just to see the people responsible squirm uncomfortably.