While it may seem surprising, freemium games are often the most profitable , and unsurprisingly, once this fact was discovered, more and more developers opted for this model for their applications. However, the popularity of the freemium format is far from controversy , to the point that the British government has decided to investigate whether games operating under this model are engaging in unfair practices with consumers.
There's no doubt that free apps are the most popular with users, but it's often not so clear what developers do to profit from them. Many times, the reason is obvious: the trick is simply to place ads on our screens. However, sometimes there are more sinister practices. As we mentioned, for example, a study showed that up to a third of free Android apps sell our data to third parties . Other times, the profit is obtained, seemingly just as easily, from in-app purchases —that is, options that allow us to enhance our user experience through micro-payments. But even in this case, things don't seem as transparent as they should be.
A few weeks ago, the news that a five-year-old boy had spent €2.000 on in-app purchases for an iPad game made headlines across the tech media, highlighting the problem that freemium game models pose for users, or more specifically, the problem they pose for parents. Although methods exist to help us control these situations , and Apple , the company involved in this case, quickly reacted by adding explicit warnings when an app offers this type of in-app purchase , the news generated a significant controversy that seems unlikely to be resolved.
In view of this situation, the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) of the United Kingdom, the body in charge of regulating competition and monitoring compliance with commercial regulations, has announced that it will investigate this type of games to ensure that there are no " direct exhortations to children ”to make purchases. Although they have made it clear that in no case is it a question of banning the model, taking forceful action is not ruled out in case of not reaching an agreement with the industry. At the moment, in any case, the matter is simply under investigation, and we will have to wait to see if similar procedures are followed in other countries.
Source: Android Community.