The Evil Secrets Behind Free to Play Games

[@MentalCheckpoint]

Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS/ANDROID/PC: clcr.me/MentalCheckpoint and get a special starter pack 💥 Available only for the next 30 days

[@tobesxd]

ironic..

[@nietniet6684]

Is this not irony?

[@Lean42]

what

[@NashoZumann]

I'm sorry, but i find it very hypocritical of you to accept a sponsor of a mobile game filled with micro-transactions within a video about predatory mobile game marketing. I thought the sponsor segment was satire too.

[@ZelturLive]

bro are you kidding

[@Psyan]

"The mobile games industry is inherently toxic and just wants you to give them your money. This message is sponsored by Raid Shadow Legends"

[@HillWilly0]

Thats the joke of that advert, since they seem to not even bother to check the content around which thier products are promoted

[@Teryte]

So true

[@mateuszstoduka3655]

ironic

[@yis8fire]

I saw it now and instantly search for this comment 🤣

[@danielfinan10]

@@yis8fire I almost thought the raid sponsor was a joke. . .

[@F4biano]

I think it's comical how he is exposing the unethical ways mobile games make money and then there is the Raid Shadow Legends sponsorship, a game that does very similar stuff to what he's exposing in the video

[@EZOnTheEyes]

I'm now convinced it was an intentional spite to the company. Well played lmao

[@thebyzocker]

the fact that he gave this comment a heart just makes it even more funny

[@jackdiedtoday_]

i like how he liked the comment LMAO

[@Elioc-ed6wr]

That whole time I was like "there's no way this isn't a joke"

[@oddsandendsrule]

@@EZOnTheEyes He is going through and liking every comment that mentions how he's doing this to spite Raid. Obviously he can't take the money and say "haha this game is shit", this is about as close as he can get.

[@AllExistence]

It's funny how Valve created both the best games and worst game practices.

[@eleocraft278]

Yea, but in recent years they made up for it with things like the steam deck or more prominently - Steam

[@Ndsbot]

It was all pretty fun and great when it was new, now we see these everywhere and how morally questionable they have become. Also let's not forget that these systems came included with Trade/Crafting to get better items.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

*created the best games yet also _popularized_ the worst game practices.

[@Garfieldcfc]

@@ultimaxkom8728 ehhh, TF2 was the first to do loot boxes, but Overwatch is what made em' explode. Same with the battle pass; Dota started it, but Fortnite popularized it.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

@@Garfieldcfc While it's true that Dota is the first to create Battle Pass, _as far as I know,_ TF2 is _not_ the first to do lootboxes. In fact, the first and early video games lootboxes appeared between 2004 to 2007, while TF2 added lootboxes in _2010._

[@StriderStryker]

Getting sponsored by a mobile game while dissecting the despicable acts of gaming industry is definitely a 4D chess move.

[@Sucullentbutter]

"ah yes let me talk shit about p2w mobile games while being sponsored by a p2w mobile" Edit: yes i understood the joke.

[@bl4ckk]

@Kim Chia bro what 😭 you can gem your way to be able to win clan wars and such

[@prav2568]

@Kim Chia og player like many here. After th 8, it's pay to progress ✌️

[@CptnChkn]

2:15 *talks about how addictive the pvp is*

[@lukemorgan6166]

Its called being a hypocrite but fanboys will fanboy

[@doublesoul862]

The raid sponsorship is absolutely hilarious, it's such a kick to the nuts of the devs

[@MtOwlest]

yup

[@rayjames9662]

Yes

[@chaydanmorgan917]

I was waiting for him to say "just kidding guys" but no.😐

[@insertpng6289]

@@chaydanmorgan917 “just kidding” kinda ruins a joke, but some half a frame saying that it’s satire

[@chaydanmorgan917]

@@insertpng6289 but I don't think there was one tho

[@telnobynoyator_6183]

HE TURNED THE RAID SHADOW LEDGENDS SPONSOR INTO ACTUAL CONTENT This is genius. He managed to get the sponsorship money while driving people AWAY from the game

[@liammclin5722]

Modern day Robin Hood

[@tryoxiss]

Raid's not happy about that :PP

[@TheAmazingCowpig]

I can't even, it makes this whole video absolutely hilarious. I watched through the entire ad section because having it in the context of this video is just too funny.

[@GaraxyAurora]

notice that in the sponsorship he never actually said anything good about the game. He especially did not say it is good.

[@TREX_04]

@@TheAmazingCowpig I was just too confused to skip because I didn't even know whether it was satire or an actual sponsorship XD

[@ogpandamonium]

"I'm going to shine a light on these predatory schemes and the companies behind them... This video is sponsored by Raid Shadow Legends" I woke up my family laughing at this.

[@shawbag11]

I mean i think its fitting if you gonna do a video about slagging off free to play games you might as well try and take some money of the biggest offender XD not like they dont have the cash to spare anyway

[@JoseChidoReal]

funny sponsor

[@personman2346]

SEe tHE jOkE iS He CAlLED EveryTHInG RAiD DoES

[@ogpandamonium]

@@personman2346 yes

[@devonbennett6559]

Promoted and shat on Raid at the same time

[@DoctorBleach1]

Man, this reminds me so much of PixelGun3D, back in the days of being 9 year of grade 3 iPad kid. this was one of my favorite games ever. It's controls were so smooth, very easy to play with friends and a vibrant competitive aspect that I've never seen replicated. I became addicted to the game, going for a "doctor" themed character, using only support and healing weapons for other players. I played all of the time with my friends, we made a clan that I owned, and I had so much fun using my support loadout on them. My main gun was the Good doctor, an unpopular gun with very slow but infinitely piercing bullets, which gave a poison-like bleeding effect that killed enemies over time, and healed allies if you shot them. it was called one of the worst guns ever, and as a 9 year old kid, I just used it for my doctor aesthetic I went for and it's healing abilities. however, once I got used to it, I was unstoppable with it, mowing down enemies left and right. I started to get really good at the game. I was especially skilled at landing headshots, which dealt double damage, having a ludicrous 85% headshot percentage for kills. I still remember playing a 3v3 first to 4 wins match with my friends, where it was 3-3 and I won it by landing a triple headshot kill on my first shot. we all thought it was the coolest thing ever and didn't stop talking about it for days. I quickly advanced up it's league system, to the very top: Adamant league. Then, I hit the pay to win leagues. The guns that these guys were using were just blatantly stupid. most of them ranged between $50-$700, and a few even hit the 1k mark, and were just overpowered. I still remember one named the Engineering Exoskeleton, which costed a grand total of $430 dollars, which shot wallbreak lasers that killed in 3 seconds, gave you poison, had 0 reload time and lifesteal. These players were impossible to compete with. Something else I noticed was that as new updates came out, the good doctor and my other support weapons leveled down? I thought I was just being salty at first, but then noticed every update or two my guns would decrease in power and firing speed. It became apparent when I went through 3 magazines with my good doctor, the gun that could one-shot with headshots, without the guy even losing his armor? I tried finding other guns, and upgrading it with everything I could, but nothing worked. they were useless. This is all fine stuff, but now that I was such a high league, my friends were getting cued up with these guys, and my support loadout could do nothing against them. you could imagine my 9 year old sadness; I just wanted to play my favorite game with my mates, make this how they used to be, have fun talking to them about our past and future matches. I felt the pressure to make things be like they used to be. Then, on my birthday, I received a $40 app store gift card. This wasn't enough to buy any gun straight up; however, there was a one time roulette event for a support weapon that could compete with them. Homing shot, fast fire rate, healing, I had the opportunity to fix thing and have the same old times we had before! And so I spent it all, and didn't win it. it broke my little heart that I had wasted my birthday gift on something so useless, and I would never be able to make those good times come back. as a grade 3 kid, it hurt. If you want to buy a mobile game, pay the premium price for a better game. It'll mean so much more in the long run. Thank you for making this video!

[@DeadAccount53885]

Such a nice comment. I remember one of my friends telling me a similar story, about how this game is just all about spawnkilling with AOE weapons now.

[@MCWolf14]

I feel bad for you dude and can totally relate. This isn't what gaming was meant to be. Gaming was always supposed to be about fairness, competition, and most importantly having fun and playing with friends, but now it's all about money. Truly a shame.

[@vladimirlenin843]

I actually was able to get infinite gem when i was playing that game. Super great stuff

[@DroBoww]

@@DeadAccount53885Not at all, in fact most people dont use aoe weapons anymore. There is a new meta called 3 cat spam, basically you can switch between 3 different weapons and spam them very quickly. It is still p2w as always.

[@boboiboysolar4644]

man it must be hard for u, seriously nowadays i can't find any mobile games that feels entertaining , most of the games are trash and marketed targeting kids and they just suck, there is no unique concept and effort made, just micro transaction . back then in the good old days every game felt unique and entertaining , i just feel disappointed to open playstore because its filled with trash kids game which are inappropriate and ads spammer.

[@ChikunVA]

Seriously, THAT sponsorship on THIS specific video is a masterplan

[@R_BlackSlord]

Lol right?

[@sabikikasuko6636]

I LOVED the subtle detail of you explicitly saying, in the sponsor, all the things you then describe in the video. The challenge, the multiple currencies, the "don't miss out on it", the limited time offer, everything in the sponsor is in the video. I was actually mad at you for getting a RSL sponsor for this video, thinking it was the mother of all hypocrisies, but MAN I should've know better and actually watched the sponsor XDDD

[@barbietripping]

I could hear his soul leaving piece by piece as he read the ad script word by word

[@insert1]

By the way, you're already subscribed. Right?

[@kiyu3229]

@@insert1 why?

[@JmKrokY]

Bruh

[@aryanjoshi3342]

@@kiyu3229 this guy isn't a bot, listen to what he says at 23:30 very slowly

[@Mr.Coffee576]

1.Make a game extremely hard. 2. Sell a product that makes the game less hard. 3.Profit.

[@anon6000]

"Hard" makes it sound like it's skill based, and as the guy in the video mentions, making it skill based is a mistake. 1. Make a game extremely boring and slow. 2. Sell a product that makes the game less boring and slow. 3. Profit.

[@forsaken696]

@@anon6000 +2

[@Fakerulez707]

@@anon6000 Genshin Impact in a nutshell.

[@DarkBloodbane]

Hard may not be the correct word, I prefer to say it like this: 1. Make a game with problems 2. Sell the solution to those problems 3. Collect the profit Credit to Josh Strife Hayes for the terms.

[@-Asmae_]

@@Fakerulez707 genshin impact is a weird exception ,because I never seen a successful game that doesn't have pvp or either competing content as genshin, but the whales are still spending ton of money on characters while most of the game in nutshell is either sprital abyss (which does gives near to nothing gems ) or storyline . propably the secret is the way that mihoyo represent their characters or propably some psychologie tricks that make whales never be satisfied from the amount of characters they have .

[@TataOwO]

I once fell into these mobile games' traps when I was about 15. I wasn't earning money back then and spent around 1000$, all of which were my parents' money. But as I grew up I started to realize that the strategies that big companies use to make their players spend money are really f**ked. Thank you so much for making this video, and hopefully youtube algorithm will feature this video to everyone that people will start to realize how bad mobile games are.

[@BlkPhoenix1111]

It's not just bad how mobile games are it's even worse that console games have this garbage.

[@jonahabenhaim1223]

Only half of console games.

[@roberine7241]

@@BlkPhoenix1111 and it is creeping into PC games as well. just look at the shit big companies sometimes spit out.

[@A1stardan]

​@@roberine7241that's because companies see mobile games revenue and want to reproduce the same in pc. If anything stupid kids and whales are equally to blame as these companies are

[@colxn]

Dude the absolute balls of steel to talk about how toxic mobile games are and have a RAID SHADOW LEGENDS SPONSOR IS INSANE

[@alaslipknot]

the dude is just another youtuber doing anything possible to generate views and comments, he even ❤ your comments, fucken sad man lol

[@LlamaLogic]

An interesting thing has happened recently, Rovio the company known for making the Angry Birds games removed a ton of their classic games from the Play Store which made a lot of people mad, even though all the games they took down had these predatory practices and would make them lose a lot of money. After this happened nothing happened for a while till one day they finally re-released the original Angry Birds, but this time it was different, they re-released Angry Birds at the price of $0.99. This might seem bad at first, but this re-release removed all micro transactions and delivered a classic Angry Birds experience. Now from a financial standpoint point, I can't understand why they would do this, sure there's a lot of theories you could make, but bottom line was, they could of kept the microtransaction filled Angry Birds they were using until now and be raking in tons of cash, but they didn't. In fact they fully removed it and replaced it with something that will only ever make them 99 cents once. This is quite mind blowing as the simplest explanation seems that, they saw the monster they created and realized this was the image of Angry Birds generations were growing up with now, this microtransaction filled monstrosity. So they did what was the best thing they thought to do, they remastered the original, clean of microtransactions to deliver the experience so many generations previously came to love. Now, maybe one day they'll bring back the free version with all the microtransactions, but I don't think so, I think this new mindset Rovio gained is here to stay, and it all started when they removed all those games, those games were beloved, but not by the state they turned into. All those games are still gone, officially not able to be played, but seeing what they did with the original Angry Birds, I don't have a doubt in my mind that them removing all those beloved games was the best thing Rovio has ever done, because I believe all of them will be back one day in their original beloved glory.

[@marcusorta714]

I enjoy your history lesson

[@Old_Hickory_Jackson]

I can only pray Rovio returns to their original tradition, but it's unlikely.

[@sertaki]

@@Old_Hickory_Jackson Why?

[@Old_Hickory_Jackson]

@@sertaki money

[@sertaki]

@@Old_Hickory_Jackson You prefer when companies rob vulnerable people?

[@exyl_sounds]

LMAOOOOOOO THE SPONSOR THIS MAN IS PLAYING 100 D CHESS

[@Pearoo]

nice logo

[@NicolasA346]

wow its the guy with a video that has 23m views imma like the comment yay i now contribute to the comment algorithm giving an advantage to verified users

[@unigodus1554]

@@NicolasA346 who hurt you?

[@potatoman6371]

Nice logo

[@polarized8150]

hold the fuck up is Mental Checkpoint saying the rsl sponsor is a joke

[@SlippyLegJones]

Ain't no way the Raid marketing team actually looked at this video and was like "yep, let's put our predatory game in a video calling out our predatory practices indirectly".

[@Vailskibum]

This might honestly be your best video yet. 90% of the modern mobile game market is absolute garbage and it feels like there's no way to fix it. I remember the classic iPod Touch era where no one had to deal with any of this. Good times 😔

[@obowashere4240]

I know right

[@BoopTheSynth]

this is why i love handhelds still like the ds. perfect good quality experiences and with an r4 you can have hundreds of them.i agree though the mobile game market needs to be hit with a massive lawsuit to even consider change

[@Rockastorm]

I used to watch your gravity falls videos when I was a kid!

[@pixelmaster98]

Clash of Clans, for example, was already around back in the iPod Touch era as well, though

[@idib4091]

you dont deserve that checkmark

[@macandfries6765]

Guys, he clearly was just stealing money from Raid with the sponsorship. Chances are Raid has asked him about a sponsor before, but he only accepted on this video so people wont download it but he gets money anyway.

[@ir-dan8524]

Haha, heart on the message. What a chad.

[@NBear50]

Yoooo i didnt even think about it. He is a genius

[@_-Lx-_]

Still, feels a bit inappropriate for the viewers sake.

[@Cruxin]

@@_-Lx-_ if viewers are supporting raid based on this video that's genuinely on them

[@gregottorry2994]

4d chess

[@PressRToZeus]

I gotta say, the balls of raid shadow legends to sponsor a video about the scummy practices of mobile games is actually pretty cool. I have some more respect for them if they're willing to do that

[@Dachusttin]

Yeah but... wasnt it weird that he accepted?

[@averagepeopleproductions7023]

Yes, he should have denied sponsorship like laserpig did with world of tanks

[@damir_van_kalaz]

The thing is, they do almost everything that's being called out in this video.

[@bachaddict]

@@Dachusttin I think the offer prompted him to make this video, not sure they knew what the video would be about 😂

[@Junee1]

To me it just looks like they don’t care

[@Marshall.R]

One game I would absolutely recommend is The Battle Cats. At first glance it seems like a typical gacha game that gets you hooked on using the in game currency to get super rare units, but it's done in a way that's extremely f2p friendly (all the best units in the game are either very common gacha units, or units you don't get from the gacha at all) with virtually no multiplayer interaction (stripping the game of its social pressure so you never have to worry about progressing the same way others do) and a rather unique core gameplay loop to boot. The early game is probably the most tedious part but once you get through the first few story mode chapters and the wider game opens up, you're in for a great time. (Also, if you *really* despise gacha mechanics you can just "cheat" and find your seed, tracking exactly what units you will get from rolling which gacha and when)

[@illdeletethismusic]

don"t support gacha it is inherently a gambling system, predatory monetization is inevitable with that genre existing. it needs to be killed off entirely

[@BigNazzer371]

Another battle cats fan?

[@Stigma536]

@@BigNazzer371 i used to play but stopped

[@RealSolerius]

the grindfest in tbc is a massive filter for me

[@BigNazzer371]

@@RealSolerius fair

[@festivite]

holy shit, I have not seen a more effective way to rip some one off, than to just let them give you money to shit on them for 25 minutes

[@JmKrokY]

Facts

[@Suricacto]

I can't help to think the people who are angry at him taking the sponsorship didn't watch the whole video, there's literally no possible way that someone who understood minimally what he said would even consider downloading it, it's genius

[@kaiotk]

i just find it funny cuz like 2 seconds ago he is like mobile games are unethical then he says this vedio is sponsored by raid idk how they let this happen but i find it funny

[@strawberrana]

HE HEARTED IT

[@memeulesrift6008]

It's still a little hypocritical, I mean they offer good $$ if you do it but I don't think this was the best type of video to sponsor raid on...I mean it's just too ironic to ignore

[@kaiotk]

@@memeulesrift6008 lets be real why would you care this a great yotuber providing quality videos that are well edited and very very informative let the man earn his money

[@boblobgobstopper13214]

@@memeulesrift6008 raid, a money-grabbing mobile game, paid mental checkpoint to make a video exposing money-grabbing mobile games. it's actually genius, he takes money from the sponsor and exposes them at the same time

[@sammylammy996]

Data Wing is one of the few examples of an actual "free" game. There are no microtransactions, and the gameplay is really fun for what it's supposed to be

[@BoopTheSynth]

isnt it such a perfect game i wish the dev made more like it

[@audiofox5104]

yes.

[@joper3338]

i was about to say this game, its really good

[@Lada333]

I just played data wing again a few days ago. Always re-visit it like once a year. Super nice game in every aspect. Not only are there no ads or microtransactions, but you literally cannot even go out of your way to donate to the dev :D

[@hochfamily8731]

Just played it and i agree, one of the best games i've played on mobile.

[@braydonfisher9273]

Any game made by the developer Yiotro. Every single one is an amazing piece of work. The graphical style is pristene and the gameplay loops are fun and engaging while being so simple. Most of his games are free, but for the ones that aren't there is always a demo version of the game with a medium sized level collection that gives you a taste of what the actual game is like. And if you like it, you spend $2.50 on the full version. It always comes with an extensive level list, daily levels, and an editor. The only ads are when he releases a new game, and you get exactly one popup when you open the game after the release and then never again for the game. Perfect. Love them. Ty.

[@Kristopian]

Yea, I personally did pay for all their games though, and tossed them a couple donations :P

[@Semtia_]

Growing up my parents hated spending money, especially on video games. Because of that f2p games were great since I didn't have to convince my parents to spend money in order to play them. Not being able to spend much money in those games definitely made me feel bad and probably made me more likely to spend money on them as an adult. For anyone who's parenting a young gamer make sure to buy them high quality games that treat them like a human being instead of treating them like content for the whales.

[@drx737]

i just pirated straight away

[@lsandsz]

@@drx737 xddd

[@tinytim7014]

Aptoid Was the best back in 2015 Prove me wrong

[@drx737]

@@tinytim7014 life saver

[@Kiyoliki]

Bro same

[@Sapphire_Eye]

A video about predatory mobile games, sponsored by a predatory mobile game. You absolute madman. What masterful use of pure irony to get the point across. What a legend.

[@Lexyvil]

The sad part is that it's hard to know why mobile games are bad before having played them long enough. Before I played my first mobile game, I thought I was really offered top quality games from the Play Store, until I realized many of them involved many types of currencies or time-based mechanics. I think my first experience with these types of games was Clash of Clans, where the more I played, the more waiting around I needed to do. This was bad for how reliant on time it was, especially to be competitive. It takes non-paying users a lot of time to rebuild an army to compete with users who pay. It made me understand why I kept seeing Nintendo's seal of quality on the many games I grew up with as a kid. Quality control should always be taken seriously.

[@somuchtocook9159]

I just couldn’t stay hooked on to those games due to my adhd

[@goldenegg7447]

I loved clash of clans but eventually it sucked because I had to wait 7 fucking days just to upgrade 1/7 of my gold farms which I have to wait a few hours to collect so I can upgrade 1/100 of my walls every other day. Constant offers to gem up or buy suck. Fuckin hated that game when I stopped playing because I don't want to wait another 8 days for 1/6 of my archer towers to level up once when I just spent 5 days waiting for gold to upgrade it.

[@mahmud7645]

Thats why I preferred Clash Royale and despite the pay-to-win mechanics the game started to shower players with reward mechanics later into its lifetime (around 2019ish). I never invested a single cent into the game and still compete without trouble

[@sparklecat60]

I personally feel like the App Store is like a giant landfill, if you’re brave enough to dive into the trash, you’re eventually going to find some gold (Genshin/Honkai Impact, Cookie Run Ovenbreak/Kingdom are some that come to mind)

[@goldenegg7447]

@@sparklecat60 may be full of gold, but most of the time when I click on a free app it instantly tells me to pay to use the app. It’s filled with lies and scams. I’m not sure finding the gold is worth sifting though that much trash.

[@NEKOplaysgamez]

Phigros is a really good rhythm game for those who are on a budget, it has 0 in app purchases and all content can only be unlocked from in game progression (or in older April fool's updates, changing your system date). It also has some of the best charts I've ever played in any rhythm game.

[@ConeCats.]

just wanted to comment Phigros! A thing to note is that mobile rhythm games are pretty expensive (arcaea drained me) and the fact that phigros manages to be on the same level as high quality RGs is just amazing. Your profile picture also begs me to state that instead of purchasing every Cytus II and DEEMO DLCs you can actually pay for the Google Play pass on android or even collect it as a bonus with Play points (depending on your region).

[@NEKOplaysgamez]

@@ConeCats. Too late lol, I alr paid for all the Cytus 2 dlc (up to the release of Hans) 💀 Haven't bought any dlc since tho other than the honeykill and the devil will pray black market packs.

[@pokesi3590]

Geometry Dash has to be one of the best games with this. You can get full access to everything for $5 (its a single dev working on the game) and no more payments.

[@sektabobru3424]

Yes dude exactly. This game slaps.

[@devonbennett6559]

One KZbinr said Geometry Dash has almost infinite content for the same price as a pack of gum.

[@ThatTwoPolishGuy]

Isn't it $2, rather than 5?

[@Steammoch]

@@ThatTwoPolishGuy I think you're right

[@faland0069]

@@ThatTwoPolishGuy yes thats true

[@JohnSmith-kc6ov]

Some games I like a lot: DATA WING (top down racing game kinda, really fun to control) Destination Sol (You're a spaceship in an open world, your goal is... to make money i guess? There's no end goal yet) Mindustry (A tower defense resource management game, a lot like factorio.) Those last two can be played on pc as well, and are open source!

[@ЛешаТитов-ю7с]

WOW dude! Those are my favourite games that I was just going to mention in my comment! (I genuinely love datawing for the plot part btw)

[@DeltaTitan]

These are some solid game suggestions. Thanks for mentioning them, I'm gonna go check them out

[@evexec07]

Yeah, I absolutely love Mindustry. I'll try Destination Sol.

[@BoopTheSynth]

FUCKIN LOVE DATA WING

[@thepowerisyetunknown7710]

Data wing pog

[@Awicz314]

I would recommend a cute free mobile game called "Bomb Club", which is a puzzle game about exploding bombs in a safest way. Nice story, many cool jokes, good graphics, not super easy puzzles, a lot of different mechanics. Only things you can spend money on are 4 tiny themed dlc's, each with their own mechanic, and not being connected to games main plot. Zero ads. None. I genuinely think that it's one of those games that is so good, that it shouldn't actually be free. Done 100%, no regrets.

[@BMVfilms]

I really enjoyed that one too. The music and levels were great. And no crazy ad spam

[@gerd5164]

Nice recommendation. Please like all the comments about good mobile games, because that was the point of the vid, RAID was only a joke on the side.

[@Khaim.m]

Okay, random person in comments, let's see if you're for real. Demo time! Edit: The store only has DLC packs, $1 each, so that checks out.

[@KennKuun]

I can vouch for this one. A genuinely great game that's monetized very fairly.

[@Minetendo0000]

Man I loved that game! The characters really grew onto me.

[@skeepodoop5197]

Man I miss the old days of apps being actually good. I'm tellin ya, everything went downhill after 2016. Probably one of my favorites has to be the old hill climb racing, and Drive Ahead; some of the best games I remember playing on my old Ipad.

[@14g0t7]

Drive ahead sucks now, giving health to drivers instead of dying in one hit. Makes the game a lot less fun

[@coyraig8332]

Remember Dragon Fly?

[@tljsucks1166]

First thing that came to my mind. They fucking gutted that game; it had such a unique concept and now it’s every other shitty mobile game

[@PhilTruthborne]

Having studied psychology in games and bussiness for years this has always been something i have wanted more people to know about, but the problem is that the emotional connection can be so strong that a lot of people _willingly_ give into the manipulation.

[@aaroncruz9181]

*Plays sad Yellow roses*

[@ItsAryax]

i feel pity for those players

[@feedelstick4670]

There is nothing wrong in establishing strategies for getting money out of a *free* to play game. The thing is that there has to be some balance.

[@N12015]

@@feedelstick4670 And is quite difficult to make those systems work. The best way would be to just make illegal to buy in-game currency, to force a honest monetization because there's where the main trick is present. As hated as they might be, Whales have rights to spend money on things he enjoy and are the reason you might be playing a game to begin with, but the ways of trying to make non-whales ones is disgusting.

[@toyuyn]

15:02 Building on the point of "you too can get lucky", messages of friends getting rare items skews your perception of the odds, even if the odds are published for you to see. Your friend might have opened 1000 crates just to get 1 rare item, but you only see the 1 success, and through survivorship bias, you'd be tricked into thinking rare items are a lot more common than they actually are. In fact, many (mobile) games go further than announcing to your friends and announce to the entire server that someone just got lucky. A real-world parallel would be people overestimating the frequency of airplane accidents because they are covered in the news, despite flights being statistically safer than driving.

[@devonbennett6559]

Yep. They just don't understand that they're covered like this because they're so rare and always a big deal.

[@dustuncoleman705]

But air planes typically mean zero survival rate why a car you can survive plus several different fear and phobias can be associated with planes. Too

[@devonbennett6559]

@@dustuncoleman705 I'd like to reply but I can't read this. Please use regular English and do not speak in alphabet soup.

[@deal2888]

@@devonbennett6559 i understood him despite gibberish being in the text

[@borisb327]

casino's use this trick to, when someone finaly hits the jackpot on some scam machine the casino employese will come with balloons and flowers like that person just won the lotery. Other players around might begin playing to

[@Ukroniac]

A bunch I recommend: Polytopia, Kingdom, Mindustry, Cultist Simulator, Crying Suns, Mini Metro, Don’t Starve, Plague Inc, and FTL. (Edit: looking back, I realize most of these aren’t actually free but I still recommend them nonetheless. It’s been awhile since I bought them so I forgot which ones I actually paid for) A lot of them are ports from computer games but they work phenomenally on mobile. I actually collect these offline games for whenever I’m on an airplane (mostly for my iPad) and they are all excellent experiences. Polytopia is also still multiplayer so you can play with friends on one device for free. Although online multiplayer requires you to buy more tribes with different starting research. There is also a computer version (a rare example of a mobile game ported to computer instead of the other way around) although there isn’t cross play yet.

[@jackt311]

Polytopia, don’t starve, and plague inc are all really good games

[@charisz595]

Wagstaff dont starve

[@O.Reagano]

Builderment, Okay?, and Super Dangerous Dungeons They’re all free and really good (Definitely try out Super Dangerous Dungeons)

[@ekki1993]

Wait, when was FTL ported to mobile? Couldn't find it on Android.

[@O.Reagano]

@@ekki1993 was a surprise to me too, costs $10 on ios and is not on android

[@jj02mc27]

I feel like this was one of the reasons why Among Us got so popular - the purchases were (and still are) only for cosmetics, and gameplay mechanics are unaffected by whether or not a user has bought something

[@Totally_Bonkers]

Those games are best.

[@thomaswang2223]

I mean, the entire social deduction genre (supposed to be) is like this. Other than cosmetics, what else is there to even sell? I guess town of Salem has the coven expansion but at this point not having that expansion is like playing a demo/free trial

[@friendlyplayer92]

@@thomaswang2223 i mean, you could sell new maps, game modes, roles etc as dlc... Anything really.

[@JLSTibu]

This sponsorship is a masterpiece.

[@krisvsthew0rld]

Pixel Dungeon and most of its mods are a fantastic example of a good mobile game that is, by the way, open source! And one of the biggest mods for it, Shattered PD, is coming to steam with its next update.

[@n3cr0ss46]

this is FACTS

[@hideo1102]

Good thing for people who want to play simplified Crawl

[@WolvericCatkin]

Wooh! Another fan I see... 😁

[@M.A.R.S.]

The first time I see a RAID ad in 3 years and he straight-up finesses them with it. You are a genius

[@bosch5303]

How havent you seen a raid ad in 3 years 😳

[@torico7022]

As someone with over 600 hours of Brawl Stars, I can't recommend it enough for those who don't want to pay. Even though there are in-app purchases, you'd have to make lots, and I mean thousands of dollars worth of purchases to have somewhat of an advantage over F2P players

[@Cubeimations]

Exactly they give so many free rewards and you can get the brawl pass every 2 seasons and the game developers care

[@kaves992]

@@Cubeimations yes. We get like 30-50$ of rewards every 3-4 months+ limetid items

[@EWHO0]

They give like 10 rewards a week that is crazy

[@cyarain]

All supercell games are like that

[@jeeva1]

Is brawl pass cost gems 😂😂😂😂​@@Cubeimations

[@fireflyfi]

Soul Knight is amazing. It has, from what I've seen, little to none of these tactics. The game is fun enough that you'll get enough coins over time anyway, and the base set of characters is more than enough for most. Yes, there are characters and abilities that you have to pay to get, but I would view that more as "This is the developers best game and they want SOME profit." Not to mention advertisements are completely optional in that game. Besides, all of the characters have the same amount of strength anyway, so you don't need any if you aren't interested in their playstyles.

[@sheban1874]

damn, somebody actually knows about that game

[@n3cr0ss46]

ROUGHLY the same amount of strength

[@localfriendlycloud7720]

Eiiiiiii another sk player

[@Mik-kv8xx]

I thought the same until I played Enter The Gungeon. Soul Knight is just a rip off of that. Do your self a favour and play ETG instead , you won’t regret it.

[@n3cr0ss46]

@@Mik-kv8xx opinion invalid we are talking mobile games here

[@OMalleyTheMaggot]

That's why the answer isn't "I will never spend money on F2P games" The answer is "I will never lay a single finger on disgusting F2P games"

[@Leonardobug]

Some, mobile games are good but you are going to have to search in an endless pile of trash trying to find Gold.And its Very hard to do.

[@egzalt]

Downwell is also a really damn good mobile game, decently cheap but the amount of fun you get out of it is unreal. Also has the added benefit of being designed really well

[@PalThePalm]

@@Leonardobug well, I am unsure if app stores have built in algorithms, so maybe you could train yours to show you good games, otherwise; it only takes like 5 minutes to tell if a game will be filled with all of those trashy tactics.

[@OMalleyTheMaggot]

@@egzalt neither this nor dead cells are F2P I had already shilled for downwell in a comment of my own lol

[@ttty2242]

@@Leonardobug Galaxy On Fire 2 is quite good (though old), though you'll need to pay for its 2 DLCs to get the full game.

[@Sunnybrook1]

Sky: Children of Light is my favorite mobile game - a memorable experience indeed, with a fun flying mechanic, simple aesthetic, calm music, and unique social interactions via emotes, in-game instruments, and literally dragging friends around (or being dragged) by holding hands~

[@alananoor4324]

I love this game. The devs actually take feedback so the experience becomes more genuine and enjoyable. The IAP is there but you really dont have to buy it. With help from other players, just ask, they can make you access it or have it for a limited amount of time

[@yggdrasil_ly]

It’s great. The IAPs are only cosmetic benefits, and everything in the game is designed to encourage socialization and making memories with other players.

[@haiya123456789]

Sky is one of the games where you can tell the devs just wants to make a fun and enjoyable game

[@ChillkittzGT]

1:43 worst ad timing ever 😂 And prolly the funniest segment of them all btw

[@Roxor128]

One rule of thumb I've noticed is that the problem games tend to be unplayable without a network connection. If you're not connected and you try to start it, it'll complain about the lack of a connection and won't go any further unless you get it one. The decent ones don't care. They'll happily let you play all you like whether you're connected or not. At worst, you just won't be able to buy anything or watch any ads for supplements, but the actual gameplay won't be impacted.

[@imtheonewhoaskedlol]

This is to make you watch ads. Also how can you pay them without a conection?

[@Kristopian]

​@@imtheonewhoaskedlol an Internet connection shouldn't be required to play a game you have downloaded to your devices, unless you're playing an online game, or (maybe) a game with a leaderboard (depends on the type of game), or unless it's required for an anti cheat

[@WadeWontson]

The persistent internet connection is usually to prevent players from using modded versions of the game, e.g. unlimited gems/energy/currency. Not sure about iOS, but I remember modded apks used to be fairly common on Android and were easy to find. It's a lot harder to do that nowadays since Play Store is now full of mediocre games requiring an internet connection. Some older games that previously didn't need an internet connection (like Soul Knight) apparently need it now as well. And yes, it's also so that they can force ads down your throat.

[@deadwhitedragon9751]

The Room series is hands down the best puzzle game series I've played in my life It's a kind of escape room like series, and it has really good atmosphere The smart use of touch controls makes it feel like you're touching and solving real puzzles, adding to atmosphere, and the puzzles are all really creative and at a really good challenge level It has probably the best hint system I've seen, and without even considering that its a 2012 mobile game, it looks really good I highly recommend this series, go try out the demo and then get the first game for just $1

[@itsentdev]

On yeah, I love the Room games.

[@Hekateras]

"Alright, you can have gambling in your game, but you must make the percentage information public" has got to be the most spineless legislation move ever. If people's brains worked like that, nobody would have a gambling problem.

[@infiniteplanes5775]

So true. Does 0.1 feel closer to 0 than 0.9 is to 1?

[@glitteryvieweraltray4369]

Half of the time game legislators make have no idea how games work so…

[@alextomich]

Thank you for this comment. My thoughts exactly when he mentioned that part

[@kuruju_vtube]

heck if a good gear is 1 percent it make sus spend even more money because its rare.

[@Hudston]

@@glitteryvieweraltray4369 Not limited to games, unfortunately.

[@SpicyInk]

One game I really aprecciate for kinda keeping out these predatory tactics is brawl stars. It used to be very p2w but over time it became one of the most f2p friendly games I've seen. They removed lootboxes, gave players a bunch of free offers and even a whole currency dedicated to being able to get skins for free. I really aprecciate what their doing and hope they don't change (unlike the company's other game **ahem** clash royale *ahem*)

[@docilelikewintercatfish]

" MEGA EVOLUTION "

[@misiosz1983]

The game is still p2w because you can buy the brawlers

[@Matheo_the_dummy]

⁠@@misiosz1983who would spend thousands of dollars to get every single brawler, I’ve seen people who played for a year without spending money get almost every brawler

[@vibaj16]

I feel like the only reason Valve doesn't have particularly toxic aspects like these in most of their games (despite inventing a couple...) is because they don't need the money when Steam already makes them so much money

[@jacobshirley3457]

I mean, it's still pretty bad, but Valve also wants to make its games to be fun *without* money.

[@Alex-kb2ws]

Lmao, valve games that are free to play are also free to win. Does it really matter what marketing tactics they use, since the games remain fair and balanced?

[@vibaj16]

@@Alex-kb2ws idk how "fair" it is for you to have to pay to chat in TF2...

[@williemherbert1456]

@@vibaj16 Well, nothing is free in this world.

[@Meh]

@@williemherbert1456 but text chat please? at least?

[@vincentthendean7713]

Insightful content, great pacing, and a sharp sense of humor. Nice video! As for recommendations, I've been preaching people to play indie pc games ported to mobile as they've usually kept the soul of the original game while letting you play on the go. For a pure mobile game, I will always endorse "Monument Valley." It's like a mini Outer Wilds but with space instead of time. It's buy to play but it's genuinely great.

[@PedroHCF37]

Everybody is commenting about the RAID ad but not the video's ending... I was looking forward the good game... section(?)

[@vincentthendean7713]

@@PedroHCF37 If you want an example of a mobile port PC game that the video has not shown: FTL. It's a 10/10 indie game and it remains a 10/10 in mobile. The best part of it is it's a roguelike. This way it can be endlessly replayable like the game examples in the video, but with *no additional costs.* If the base game and expansion isn't enough, there are a lot of mods out there as well if you're willing to dig into your phone's folders. Some other ports are XCom 1 & 2 and Darkest Dungeon. Non-linear games giving you theoretically endless replayability.

[@8lec_R]

@@PedroHCF37 I wrote a comment with roughly 5 different recommendations. They are all paid games tho... But I can help you get them for free if you are on Android

[@viktoranderas9541]

@@PedroHCF37 a great free game that is on both pc and mobile is Super Auto Pets. Some people just refuse to play it because of how it looks but if u can look past that it's really fun. U get 10 gold to buy different animals and foods difrent animals have different abilities and have different stats then u go against an enemy on the same turn as u. U want to try to win 10 times with a team without losing all your hearts. So u need to get good stats and good abilities or just one of the 2 if your lucky. It's fun but sometimes frustrating when u lose alot.

[@sagichnichtsowiesonicht7326]

i got monument valley 2 trough some play store promotion, i never spent a cent on the play store in the 1st place so it was quite funny.

[@kennyholmes5196]

Here's another way you can do this to singleplayer-only games: Force them to run in airplane/offline mode. Works wonders for removing any temptation to purchase an ad-free option.

[@Coolsurf6]

If you are running android at all, there are applications like Lucky Patcher that can actually remove components of apps that allow ads and that to run. Obviously if you are on apple this might be the only solution, that being airplane mode. But Lucky Patcher has definitely been a fun way to get back at apps that use ads for that kind of thing.

[@kennyholmes5196]

@@Coolsurf6 IOS here, so Airplane mode is the only option in my case.

[@ruskiwaffle1991]

@@Coolsurf6 ain't lucky patcher like give you viruses? i think that's how i lost a few Google accounts

[@Vex22778]

@@Coolsurf6 and no root you can use dns66

[@elevatorz89]

@@ruskiwaffle1991 You must have downloaded illegitimate versions from alternative sources.

[@bad-pilot]

Getting sponsored by a corrupt mobile game to talk about corrupt mobile games is genius😅

[@tripthongUwU]

I'm not a Cookie Run player, but when I listened to the Cookie Wars songs because it sounds catchy, I learned from the comments that the game was shut down years ago. What I found from the other sources was that the game didn't have enough monetizing things to keep the game running, too much skill-based gameplay and freebies, and the game had the ending (the game had too much emphasising on story mode). This is one of the best/worst examples of failing F2P games and this was a part of the best game franchises

[@Sailor-Khione]

Wait cookie run shut down?

[@tripthongUwU]

@@Sailor-Khione Cookie Wars, not the entire Cookie Run. It was one of the series

[@frostbittenwinds9703]

Yeah, cause you then look at games like Cookie Run Kingdom where you essentially NEED to spend money to get to the top ranks and end of the story if you dont want to take two years to get there. I loved the game when I started out cause the game itself was brand new, but they just kept adding higher and higher tiers of characters. Powercreep is a menace

[@Slightlycamouflaged]

i would recommend Mindustry: you are a drone that gets dropped on a planet to use the resources to make bases, but someone has already done that and will try to stop you by attacking in waves. its basically tower defense but with factorio's mechanics. grim quest: you are a mercenary thats trying to survive in a world where an empire has fallen due to a tear in space that is spreading corruption onto the land. its a good game that i enjoy playing in my free time. story is pretty good and they even got a prequel to a time before the tear. the only microtransaction is to remove an ad at the bottom of the screen (it doesn't effect gameplay at all). also has a lovely discord server

[@jafetlamadrid2759]

I was angry no one had mentioned Mindustry, thank you.

[@Mik-kv8xx]

Play it while you can, after update 7.0 drops the game will be premium. Not sure if the same will happen to the pc version but either way I’m going to buy it.

[@godassasin8097]

Played both and completed mindustry Amazing game Can vouch

[@shaunkollamparampil1710]

I have grim quest but haven't really gotten it yet.

[@oogaooga0000]

The developer is working on a huge update rn so its not gonna get any updates for 1 year+

[@elzearcontelly2651]

Data Wing is a short and indie game on mobile. No microtransactions, nice story, very good gameplay.

[@kirtil5177]

the music and style is great. best vibe of all mobile games ever, maybe excluding pc ports into mobile

[@hjagu1323]

That is one of the best f2p games I have ever played. I'm so sad that I finished the entire game

[@WadeWontson]

I finished that game in 2 days and was kinda sad when it was over, it was an incredible experience on mobile. No ads or predatory mechanics, and good gameplay suited for a touch screen. It's sad that games like these that aren't live service won't stay popular on Play Store for long. WE are the reason games are becoming worse. I hope the Data Wing developers are doing well, maybe I should redownload the game and see if there's any way I can support them.

[@exoticbutters4212]

It's sad where mobile games have gone. I'm glad there are some developers that still make quality mobile games.

[@useless8695]

average mobile game now: If you pay now you can have a *chance* of winning this ultra rare secret mythical item

[@yourmotherisaseal5239]

Please please PLEASE check out this free game (yes there are microtransactions to make it easier but it is a single player story game and the money just helps the Devs out) it is called Alter Ego and it is one of the best GAMES I've ever played, not just a mobile game. It is an idle game with an actual gripping story about psychology. If dungeon games are more your thing then you should 100% check out Soul Knight

[@aurakh2444]

Such as?

[@MrTheSteph1]

​@@yourmotherisaseal5239 if anyone actually does that after having watched the video, they need to watch it again

[@WohaoG]

@@MrTheSteph1 yeah lol

[@KuroiPK]

The meta joke of this add is just perfect! The sad part is ever if the developer doesn’t add payed cosmetics, some players just go to eBay and buy them from hackers. Elden ring is the latest example for that happening

[@miso-ge1gz]

that's their decision.

[@KuroiPK]

@@miso-ge1gz well yeah obviously, but I still think that’s a lot worse! Developments cost a lot and the extra money though those cosmetics can do a lot in the bottom line, but if hackers are the provider the dev sees nothing from it but has all the headaches. Theirs really no good point to it, devs have to find a method to stop it mostly and the customer has to deal with the rest of being banned or being scammed (sometimes both). Hackers are the only one who profit from it, banning isn’t really a concern for them either, they just make another account…

[@ITR]

Part of the problem with mobile games is because there's literally no way to earn money on mobile games otherwise, unless you become a 1 in a million game. At least with pc games there is a culture of buying games, but for mobile games customers primarily play free game. That said, stuff like apple arcade is a step in the right direction, but I don't know how successful it's been.

[@lordseptomus441]

actually there's plenty of mobile games that cost money and are successful. like Minecraft, Bloons TD 6, and um.. shit u right also I just realized that both of those games have added more ways to spend money since their release.

[@Favmir]

I've seen reviews on mobile games. Mostly full of little kids complaining a $5 game is 'too expensive' and 'ripoff'. There is no hope.

[@Za_Ra_bruh]

@@Favmir That is one of the problem with mobile games too. It isn't considered as a worthwile thing. 5$ is the competitive price for mobile game. 10$ is stretching out. more than that? too expensive.

[@RiseTheDrake]

Ingenious writing throughout the whole video. Absolutely diabolical at times. Although I gotta confess I'm sad you didn't mention the audio-visual dopamine-feedback loop part. Cause satisfaction can come from the illusion of progress, or overcoming obstacles that seem challanging (look at any Idle game), however, if one can't rely on those things, there is always the "free dopamine" technique. "Satisfying" is the word, when a game uses tiny audio-visual elements such as multiple dropped colorful items upon defeated enemies, physically showing the amount of money earned or "bought", shaking the screen and rumbling the phone, gathering things by tapping them, or even looking at the big picutre, using over-saturated color pallettes and a "smooth" artstyle which pleases one's mind when observed. (And also cause it's cheaper than photorealism) It's a recurring thing that also can be found in a lot of PC games too, but I find it more common on mobile. The addictive dopamine feedback loop can get one engaged when they shut off their brains and just want that sweet sweet satisfaction juice from barely performing a single action.

[@toad3877]

this!! in the RPG freemium games I used to play the skeuomorphic art style, gloss, and sheer bling of it all added to the effect

[@mint.6068]

If anyone is reading this, please try ReVenture. It's a small indie platformer that revolves around you reliving the same story with small changes throughout and discovering possible endings. The free version has a heart system with a 3 heart cap and lives every 2 hours with the exception that you can watch ads to get a play, but the full version (like 4 bucks I think) is just the game w/o having to wait for plays to refill. No microtransactions, no whaling, and genuinely good storyline and obvious love put into a project.

[@mananite]

will play

[@mint.6068]

@@mananite hells yeah

[@poset619]

stanley parable

[@mint.6068]

@@poset619 not F2P

[@1Lazarus]

Did you just throw what is basically an ad into the comment section of a video about scummy mobile game ads?

[@Hafaechaes]

I'm actually yearning for a grindy slow burn type of game. And I want gatcha/lootboxes. I just want no real money to be part of it and instead everything to be earned in the game. I want all of the good gambling feels, without the bad gambling feels, if that makes sense. Also daily rewards should just not exist, or stack up when you don't log in and be a fat payout when you do come back, instead of manipulating you to log in when you don't feel like it. I'd be willing to pay full price upfront for a game like that, or even a subscription as long as it's decoupled from what happens in the game.

[@Swagbastian]

YES

[@kuraneko2701]

"grindy slow burn type of game" "gatcha/lootboxes" "no real money to be part of it, and instead everything to be earned in the game." "good gambling feels, without the bad gambling feels" Hmm... Guardian Tales? Daily rewards exist in that game, but... it does fit the first four things you want. However, I'll never NOT feel like logging into Guardian Tales. The game's that good.

[@stolenspace4932]

The gatcha system u r taking about reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

[@szymonwilczynski6870]

Deep Rock Galactic? That game has no microtransactions beyond a few cosmetic DLCs. Some things are unlocked from events randomly encountered during gameplay, others you get for doing special weekly missions and some are simply bought with mission payouts or unlocked after reaching a certain progression milestone. The random rewards are hard-coded to not give duplicates. There's also the battle pass added a few months ago with daily quests that can stack up to three at a time and be completed simultaneously. Although there's no real-money involved in the battle pass in any way and devs have mentioned multiple times that all rewards will be moved into game's other systems to remain obtainable once new season arrives.

[@istavix]

@@szymonwilczynski6870 DRG is not a mobile game though. But it has rocks and stones, which is arguably better.

[@Sk4lli]

Good video! One major point that these developers use that was only touched on briefly is addiction. Abusing the dopamine system to get people hooked to the game. Having these surprises releases a rush of dopamine for a very small action. The overall term used for this is "Dark Patterns" and not only used by mobile games, but also pretty much all social media like Facebook and KZbin too.

[@roberine7241]

yeah even with some PC games. Destiny 2 went a bit down that path. they made the base game free, but you have -skins you can pay for -a seasonpass that even gives you a unique new gun and if you pay you get it earlier in the pass -basically all still remaining story and a lot of exotic armours and guns (rarest type of loot) are locked behind DLCs. the fact I have over 500 hours in that game and hate it say a lot probably.

[@geblordofchaos2965]

I love the fact that that he explains how he will explain microtransaction secrets such as manipulating the player to spend money, or being grindy games, and then proceed to sponsor *raid shadow legends* Btw one mobile game that i feel like deserves more recognition is called duke dashington, go check it out

[@achillesa5894]

I've been playing a lot of Infinitode 2 and it's great. It's a tower defense game where every level lasts until you lose and you have to earn all kinds of resources to do research to enhance your towers and beat your previous scores. If you take a cursory look at it you would think this would be a prime opportunity for the developer to sneak in anti consumer BS but I've been extremely impressed by how they have seemingly went out of their way to avoid it. Yes, the game sells currency, but you can earn all you need at a fair rate. Yes, they sell a permanent 2x money booster but the game is free and a one time purchase of like 5 euros is more than fair for what you get. Yes, they have ads after you finish a level but the game NEVER forces you to watch one, you can choose to watch it for +25% more loot or just press continue. It's never bugged me to watch an ad or buy things. So yeah, prime example imo of monetising a free game effectively while also remaining ethical. Looks like the developer cares, and that makes me happy to support them.

[@narfle]

Man, take a look in the mirror. Just go look at yourself for 5-10 minutes. Then come back and read your comment again.

[@Steammoch]

@@narfle Bruh they just want to share a game they like, leave them alone.

[@Kekw_7624]

@@narfle bro get your own sh*t together and stop complaining about other people's opinions

[@lukasgonzalez9086]

@@narfle ok narfle

[@misakurin]

The best shoot 'em up game I know is "Bullet Hell Monday", really great game and awesome music, highly recommend it!

[@panzerkampfwagentigerausfb6378]

I love you for suggesting me my new favourite.

[@LARADEKA]

*_I just finished Finale's Normal Chapters._* *_True Chapter is where most of my laziness is being tested, lol._*

[@omnikun575]

@@LARADEKA get the Bullet Hell Monday Black version, its so good and it didn't have microtransaction since that one is paid game(also this game is actually the sequel to the Finale)

[@misakurin]

@@omnikun575 yeah, BHM black is definitely worth buying. Not only you have I lot of fun with it, but also leaderboard is relatively small and it's easy to get high positions(I was able to get into top 3 in like 5 levels, despite scores being far from perfect)

[@TheRighteousDawn]

I have found myself only going towards actual full titles that have been ported to mobile. Stardew obviously, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Grand Theft Auto Vice City and San Andreas. There are also examples of older developers that are updating and porting previous generation titles such as Carmageddon and Max Payne being some that come to mind. I also prefer to pay upfront for mobile titles because I would way rather just pay a flat fee to support the developers than have to deal with any of this psychological warfare shit.

[@dragontailsb1971]

'if you're not paying for the product, you are the product' - somebody smart

[@purplecrowbar1332]

Though jarring to watch the Raid ad (I was expecting a punchline or something throughout but quickly realised it wasn’t coming), I’ve heard how much Raid pays and if there was any video to accept this sponsorship on it has to be the one in which he totally breaks down the unethical practices that games like Raid make use of. People calling it hypocritical are wrong imo, more like accepting big sponsorship money (good) from a bad company and then immediately after the ad finishes, shitting on games like that of Rais. This video doesn’t promote Raid, and he gets the money which he very much deserves for his excellent videos. Edit: a letter

[@tymondabrowski12]

He coughed and said "uh, sorry for that" just afterwards. And sometimes in the ad itself it sounded as if he mentioned flaws, like "how addictive that game is" and "you'll need special monsters because those buffs wouldn't work with those debuffs" and "and you get this, and this, and *one* exp boost, and *one* something else" etc. But it's all super subtle, might even be too subtle, but I guess he couldn't outright say anything suggesting negative if he wanted money (and he mentioned last time that he "actively loses money" when doing those videos, so as long as there are no victims (and I hope there wouldn't, if they watched the video in full), I'm fine with that).

[@revimfadli4666]

Reminds me of Tom Nicholas's NordVPN ad within his video that called out Veritasium's autonomous car-sponsored vid, when you also think of Tom Scott's criticism on VPN ads on YT

[@alifkaputra]

"Any kind exposure is still an exposure". Is that the correct quote, lol? My english is bad so I'm trying to find the correct quote on the interenet. While doing that I found something better... “There’s only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” While I agree for anything you've said, I still thing that the best way is not talking about it at all.

[@abderianagelast7868]

I'm not saying he doesn't deserve money, but I do think you're wrong to not recognize the act is within the realm of hypocrisy. He's taking money from a company that profits off of the very people this video seems to be concerned about utilizing the very methods this video is decrying. His action doesn't magically become fine just because he isn't explicitly supporting RAID. Or, more accurately, it doesn't magically APPEAR fine. Because I believe it wasn't actually done with the intent of being hypocritical. However, and this is a big however, this IS the kind of video that is the most moral to make a RAID sponsorship out of. I just think it could have been done better. Say, by going through every point in the RAID script in order and talking about how it's predatory without explicitly mentioning RAID, showing other examples of that practice. Maybe even a coy throwaway joke in a few sections that's very similar to what was said in the ad read. Something where the connections are obvious, but not explicit. The main issue with this would be finding the right balance for RAID to be willing to accept the video, but there's a chance they only watch the ad read part anyway. And as I've never done a sponsorship deal before, I have no idea how it works. Ultimately, it's an appearance issue. And it's a complicated topic, too. I don't think anyone who's talked about this has been completely wrong or completely right.

[@Altronic-]

@Flybreaker Footage are you referring to rennsreviews?

[@slek_cs]

Rusty lake games really deserve some love. They make some amazing puzzle games that are worth playing and their games are completely free (except their cube escape: paradox chapter 2) but it deserves it's price. It's fun and confusing sometimes and also gets creepy from time to time but it does not disappoint at all

[@Chaos_-dv3ex]

Funny I wrote the same comment 2 seconds ago

[@lithosphereX]

Awesome video. Since I've mainly played mobile games until recently, I've become aware of so many great hidden gems. I used to play mostly non predatory games, but a couple years ago, I completely cut out all of them. Here's a list of good games (keep in mind that most of them are paid): Alto's Odyssey/Alto's Adventure, BADLAND, BADLAND 2, Botanicula, Samorost 1, 2,& 3, CHUCHEL, Crashlands, Dead Cells, Downwell, ELOH, Evoland 2, FEZ, Inbento, Forager, Golf Peaks, Juicy Realms, Ponpu, Ordio, Levelhead, GRIS, Leo's Fortune, Oddmar, Machinarium, MO: Astray, Moonlighter, Polytopia, Ridiculous Fishing, Sagrada, Root, Severed, Stardew Valley, To-Fu Fury, and World of Goo. There are some other games with In-App purchases and stuff, but I was able to look past them (they aren't that predatory): Hill Climb, Crossy Road, Bloons TD 5 and 6. Also Apple Arcade has tons of games free from predatory practices and ads. I highly recommend that. It also has What the Golf, which is amazing

[@randomdudeiminternet]

This is a good comment. I have ti say tho that a lot of the games were pc games originally.

[@lithosphereX]

@@randomdudeiminternet Thanks! Yeah PC ports tend to make great mobile games when done right. Some of these also started on mobile and then went to PC, like Polytopia and Leo's Fortune.

[@Kristopian]

I remember playing Severed on the PS Vita, it's such a neat game, I kinda wish it gets an android release

[@SuperGamersgames]

Okay, I'm confused. How the hell did you get sponsored by a mobile game while dunking on mobile games? Edit: Jump Jerboa is a really nice game. It's very small and only runs ads for monetization, but it's a really sweet platformer.

[@loedje]

thank you for the suggestion this game is great

[@loedje]

@tsunami_nine i have spent money on way too many mobile games

[@mr.pancake7480]

One of the best mobile games I’ve played is Crashlands. It’s also available on steam. You crash on an alien planet and have to do missions in an open and (To my knowledge) infinite world. It’s probably my favorite mobile game and also one of the better crafting games I know of out there. No ads, no micro transactions, just the game.

[@viktoranderas9541]

This sounds like a game for me.

[@seecresy]

more representation for Crashlands 🙌

[@fast8wild]

"Exponential Idle" is fantastic, only idle game I've played to completion. Don't be intimidated by the numbers, it's very beginner friendly. "Really Bad Chess" has a super fun concept, I've enjoyed the little I've played of it. "Duet" goes crazy. Played it years ago and remember it being tough bit satisfying

[@anthropomorphicpeanut6160]

As a non chess player, really bad chess is hilarious, I'll definitely try it

[@thejekky_br5022]

duet is so good frrrr

[@musicexams5258]

Really Bad Chess is hilarious

[@ClashBashing]

19:19 Hey thats me

[@pixxel17]

Stardew valley, developed entirely by one amazing person. No IAP’s, no ads, amazing game with endless amounts of adorable and well thought out content. Truly a game from the heart

[@lamegamertime]

Tiny Defense (and its sequel) is a game with almost no micro-transactions. The only ones are for buying bolts, which are easy enough to get anyway (they drop from enemies and you can produce them with your units). Aside from that it’s a very unique PvZ-like, adding platformer elements.

[@tiadoesstuffx3251]

Hello fellow tiny defense fans

[@littlelady9801]

I couldn't find it unfortunately but Super Auto Pets is pretty good, it has 2 purchasable (is that a word?) packs but they are optional and don't interfere in the gameplay at all There's also 'the wild darkness' I'm not sure how to classify it but it's not a bad game if you just want to kill some time

[@EjhPvZ]

hi!

[@SuperGrassEater]

@@littlelady9801 Super Auto Pets is so hard for me. Like i couldn't wrap my head around how making team worked so i uninstalled it. Still no idea on how it works

[@JellyFisherman78]

@@SuperGrassEater I really like it, but it can take a lot of time to get a strategy that works and Ive only won a few times.

[@Csbees]

"most mobile games are there to steal money, and scam players" five seconds later " this video is sponsored by raid shadow legends"

[@bagon1374]

I wonder how this concept applied to rhythm music games. Personally i feel like i kinda supporting both the community and and the music artist. As we buy the music and chart from the game we also help the company to keep making new songs from the music artist and the music artist can keep making money while create songs then the music library for rhythm games will grow. It kinda feels like a loop that affecting the whole rhythm games community

[@ioinsun]

hate to break it to you, rhythm games are far from exempt from this. 'supporting the artists' can be a really weak claim because often artists are paid by-commission, so you're really not doing much for them just by buying their packs because they aren't earning any more than they got from the commission. and they absolutely aren't excused from being attention magnets, since they attract a more hardcore audience than your typical mobile game they will inevitably pull a lot of whales who buy everything. it's comforting to think that you're creating a symbiotic relationship with the artists and rhythm game company, but under the surface they're really just run like every other mobile game

[@poyobotyahoo7494]

since I realized it, I always found it funny that if there's one company that has caused multiple negative butterfly effects for the whole industry, it's not one of the more hated companies like activision or EA, but valve. y'know, the company everyone praises for their innovating games and being one of the "good ones".

[@kurokame9667]

Data Wing is a great game with a kickass soundtrack, an awesome aesthetic, and fun controls. So what's the catch? Literally no catch, no in app purchases, very little ads, and no in game currency to buy stuff. Install it already if you haven't, it's also got a pretty good story too

[@Michael-fp9rl]

Yes! Data wing is awesome

[@steebelieves2632]

I played that back in 2019. Thx for reminding me of it imma go play it again now lol‼️‼️

[@elevatorz89]

This is probably one of the only shining examples of a good TRUE F2P game out there.

[@crystalclear2584]

the story line ROCKES too

[@sakumaFR]

This one actually is fun.

[@roberto-cm1rb]

Mental: talks about how bad games are. Also Mental: 1:48

[@xinoHITO]

A bit old but the Monument Valley games (both 1 & 2) are still a delightful experience on mobile.

[@LoLCalmSnow]

In my depression I’ve fallen into a few mobile game traps. Luckily I have enough self awareness to have gotten rid of all of them except one. One of the only reasons I still play Gold & Goblins is because I initially payed for the ad removal, and the game was actually true to their word and removed 100% of ads. It’s not a particularly fun game, but it’s kind of a passive thing I can work on and let it run in the background. The second reason, I think you touched upon it in the video briefly, is a “I’ve already been playing the game this long, am I really going to stop now” kind of mentality. Lucky for me, however, the game is so ironically greedy that by setting the prices of micro transactions so damn high I am discouraged from buying them at all. The game follows most of the predatory tactics mentioned in the video, but the fact that they give you “deals” on spending money on temporary events that go away in a day or two is so obviously a bad deal I have never been tempted to spend a dime passed the ad remover. In my mind it simply makes the game a “pay if you want” kind of game, although mandatory ads in my opinion should be dropped because it actively makes me delete games with too many of them. On the other hand, the first thing I usually buy is the ad block option if it’s reasonably priced, so I guess I “fell for it” anyway. It’s especially heinous when the game still makes you watch ads after paying them to not show ads. That is 100% misleading and one of the worse parts about the games IMO. Also, the fact that in-game ads are normalized is horrendous in its own right, especially since 90% of ads in phone games are for other phone games, which means the entire market is out to get you collectively, not just every individual game on their own. I’ve also noticed there is usually several, or maybe just one, identical companies that all the games use for the ads. It’s the same ads every time, I’ve even gotten ads for the very game I’ve been playing, but the ad is completely different from the real game almost every time. It’s a crazy rabbit hole, or rats nest, or whatever rodent home you prefer, at the end of the day it’s all the same just like phone games. Just the other day I managed to delete the game Punball from my phone as well. Honestly it wasn’t that bad of a game, but I caught myself paying money on the game and had to cut myself off of it, however I noticed something interesting that goes along with your video topics; making the game after the ads. When I first got the game it was simple and almost as advertised, with a couple unimportant differences, but over time the game had rapid new developments including gameplay improvements as well as implementing new content. Over weeks and months they added several new items, enemies, themed challenges, full on dungeon style runs, a completely new pet system (that actually does something and isn’t just cosmetics), leaderboards, etc. In fact there were no cosmetics at all, the game is 100% a loot box pay to win game. Equipment loot boxes. Pet loot boxes. All drops are random. Playing earns gems to spend on loot boxes. You can spend money to play more to earn more loot boxes. Daily challenges have you going back to the store every single day to spend gold, gems, or time watching ads (ad block only removes mandatory ads), to “make a purchase” which was necessary to complete the daily challenge list. It was brutal, but there was enough of a game to keep it interesting. This was nothing compared to my first micro transaction experiences, however; maple story and league of legends. I have no idea how much I spent on maple story growing up, but it was the first game I actually paid for as a kid that was free to play. It was awesome at the time, but I cringe thinking back on it now. Back in those days I didn’t have a credit card and my parents were smart enough to say “lol no” when I begged, but I had a work around; prepaid visas. NEVER DO THIS. I used money from my first job buying $50 and $100 prepaid visas and used them on the online store, but this was a horrible horrible waste of money. Each card had a $5 activation fee, which is why I opted for the larger $100 card because I was only a mildly dumb kid, but it gets worse. Due to taxes you couldn’t just spend the full card on a $100 option in the cash shop. I had to buy a $50, $25, and maybe two $10 options, or some such amalgamation of true micro transactions and there would still be money left on the card but I couldn’t use it in the store. I effectively lost around $10 just for the privilege of buying useless items in an MMO. I noticed this at the time, but instead of stopping I simply eventually got a credit card. My eyes really opened up from league of legends, however. A friend linked a site that let you see just how much money you spent in league of legends on your account and I was shocked to see that over a few years I spent over $3600. On a free game. I quit immediately. There weren’t even as many predatory tactics back then, no loot boxes, no personalized sales, I was just naïve and had money to spend. It makes me wonder how much money I’ve spent in my life on games that I no longer play, for stuff I no longer care about. Overwatch loot boxes, hearthstone card packs, Nexxon cash, premium or vip game memberships, skins, boosts, equipment dyes, everything ads up. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was over $10,000 but I’m kind of glad I’ll never know. One of the biggest shames out of these modern “game design” tactics is that good honest game companies (lol) who simply make and sell a game make a significantly smaller payout. Some of my favorite games of all time would never be able to get $3600 from me, but a toxic mmo that I didn’t even enjoy playing after a while did. It’s a crazy world we live in nowadays. Perhaps it always has been crazy, though, now it’s just different.

[@mehdidaboss673]

Cap

[@farkinze9420]

Wtf is this

[@maddog_27]

Why do I completely agree with this and have lived very similar to this

[@axerity9212]

NOT READING ALLAT🤦‍♂🤣

[@clvrcookie]

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[@yeetgrenade7492]

Soul knight is an awesome game. Mimimal in-game purchases with a pretty low cap on how much anyone would reasonably spend and a fully complete non-p2w experience.

[@paragwho]

yeah i really like that game

[@sakupawn3009]

the best chracter is the first you unlock,and he is free too!

[@kebaboopierdalator1880]

@@sakupawn3009 i mean he pretty is solid but assasin with the second or third ability is just straight up busted.

[@omeganave7425]

Assassin is easily the best, at least of the free characters.

[@charlestonianbuilder344]

ah soul knight players are here! i progressed very far in that game with max level knight and assasin, with loads of resources if i want to unlock any other character to the max

[@TheThirdGuy]

i recently found a game called chiki's chase that is fun, its an indie endless runner where you pick on of 4 characters and have to reach home and stop on shop to get upgrades and buy items, the only pay part is the gems that you use to get hats and upgrade your upgrade slots from 5 to 10 but its only this and its about 3 dollars, so its understandable for an indie game.

[@REXanadu]

It says a lot about these tactics when the gambling industry has been looking into implementing them into their own systems and processes. This topic also feels like almost everyone watching has seen or been a victim of said tactics. So, what I'm saying is: don't go to Las Vegas if you play Genshin; you already have it on your phone

[@protoss5758]

It goes the other way as well, Raid is developed by a gambling company

[@Phosfit]

I’ll remember not to take that drug called “Genshin”

[@DrowzyJonny]

Bloons Tower Defense 6 is probably my favorite! I haven't spent a dime on it (besides the game itself) and It never urges me to buy anything. There's no wall of ads after every level, or "energy system" where I can only play a certain amount per day. It does have a "gem" equivalent but its so easy to get that currency in game without paying for it, that I dont find it as a bad thing. :)

[@wuztwuzt1673]

i have that too

[@amazingame2770]

yeah, and as far as I know (I've played quite a lot) it is possible to get everything in the game for free (apart from the game its self)

[@lilzord4762]

I actually got the game for free on a sale. I don't know how and to my knowledge it has never happened again. I actually found the sale when I woke up at 5 in the morning and checked my phone. To this day, I'm convinced they did it by accident.

[@musicexams5258]

@@amazingame2770 yes you can well technically you need to pay for Double Cash but actively using Double Cash is a sign of being pathetic

[@inoariusu]

Isn't it kinda ironic how there's a raid sponsorship in a video criticizing f2p mobile games lmao.

[@LouisEscher]

ikr

[@gob8056]

That's the point, he's taking the money while telling you to not play the game, pretty smart

[@xiangqerupiso9186]

Look at the comments he liked, i think you will get the idea

[@IHaveALotOfBraincells]

The thing i hate about Valve's lootboxes is that you can sell the stuff you got, because of that people think that they can get profit.

[@rdva]

Growtopia is one of the game which I had so much fun with back in the day, and it taught me a lot too. It's a 2D sandbox game where you can build literally anything you want, as long as you spend a few weeks working to earn things in order for you to use them. Unfortunately, there are many scammers and hackers (more so nowadays). But, this game showed how currency works, prices going from high to low, and vice versa. It also showed that you can't trust that many people, and the game really does set up you for the future, even if it wasn't intentional. If by any small chance that the creators of Growtopia somehow found and read this comment, thank you for making such a memorable, and fun game. :)

[@Phosfit]

It’s 3D

[@Rem-fg2yd]

@@Phosfit LMAO 3D? 💀

[@seecresy]

gt really gave me a heads up on scam tactics and such

[@SemiZ]

I played the game since 2013 till 2021 ever since it got sold to ubisoft it went down hill, scammers ,bots and hackers took over and turned even more toxic over time. Suprised I saw growtopia mentioned here

[@facebookuser1653]

Growtopia is literally ruined by capitalism It stopped being good when World Locks are the only thing people cared about

[@gusmangamer]

i love this channel so freaking much and i love the raid ad integration, can't wait to see how this channel grows.

[@desmien679]

Even companies like Netease will promise players that no P2W mechanics and certain things will be in the game and even promise that only major changes to the game if the majority of the community is requesting it. Would turn out to not only be a lie but have a history of trying to remove any history of these promises. They'll also ignore protests by a majority of players when they break these promises. It's also why many gamers like myself will hunt for whales in games.

[@sracz20000]

1:55 actuall 200 iq move lmao

[@TheAshran]

Did Raid actually approve for their ad to be placed in this video because thats quite impressive if so

[@sephypantsu]

I have a feeling they didn't care what the video content is

[@Nikolai0169]

I want to mention the "The Room" series of puzzle games. Slightly creepy, fairly short, but very good experiences.

[@morpheus_uat]

RSL: so, we want you to put this ad on the next video MC: are you sure? its gonna be a video about addictions and scams on mobil and f2p games, and how they only car- RSL: sure buddy, talk whatever you want, we just want exposure MC: ... ok then

[@splitsee2526]

Wow he teached us to avoid it before he showed us the danger Good job

[@jonyloco4134]

Magic survival by LEME was a surprise for me. It has the simplicity of any other mobile arcade game but with very interesting dark fantasy aesthetics, spell mechanics and also some lore. You can pay to remove adds but they only appear if you choose to revive once when you die. Also, the game is in alpha and will have notorious changes each update. The last update almost reworked all the spell system.

[@enderascent3693]

I was hoping to find someone who know this unknown masterpiece !

[@parchedcoma9939]

I love how you try to get the best examples and most accurate information, even though you’ve been a dev for years, you still asks for the opinion of others and incorporate them in your videos. Thanks for including my example of recolored enemies in borderlands 3. -Val