Users of the Apple App Store will now ‘GET’ games that are free to download, in an effort from Apple to remove confusion and risk around free to play games with microtransactions. Games offering In App Purchases are labelled as such on the storefront, with the download button text that was previously ‘FREE’ now changed to ‘GET’.
While changes have yet to be made (if they are going to be) to the Top App lists, it is an important move towards awareness of microtransaction models. This will help unaware consumers make choices about what they download and what to expect from games, but is it going to help those ‘whales’ whose addiction freemium games rely on for profit? The top free games charts of the App Store aren’t filled with slot machine and casino games because of their faithful recreation of the source material, it is because they leverage those same addictive mechanics to take advantage of a select group of vulnerable consumers. As long as these people exist games will target them, and the rest of us will suffer for it as quality and premium priced releases are buried.
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