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The gaming industry may have changed over the past few decades, but it definitely hasn't gotten any smaller. According to gaming industry intelligence firm Newzoo, consumers will spend $137.9 billion in 2018 — an increase of $36.9 billion since 2016. And half of that will come from mobile gaming.
Clearly, people like games. But for some of us, 'like' doesn't even come close. Some of us are going to account for a bigger chunk of that $137.9 billion than the rest, gaming will be more of an addiction than a casual interest, and it won't be long before our bank accounts and credit card balances make it clear what that obsession costs. Gaming has made people lose their jobs, their families, and in some cases even their freedom.
From thieves to self-professed gaming addicts and unrepentant 'whales,' here's a look at some people who wasted all their money on gaming.
California Stealin'
Game of War: Fire Age, famously promoted by model Kate Upton, is not the darling of gaming critics. Reviewers have called it 'mundane,' an 'over-the-top cash grab,' and 'light on both action and strategy.' Regardless, Kevin Lee Co of Rocklin, California sure liked it a whole lot.
In December 2016, Co admitted to using his position as controller of Holt of California to embezzle $4.8 million from the heavy equipment company. In a Sacramento federal court, Co said he used the company's credit to purchase — among other things — season tickets for the San Francisco 49ers and the Sacramento Kings, luxury cars, plastic surgery, furniture, and a golf club membership.
According to Co, the single biggest purchase he used the stolen money for wasn't for cars, speedboats, elective surgery, or working on his backswing. In his guilty plea, he admitted to spending 'approximately $1 million' on Game of War. To put it in perspective, that's over 20 percent of the $4.8 million he stole.
Co could ultimately serve up to 20 years for the embezzlement. Originally scheduled for May 2017, Co's sentencing has been pushed back several times, with the most recent delay scheduling the hearing for April of 2018.
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When Cloud 9 meets Chapter 9
In December 2017, days after Square Enix announced it was adding the iconic Cloud to Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, the gaming site Kotaku reproduced an edited version of a Reddit user's confessional about putting himself $16,000 in debt with the mobile game.
Naming himself 'nothing024,' the gamer wrote about his early love for the original Final Fantasy and how it led him to buy consoles just to play sequels like Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XII. Things changed once he was married and had kids, but the advent of mobile gaming let nothing024 return to the franchise he grew up with — and eventually be swallowed up by it.
The user wrote that he initially refused to pay for any extras in Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, but eventually found himself frustrated and unable to move further in the game. Finally, he caved and spent $20. It wasn't much, but it proved to be the spark that started the inferno. Soon, nothing024 was spending hundreds of dollars to get characters he wanted. 'It was only $200,' he wrote about what he spent to get the character Luneth. 'I can spare that. I haven't bought a video game in six years. I deserve it, I earned it.' But nothing024's spending of hundreds of dollars turned to thousands. The gamer transferred his debt to a zero-interest credit card to hide the spending from his wife, but eventually — when his wife asked to use the card for food — the truth came out.
'I have never spent more than $1000 on my wife at one time,' nothing024 wrote. 'I spent $16,000 on digital garbage in about a year. If she decides she will divorce me, I owe her more than I could ever repay.'
Money for nothing
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If you get involved in a debate about whether or not money spent on a digital item is money spent on anything at all, you're potentially digging yourself a deep hole. Eventually, the discussion is likely to drift into unanswerable philosophical questions of 'what is real?' and 'why is one thing more real than another?' You'll end up asking yourself about red pills, blue pills, and whether or not there is a spoon. That might lead you to rewatch a fun movie, but you probably won't resolve any arguments about the nature of reality.
While a skilled debater might be able to convince you that what is virtual is as real as anything in the physical world, that same debater would likely find themselves stuck if they had to argue for virtual items that aren't even 'virtual' yet.
In 2011, an unnamed Chinese gamer spent $16,000 on a virtual sword for the game Age of Wulin — which, at that point, had yet to be released. He bought the sword at an auction organized by the games developer, Snail Games. Other big ticket purchases from other gamers included a sheath for a weapon called the Hook of Departure which sold for $1600 and a sheath for a spear that sold for $2500.
Age of Wulin has since changed its name to Age of Wushu.
A regretful whale
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In November 2012, Wired interviewed a handful of 'whales' — i.e. big spenders on free-to-play games — on their spending habits and how they felt about them. They received a range of reactions, from whales who were disappointed in themselves to the Clash of Clans player who went by the name 'Panda' and said, 'You don't have to spend less, you have to earn more.'
Unlike Panda, the whale who asked to be identified only as 'Vince P.' expressed nothing but regret over his situation. He initially told Wired he spent somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 on the Facebook game Battle Pirates. As he went through his receipts during a Skype interview, he realized he had actually spent around $16,000 on the game. Wired writer Ryan Rigley described Vince P. as 'looking positively distraught.'
'It does kind of shock me, for sure, that it was that much,' Vince said. 'And it's all for nothing.'
According to Vince, before his interview he and a friend had been considering spending $500 on a fleet of ships to win a tournament.
'We were seriously talking about dropping $500 on nothing,' Vince said.
Every little bit counts
'I am 19 and addicted to gambling,' wrote a Reddit user identifying himself as 'kensgold' in an open letter to the game developer EA in November 2017. The gamer opened his post by saying he didn't blame EA or any other company for his addiction, but he did tell Kotaku that his letter was 'a plea' to companies like EA to 'take note on the effect microtransactions...can have on the small population...who are especially susceptible to them.' He showed Kotaku documentation proving he had spent $13,500.25 on microtransactions between 2015 and 2017.
According to kensgold, his addiction started earlier than that. When he was 13, he spent money on a city-building game, and later moved on to the mobile game The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth. Kensgold said he spent over $4,000 in 2015 alone on The Hobbit, Clash of Kings, and Age of Warring Empire. His only source of income at the time was a part-time job at Panera's that raked in between $300 and $400 bi-weekly. Eventually, he got a second job to pay for more micro-transactions, claiming he spent about 90% of everything he made on the games.
In 2016, kensgold moved from mobile games to PC games like Smite and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
In spite of his passionate letter to EA, kensgold hadn't gone cold turkey at the time of Kotaku's article. He was still playing games with in-app purchases like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, but apparently had thus far 'managed not to fall into that game's trap.'
Game of More
In July 2015, a Cracked writer gave a self-deprecating account of how he'd spent over $9000 on the heavily advertised mobile app Game of War and how the game was designed to empty bank accounts. He claimed to be on the low end of the spending spectrum in Game of War compared to some of the people he'd met through the game, mentioning that his alliance leader spent over $75,000 on the app.
He described how the game eased him into things, dropping him in with a bunch of other newbies, but that eventually to take out his competition, he had to drop cash. Of course while he spent money, so were his competitors, and he felt forced to keep spending to to recover and compete because the game became 'an investment.' He wrote that the developers over-complicated the game with 167 different improvable statistics and since 'each one could mean the difference between victory and defeat,' he was incentivized to keep paying. He described how waiting times for technology research started at 10 minutes, grew to 40 minutes, and soon he'd wait 'seven days, six weeks, six months' to improve and stay competitive unless he gave up the dough to shorten the wait time. He talked about how the game went out of its way to confuse players into spending money and how he actually paid 'NOT to play' by giving up money for shields that kept his digital empires safe when he wanted a couple of days off.
Surprisingly, unlike the writers of many similar accounts, the Cracked writer admitted to still playing Game of War at the time of the story's publication. 'I play Game of War for half an hour every morning,' he wrote, 'five minutes every hour at work, and, whenever I'm watching a movie, cooking dinner, or doing basically anything that isn't driving or having sex.'
An angry whale
In 2016, Stephen Barnes of Houston, Texas made news when he boycottedModern War. But he didn't walk away from the game alone: he took 144 of the game's top teams with him, including 22 of the leading 25 squads. Barnes' complaints included Gree — Modern War's Japanese owner — eliminating virtual items after players had already bought them, and altering the value and power of others.
Barnes, an appliance store owner, was able to take such a meaty chunk of the game's players with him because, since starting playing in 2011, he'd spent $2 million on Modern War. When news of the boycott broke, Barnes told VentureBeat he spent 40 hours a week playing Modern War — a length of time many Americans aren't even required to work to be considered full-time. 'In the past four years,' he told VentureBeat, 'I don't think I've had a weekend off from it.'
A happy whale
In May 2018, author Yu-Kai Chou interviewed a man calling himself 'Big Jim' who had spent over $30,000 on the relatively new game We Heroes. Big Jim said he was a 55-year-old electrical engineer, and wasn't shy about admitting the money he'd spent on multiple games.
Big Jim told Chou he'd spent comparable money on Kabam's Kingdoms of Camelot before leaving the game and refusing to play any of Kabam's games because of what he called the 'unethical practice' of trying to sell players virtual items without telling them the price.
He expressed curiosity over whether or not We Heroes had engaged in another unethical ploy to get more money out of him: assigning an employee mole artificially competing with whales like Big Jim to squeeze every drop out of them. But Chou confirmed with the We Heroes developer that the player in question — named Flash — was a just another big spender like Big Jim.
Big Jim didn't seem particularly upset by the large amounts of money he'd spent on gaming in general, though he did seem a little regretful regarding We Heroes. 'We Heroes...has cost an insane amount of money,' Big Jim told Chou. 'I should not have spent so much money on it...Playing We Heroes means I will have one less motorcycle.'
Well, at least she's in the right business
You may have heard of fantasy gamers who like dressing up like wizards or medieval warriors. You may know sci-fi gamers who like making their own faux energy rifles and donning homemade armor that looks like the Marines' outfits from Aliens. And sometimes, especially if you're particularly judgmental, you may decide the gamers in question have lost touch with reality — that they're getting their game worlds and the real one mixed up.
Well, one gamer didn't get her worlds mixed up — she made her game world the reality.
In December 2011, 54 year old Bettysue Higgins of Maine pleaded guilty to embezzling $166,000 from her employer between 2006 and 2010. She took the money by writing out company checks to herself and depositing them into her personal account. Out of the 220 checks she forged, money from 78 of the checks went directly to virtual currency for the Facebook games YoVille and, yes, Mafia Wars.
It wasn't specified precisely how much of the $166,000 went to games, but CentralMaine.com said records showed that in February 2010 alone, Higgins spent over $4,000 of the stolen money on YoVille and Mafia Wars.
How To Make A Video Game
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Playing games online can be a great way to make extra money. It’s so much fun that some people have been caught playing online Scrabble while waiting at a stoplight. But it can also be a way to put cash in your wallet.
Do Online Games Really Pay?
Yes, you can make money by playing games online. It’s not too good to be true!
The key thing to getting paid is to choose the right games and platforms. With some games, you could earn lots of tokens but have no way to turn your winnings into actual cash. Other times your winnings are paid in real money.
A great way to double your earnings from online games is to play a money-making game that’s partnered with a platform like Swagbucks, which pays you for your online activity. With this approach, you could earn money directly from the game you’re playing and simultaneously earn money from Swagbucks.
How Much Can You Make with Online Games?
The amount of money you can make from online games is based on a combination of time, luck and gaming experience.
Professional gamers make an average of $60,000 per year, and top-earners can earn as much as $15,000 per hour.
Many online games are so much fun that you’d be playing even if you weren’t getting paid. Because you’re earning money from goofing off, you might be less concerned about maximizing income when playing these games.
Some online games will release their numbers about how many users it has, how much money it’s paid, and an average payout percentage. This can go a long way in determining how much money you could make.
Keep in mind that for games of chance, such as online slot machines, each spin is based on a Random Number Generator (RNG). Numbers are generated randomly, and the system doesn’t know if you’ve just won big or if you’ve been playing for hours.
What’s the Best Type of Games that Pay Real Money?
Video games rarely pay you directly. However, you can win real money by playing in video game tournaments, farming out characters you’ve leveled up, or becoming a Twitch streamer.
In one extreme case, superstar gamer Tyler Blevins, known as Ninja, has made about $10 million from playing online video games. He has a popular YouTube channel and is an active social media personality. He’s even published a book on how to get good at gaming.
In addition, eSports is a popular way for professional video game players to win big jackpots. Last year, more than $156 million was awarded across 3,500 tournaments, and one top player earned $4.2 million.
Many gamers also earn money by becoming a video game tester. By working directly with game producers to try out beta versions, you could get paid for your skills on PC, Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo consoles.
Online slot machines are another way to win money. They’re typically available on both a mobile app and via a website. In some cases, you’ll need to buy in to start playing, but other times you’ll start with a deposit bonus when you sign up.
About eight percent of smartphone users are playing online casino games. Yet finding money-making game apps can be a bit tricky. Google limits access to real-money gaming apps for Androids, and Apple’s app store doesn’t allow rankings for these apps.
Although online poker does face regulation from some statewide gambling agencies, it’s possible to play and win in some locations. For example, one couple has only been playing for a few years, and they’re earning an average of $3,500 per month, which is more than enough to cover their rent.
How Do Games Pay Out?
Each gaming site pays a little differently, so you may want to check out the rules before playing.
First, consider the site’s payment types. You could get gift cards, online currency, prepaid credit cards, a check or online currency.
Next, there are payment schedules to look at. Some sites will pay you whenever you request it. Others have weekly or monthly payment schedules. Other sites may require you to have made a certain amount of money before you can cash out.
Top 7 Money-Making Online Games for 2019
Here are the best ways to win real money from online games.
1. Swagbucks
From Swagbucks Games, you have direct access to some of the best online games. One of the community’s favorites is an online trivia game called Swagbucks Live where users can win virtual currency that can be exchanged for cash.
More than just connecting you to money-making games, you can actually earn cash just by using the platform. For each game, you can earn site currency, called Swagbucks, based on your activity. Then you can cash in for gift cards or Visa Rewards cards. With Swagbucks, you can also get paid for online activities like watching videos, answering surveys or searching the web. Its users now have more cash in their wallets after earning more than $383 million!
2. Solitaire Cube
This popular card game is a modern version of the classic game Klondike Solitaire. Each round lasts one or two minutes. Rather than being a solo game, you can use the platform Skillz to compete with players around the world. In most U.S. states, you can win cash prizes from playing in tournaments.
Payouts can vary. One user deposited $25 and won $120 within a week. A top player has earned more than $350,000.
3. 21 Blitz
This online game combines Backjack with Solitaire. To practice, you can play for free. When you’re ready to play the game for real money, you can switch to cash games. Users have said that when playing competitively, you’ll be matched up with other users who have the same skill level. This can make it more difficult for savvy players to win a big jackpot by playing less-skilled players.
4. Slingo
This popular online game combines playing bingo with free slots. It’s been around since the days of AOL, but now you can play either on a desktop or mobile app. Winnings can be redeemed for cash via PayPal.
5. Lucktastic
This money-making online game is only available on smartphones. More than one million users have won extra cash by playing online scratch-off games and contests. Playing real-money games is free, and there’s no buy-in. However, there’s an ad that plays before each scratch-off game. Your odds of winning will depend on the number of people playing scratch cards and the number of people entered in the contest.
6. Slotomania
This slot game is rated as one of the top real money casino games. Slotmania has more than 100 million players. It’s free to play, but you do need to have coins in your account. After your free initial bundle of coins, you can purchase additional coins or get coins via casino bonuses.
7. 888poker
The international online poker game includes Texas Hold ’em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha High/Low and more. There are live poker tournaments and even a team of professional poker players. It’s only available in some U.S. states. Withdrawing your online winnings is simple as logging in to your account and clicking “withdraw.”