Already in the 1970s, the success of microtransactions in gaming began with the so-called arcade video games: In public arcades, games like Donkey Kong or Pac-Man could be started by inserting a coin into a machine. Today, so-called free-to-play games – which dominate the market – are initially offered at no cost and financed through microtransactions that allow players to purchase progress, items, or characters within the game.
Parts of the gaming industry have developed particularly sophisticated strategies: Through very small payments – individually negligible – the threshold for making a transaction is reduced to a minimum. And once someone makes a purchase, they are likely to do so again –such is the intelligence (or manipulation) of data-driven algorithms in their search for the small pool of high-spending players. These are often minors and gradually fall deeper into dependence on the game. In industry jargon, they are referred to as whales, whom game developers aim to “catch.”
Moreover, microtransactions have also changed game design itself: if the goal is no longer to promote the game as a product worth buying, but rather to continuously monetize it from within, then the game will be designed in a way that frequently makes transactions seem necessary. A mechanism of manipulation?
Season Small Money – Episode 3 (German only) | 02. Mai 2025
Guests
Lies van Roessel is a media studies scholar at the University of Halle, specializing in game studies and media industry studies. In her doctoral dissertation, she examined the development processes and norms of developers of free-to-play games.
Jörg Luibl worked for 21 years as editor-in-chief of the gaming magazine 4Players. He is now engaged with his own gaming magazine and podcast, Spielvertiefung.
Burak Tergek, a lawyer, works for the Consumer Advice Center in North Rhine-Westphalia (Verbraucherzentrale NRW), where he provides consultation, among other things, in cases of complaints related to gaming.
Further Information
The most recent publications by game, the association of the German games industry, can be found here. Critical reporting on the topic can also be read and watched from outlets such as Der Standard, Vice, or Jan Böhmermann’s ZDF Magazin Royale. The article by the technology blog Every on the topic of “whales” can be found here.
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