If it’s cheap to get stars, I’m definitely having Dolph Lundgren at my next birthday party. Dude doesn’t have to do anything, just hang out.

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    Mobile games make an embarrassing amount of money exploiting addiction. It’s a “great” way to make a quick buck.

  • stoy@lemmy.zip
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    5 months ago

    Mobile games like these are designed with the help of addiction experts, each phase of the game is designed to trigger different emotions which builds up to constant frustration in the end.

    The key is then manage that frustration by constantly showing the player that they could easily remove the source of the frustration by simply buying more resources.

    This has to be done in way to keep the player feeling justly treated according to the rules of the game.

    The game can’t outright just steal your resources, but it can spawn in enemies to waste them and then limit how many resources you get in a specific time, that makes sure you don’t blame the game itself but rather individual parts of the game.

  • PaupersSerenade@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    To put into context; Microsoft bought Activision/Blizzard for 69 Billion dollars. A huge portion of that was actually King.

    Around 2014, over 93 million people were playing Candy Crush Saga, while revenue over a three-month period as reported by King was over $493 million. Five years after its release on mobile, the Candy Crush Saga series has received over 2.7 billion downloads, and the game has been one of the highest-grossing and most-played mobile apps in that time frame. As of September 2023, it had reached over $20 billion in revenue.

    Safe to say mobile market makes a lot more money we’d be comfortable with.

    I shared my arcade membership with my mom a while ago (I had gotten it included) and it put her purchases on my card. This bio-chemist (very smart lady in some specific subjects) spent over $25 on ‘micro’ transactions in a week or so. They prey on the group that just want to get things done.

  • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    Freemium games are kinda hit and miss. But if it hit, the cash can be absofuckinglutely huge. And the misses aren’t even that costly. So they try again and again. Good marketing is the key though, because in the flood of similar products the ones on top of the feed gets downloaded, hence i wouldn’t be even very surprised if that marketing costs were greater than actual development of the game.

    • Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com
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      5 months ago

      Just anecdotal evidence but a game developed where I worked around 2009 had a marketing budget twice as big as the production budget, and it was their “best game” so not just to push some crap.

      It’s not just long hours that wear out game developers 😅

  • linucs@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    You sure Dolph won’t be busy busting heads because he smelled crime or performing outrageous sexual experiments on his incredibly hot but skeptical female lab partner?

      • Minarble@aussie.zone
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        5 months ago

        Thanks…you weren’t wrong about the page. It’s basically an add for the game with adds all the way down!

        From the article:

        Chris Hemsworth, Christina Ricci, Ken Jeong, Will Arnett, And Auli’i Cravalho Squad Up in Launch Trailer for Squad Busters

        The Hollywood gang, while quipping about Ricci’s skeleton-summoning staff, encounter another player’s squad whose characters are played by Internet sensations including TikTok superstar [Bella Poarch]as Witch, real-life woodcutter [Thoren Bradley] as Greg, lip-syncing legend [Gabriela Moura]as Shelly and YouTube extraordinaire [ZHC] as Chicken.

        In a knowing wink to the viewer, Seth Phillips, better known as [Dude With Sign] makes a brief cameo during the battle to ‘appeal to a younger audience’

        • galoisghost@aussie.zone
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          5 months ago

          “And to appeal to old removed who saw Masters Of The Universe when it came out in Cinemas, Dolph Lungren …”

          Btw it’s me that’s the old removed, saw it with some mates for someone’s birthday. Was very underwhelmed

          • Minarble@aussie.zone
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            5 months ago

            Don’t forget Expendables 4…he is sober now as the sniper but is half blind due to his age and can’t hit the side of a barn door from 20 m away.

    • kambusha@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      Apart from Hemsworth, I recognize Gob from Arrested Development, and the dentist-turned-actor who played the Spanish teacher in Community (and bad guy in Hangover).