I'd be more than happy with fewer games. These F2P games are deliberately designed to prey on people's weaknesses because, as much as we'd like to pretend other

I'd be more than happy with fewer games. These F2P games are deliberately designed to prey on people's weaknesses because, as much as we'd like to pretend otherwise, humans are not entirely rational. Moreover, humans are not uniform, which is why it disproportionately affects a smaller percentage of the population. It's not unlike gambling. It's also why expecting the market to shift this isn't going to work -- that same small percentage is what's driving much of the profitability. Besides the exploitation, it's just flat out ruining gaming. The top games on iOS and Android are just IAP-laden garbage designed to manipulate people into making progress and then locking them out. But, since every company is supposed to maximize profitability, they all end up gradually adding similar mechanisms. The market can't push back in any meaningful way. Sure, you'll see some games have to backtrack (Battlefront II) or some flat out fail (Concord), but mobile is a different beast than console (for the time being, at least). And I think this is an area where regulation is the only thing that can make a level playing field. Not to mention the F2P games arguably engage in price dumping. Consumers in all markets will gravitate towards the lowest cost option. Here, a game doesn't have to be particularly good or even good for the player, it just has to be cheaper than other games. It's making it harder for there to be a legitimate video game market. I really think Apple did the world a disservice with iOS purchase policies. IAP makes it way too easy to hide the true price and for years you couldn't even find the price until you used the app (now it's hidden away, but accessible, on the store page). It predictably led to a deluge of free apps and games that made it much harder to engage in what I'd consider more ethical commerce. Hell, I've purchased apps and still had functionality very unexpectedly locked behind IAP. If F2P games can't find a way to profitability that doesn't rely on exploiting people, then so be it. I don't think anything is truly lost. Societal productivity would very likely increase because people wouldn't be grinding for hours just to get to that next level.