‘We own you’ says free-to-play mobile developer

An anonymous free-to-play mobile game producer has come forward to reveal that every free game consumers download, will in turn build a database of information on that individual. That means, when you download Clash of Clans on your mobile device you give those developers the right to collect data on you.

This could explain why certain apps ask to have access to things like contacts and your internet browser. All of the information stowed away in your personal profile doesn't stay within that one company, but is shared between their partners.

Why? Because knowing the things that you like will help them sell things to you through in-game microtransactions. If you spend a lot of money, they might even friend request you on Facebook with a fake profile to gather even more information.

This isn’t an article about the evils of free to play manipulation to get you to spend money. This is about how we can target you, because we (and our partners) know everything about you. We know where you live, we know your income level, we know your relationships, your favorite sports teams, your political preferences. We know when you go to work, and where you work. We can target an event to start for you when we know you have a long weekend coming up. We own you.

Every time you play a free to play game, you just build this giant online database of who you are, who your friends are and what you like and don’t like. This data is sold, bought and traded between large companies I have worked for. You want to put a stop to this? Stop playing free games. Buy a game for 4.99 or 9.99. We don’t want to be making games like this, and we don’t want another meeting about retention, cohorts or churn.

The producer that spoke out on this didn't reveal much about themselves, but did say they started their game career as a console game producer. The anonymous individual's identity was vouched for by a journalist on TouchArcade, the site that ran the post.