This provided us with a database of 6,751 games, including 396 paid ones. For paid games, we used the free trial from the Google Play Pass catalogue. We downloaded all of the free ones from the AndroZoo database, which is maintained by the University of Luxembourg.

L.: We used Android telephones to conduct the study on games available in the Google Play Store. You conducted a study on the presence and functioning of different trackers in mobile games. This advertising ecosystem is gigantic, with thousands of businesses collecting and sharing profiles, including GAFAM as well as more local enterprises such as Criteo in France. This information is sometimes sold to third-party companies to earn more income. Spyware collects as much data as possible thereon: what one does on the Internet, what games they play, their geographic location, etc. A huge industry thus emerged to profile each user as accurately as possible, and to then present them with advertising that best matches their centres of interest or consumption habits. To have the greatest impact – the most likely to lead to a purchase – it must be as targeted as possible. Today a large part of the Internet is financed by online advertising. And finally, there’s the purchase of the game by its users. In addition, subscriptions such as the ‘Battle Pass’ give access to additional content for a few months. There are also microtransaction systems in which a few euros are paid to unlock items or new levels in the game. Today this is the most common method, as 95% of games on Google Play Store are free, and therefore indirectly financed by such ads. The first is online advertising, in which the game’s developer or publisher receives a little money for each advertisement presented to the player. L.: There are multiple ways to monetise a mobile game. What is the economic model of these games, and what role does tracking play? The trend was amplified during the lockdown, as many people did not necessarily have gaming consoles or computers at home, and used what they had at hand to entertain themselves! For the first time ever, the revenues of games on mobiles this year surpassed those on PCs and consoles put together.

In 2021, it was estimated that the latter totalled nearly 2.6 billion across the globe, generating revenues of $93.2 billion. Pierre Laperdrix: 1The industry has indeed grown tremendously, with increasing spending on mobile games and more and more players. How important have they become in recent years? Mobile games have enjoyed great success among users.

Candy Crush, Pokémon Go, Clash of Clans, Roblox… The list goes on.

Spying games online for free