17 Year Old Spends $25,000 on Monopoly GO

Summary

One teenager reportedly spent $25,000 on Monopoly GO app purchases, showing the potential financial dangers of microtransactions.
In-app purchases have sparked controversy before, with the industry relying heavily on microtransactions for profit.
Users often face issues with refunds for random purchases, highlighting the risks of spending in games like Monopoly GO.

The 17-year-old allegedly spent $25,000 Monopoly GO in-app purchases. Even though the game itself is free, many users have found themselves spending disturbing amounts of money on the game to unlock rewards and progress faster than they could without purchasing anything. These microtransactions can add up quickly, like the parents of one Monopoly GO the player learned all too well.

A teenager is far from the first to spend too much money on an app. One user claimed to have spent $1,000 Monopoly GO before permanently deleting it. That's an impressive amount of money for a free-to-play title, but it's less than 5% of what one unfortunate family just found out they had unwittingly dropped.

Some Monopoly GO players get free apology tokens

Some Monopoly GO players are receiving free tokens to compensate for technical issues that affected certain Marvel GO album rewards.

In a now-deleted post, a Reddit user claimed his 17-year-old stepdaughter spent $25,000 on 368 Monopoly GO purchases through the App Store. The step-parent took to Reddit looking for advice on how to fix the problem, but the news isn't looking good for them. Many users stated in the comments Monopoly GOThe Terms of Service hold users responsible for all purchases, even if inadvertent. This is not unusual for freemium games; part of that is microtransaction support Pokemon TCG Pocket it grossed $208 million in its first month.

In-game microtransactions are a constant bone of contention

A teenager spending tens of thousands Monopoly GO this isn't the first time in-game purchases have come under fire. In 2023, an NBA 2K player filed a class-action lawsuit against Take-Two Interactive over its microtransaction model, and the company settled a similar lawsuit the previous year. This particular one Monopoly GO the case likely won't go to trial, but it adds to a long list of cases where people have gotten angry over in-app spending.

It's easy to see why the industry relies on microtransactions. They are remarkably profitable – Diablo 4 gamers have spent over $150 million on them combined – and it's easier to encourage someone to spend a few dollars at a time rather than making the equivalent purchase all at once. The same feature is why many players are less enthusiastic. Microtransaction models can seem misleading and cause people to spend much more than they would otherwise.

Unfortunately, this Reddit user may not be able to get their money back. But for everyone else, it's a good lesson about how easy it is to spend a lot of money Monopoly GO and similar games.