Blogger and financial investor, Ichirou Yamamoto recently wrote for website 4Gamer on the danger and "slot machine-like" gambling nature of mobile and social games.
In his article, Yamamoto writes about the recent spread of social games that utilize a collectible card game random draw mechanic with "rare" items that are often sold via internet auctions at exorbitant prices making these games the equivalent of gambling, for which the appropriate regulations may need to be applied before things get out of control.
Indeed, popular social games like Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls have users spending copious amounts of money on them, and online auctions are littered with sales of rare and special cards. Yamamoto goes on to state that this surge of social games has caught the attention of one rival industry: The Pachinko industry.
Apparently the 82-year-old industry is none too happy about the explosion of social games and is casting a very critical eye on it. Yamamoto writes, "Prominent members in the pachinko industry express concern about the rise of the social game industry and view it as a problem." Considering that pachinko is pretty much legal gambling in everything but the name, the hypocrisy is thick enough to choke on.
In other news: Pot Calls Kettle Black.
【山本一郎】ソーシャルゲーム業界の「ガチャ」商法，規制強化情報乱舞の怪。いま，おまえのソーシャルの危険が危ない [4Gamer.net]
(Top photo: Katsumi Kasahara | AP)