I don't think I remember this when I went, but we went to a more independent theatre and I wasn't really paying attention.

I know the obvious answer here but I'm going to ask anyway: how do these games make so much money? They're free, and even in my darkest hour the most I have ever spent on a phone game was 2 dollars in Tapped Out. I know there's ads but the incentive for buying a game is usually around 2 bucks, which claims the ads are then removed. So if I'm doing my maths correctly the game would stand to make roughly 15 billion dollars if every single person in the world was playing. But even the big ones, like CoC and Angry Birds only have a player population of about a million.

That seems like a lot, but expensive commercials, CGI movies, employees, etc with nothing but either ad revenue from cheapskates like me who don't want to pay or a small amount of money for those that do. Plus the ads are always for other app games, never anything like you see on YT. Seems like a big money pit, doing a big commercial for something that's essentially free.

I'm sure they have different commercials at different theatres, but I got to see Christopher Waltz tell a bedtime story on a 3D IMAX screen, and it was -Magical-.

As for how they make money, I don't know either. I'm guessing every town in America has at least one or two poop-socking chumps who're willing to spend thousands of dollars on freemium currency. I spent ten bucks on Tapped Out once (so I could unlock Elvira/ Booberella) but the EA servers "somehow" corrupted my save-file a week or two later, and I never got reimbursed.

Yeah same thing happened to me. My iOS updated and all of my Tapped Out stuff was gone, and I don't even remember what I paid for. I think it was some scratch tickets. There's always a way to justify purchases I suppose, and I've spent enough money on pinball in my lifetime to probably afford 5 or 6 tables of my own, another hobby that doesn't really make much sense to waste laundry money on until you try it. If it were the time before the pinball ban I could've made a lot of money probably but that's another story. Pinball was outlawed for longer than alcohol in the united states.

Actually pinball's another good analogy that I can break down in a way I can't with apps: a brand new machine costs around ,500, and assuming you're a popular bar you can probably get your money back on your investment pretty quickly at 50 cents a game. But that of course doesn't include the cost of maintenance, so most places go with older less expensive pins (which are better anyway but break down even more regularly). And there's like 600 machines in this town scattered through various bars, some of which are arcades, but where I tend to go I'm the only one playing. Yet they keep pumping out new ones with movie licenses (not sure if Stern Pinball bought the rights to Star Wars from Data East/Sega before they went under but every other popular movie you can think of probably has a pin.)

I just don't see how the new ones are making any money at all. Movie licenses, like this commercial (which I'm guessing is more expensive than having your ad at the super bowl) aren't cheap.

It's estimated that CoC brings in million per day, with an active user base of perhaps 30 million people.

It's all about those gems, fellas.

The company reported earnings of 1.2 billion in 2014. So, yes, they can have Mr. Waltz say whatever they want. Not that he strikes me as particularly hard to buy. Anyway, none of this is new. Celebs were shilling for World of Warcraft when that was the hottest thing in town... probably still are, even.

Wow. Statistically I'd think I'd have to know someone who plays this game, and people I know tend to talk about their apps or send me invites to play apps on facebook and shit, and I've never seen CoC come up.

But the commercials just remind me of those old video game commercials where they were doing advanced CGI (for the time) and then you try the game and it's just like some Atari game or something. At least the WoW commercials featured in-game footage for the most part, if I remember correctly.

I know a few CoC-heads, but they tend to brag about how little money they've spent on it. Which I don't really get. If you're enjoying a mobile game as much as you're trying to convince me you are, why not put in the - you'd be comfortable paying for a game on any other system? Get those gems and be proud, fellas.

I guess I didn't bother to watch the video first.. that was pretty cute. But still, paying next gen console game prices for an app that looks like Super Nintendo seems a little crazy. Plus where do you really play it? I usually play Neko Atsume when I'm taking a shit and sometimes at work if there's nothing else to do but otherwise I'd rather play something more graphically immersing. And smartphones are capable of that: I downloaded Goat Simulator and it runs in 60FPS and looks about as good as any LP video I've seen off a PC, which means it's a much more powerful machine than my own. I know 8 bit retro style is back in fashion but an app that looks like a flash game from the late '00s not so much..

Oh, I'm not saying that I would spend retail money on a shitty game like CoC. (I'd spend at least on a beefed-up version of The Room, though, which I loved). I'm just saying some people I know play the game a great deal yet pride themselves on 'never giving them a dime'. And to those people I ask: what does this say about how you value your time? If you're sinking time into a game, hopefully you're enjoying it. And if you're enjoying something enough to sink time into, why would you resist paying for it any more than, say, Fallout 4? How do self-righteousness and devaluing your own hobby work together? Not that value, time, and money have to be connected when it comes to meaningful hobbies, like woodworking or mounting a penis wall or whatever, but this I don't get.

Anyway, it's just an aloof attitude that mildly irks me. "I sink 10 hours a week into mobile games but really I'm too cool for mobile games."

I think it's self-delusion.

They think they're getting one over on the company because the company expects you jump when the shiny thing makes a noise, but they are rebels, and just persevere. (also it usually doesn't last and they eventually break down and buy shit, and wont admit that)

I just play games that don't try to pull a Pavlov on me and my money.

My favorite is that game which landed Kate Upton.

Oh yeah, the other CoC game. I always thought she was mostly in porn and that's why they could afford to make so many commercials. I think she'd be a big left swipe to me though, which is weird because she does kind of look like Carmen Luvana.

Every day I wake up and think, "Why aren't I making a Clash of Clans clone and then being outrageously rich and never having to do another thing in my entire life right now?" Then I go to work and read news articles.

You were born for better things, Hooker.

(Maybe hookin'?)

Speaking of pornstars and games, I just picked up Saints Row 3 for 6.99. My avatar's a naked man with a female voice. After playing for a bit she starts singing along to Sublime in the car. I looked it up and Sasha Grey is in the game. It sounds like her but it doesn't say whether or not she's the default female voice. Anyway I was oddly turned on.