Politician spends thousands of euros from his party in Clash of Clans

The popularity that games for mobile phones gained not only came from the quality of the titles but also from a very simple feature that also makes them attractive. You can access very good applications to entertain yourself on mobiles or tablets without spending money.
Video game studios and developers found in systems known as freemium (where users get the basic game free of charge and must pay if they want to get improvements or extra content) a very profitable business model, especially in video games for mobile phones.
Since 2012 one of the most relevant titles on both Android and iOS is Clash of Clans. The game developed by Supercell is based on the strategy of free download and payment for extra content since its inception. The plan has worked smoothly for him as the company has reported millions of dollars in profit to date.
A news story about Clash of Clans and its business model appeared around the denunciation of the Austrian journalist Georg Renner that involves the former vice chancellor of Austria in a great scandal around purchases in the Supercell game.

Time is worth money in Clash of Clans

In Clash of Clans the user must build his village, protect it and score points when attacking other players. To achieve this it has different troops, spells and buildings. There are constructions to train the army, to get resources, improve characteristics and defend against attacks from enemies.
All the elements that are part of the village that the player manages need real time to build. The person can wait (there are constructions or improvements that can take up to a week), or pay with gems to speed up or finish the process without the need for that time to pass.
Gems are the most precious elements of the Finnish company title because they allow you to buy resources or speed up processes that would otherwise be time consuming. The quickest and easiest way to get gems in Clash of Clans is with real money purchases.
Not only are gems being traded in Clash of Clans, players can also purchase every few days, season passes that provide upgrades, exclusive outfits, resources, or unreleased items.

A very costly mistake

Heinz-Christian Strache is a renowned Austrian politician. He has been president since 2005 of the Austrian Freedom Party, one of the country's far-right organizations. Strache has been questioned for his openly xenophobic speeches and was embroiled in a major corruption scandal known as the Ibiza Case that cost him his position as vice chancellor in government in 2019.
But the man of politics was accused of a curious attitude and is now part of the latest news about Clash of Clans. Journalist Georg Renner revealed that Strache was spending between 2,000 and 3,000 euros per month on the popular clan war game.
The former vice chancellor had an addiction to the game developed by Supercell and in addition to paying that large sum of money monthly, he did it with the credit card of his political party. The Finnish company in charge of the video game did not share information about the Strache user, but the politician said that using that payment method was a "mistake" and that the money had been returned.

The scandal around Clash of Clans and the renowned politician Heinz-Christian Strache brings to the center of the scene the debate around the risk that micropayments represent in the freemium business models that are so fashionable today. Much news was reported of children who, with their parents' credit cards, have spent more money than they should. On the other hand, adults such as Strache can develop an addiction to this type of offer.
The solution can be found in different ways, developers could program more controls and configurations when making payments or purchases such as, for example, a spending limit per month. At the same time, in the specific case of a government official, the problem goes beyond the world of video games and is closer to the need to have good methods of controlling spending by politicians, who ultimately represent a sector of society and manage everyone's funds.