This Video Might Resonate with Anyone Addicted to Candy Crush

You've got some free time, so you decide to try out that new puzzle game on the App Store. After a half hour of fun, the game stops. It seems you've run out of lives, and have to wait until tomorrow to play ... unless you drop $0.99 on extra lives. What are you going to do, wait until tomorrow? Some of us might, but others ... not so much. If you dropped some cash to keep playing for the day, you, I'm sorry to say, were played. And this video shows you why.

Cracked, known for their entertaining journalism — or maybe journalistic entertainment — just released a new short all about the problem outlined above. Titled "If Mobile Games Were Honest," their video rips apart the freemium genre, demonstrating how the industry exploits players with meaningless rewards and endless tasks. In the end, no matter how free the game looks to be, payment to advance is inevitable.

There is a seemingly limitless barrage of these titles on the App Store. Every day, another Candy Crush clone or Clash of Clans rip-off makes its way to the front page, offering nothing new, yet expecting all of your money.

Perhaps, before giving these companies exactly what they want, you'll take a look at this video, and invest your time and cash somewhere else.

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Cover image by Cracked/YouTube