The Price to Play: A Privacy Analysis of Free and Paid Games in the Android Ecosystem
Pierre Laperdrix, Naif Mehanna, Antonin Durey, Walter Rudametkin
Abstract
With an ever growing number of smartphone users, the mobile gaming industry is booming and reached more than 2.6 billion players worldwide in 2020. While some mobile games charge a relatively modest fee to be played, the vast majority are free and rely exclusively on ads or tracking for their revenue streams. Over the years, Google and Apple have tightened their privacy requirements for apps. They perform thorough app scanning to detect abusive behaviours and require developers to provide a privacy policy on how they collect and handle user data. Yet, little is known about the data collection that fuels the advertising and tracking industry behind mobile games. Players can see the ads that are presented to them but they may not be aware of the invisible trackers that collect valuable data in the background.