The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi had some fun yesterday with Gameview Studios CEO Riz Verk, the man behind the obnoxiously popular freemium game Tapfish. Like other freemium titles, Tapfish is free to download and play, but you have to start paying as soon as you "don't want it to suck," as Mandvi puts it. He talks to some kids that maxed out their dad's credit card, and even asks a child psychologist what other "mental deficiencies" we can exploit in our children.
This is the reason we watch The Daily Show—they dress excellent reporting and tough interviews up as comedy, and the targets (in this case, Gameview Studios) somehow don't see it coming. Hopefully freemium crap like Tapfish, Tiny Tower and Farmville go away soon.
Do you think freemium developers are exploiting kids, or are we just stuck in the past? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.
