Free video games, real costs: when paying stops being recreation

1) The new finding: 10% generate most of the spending

In August 2026, a study was published involving 2,308 Austrian students ages 10 to 19. Of these, 818 had made in-game purchases during the previous year.

This finding therefore challenges the idea that heavy spenders can simply afford it. A teenager may use allowance money, gifts, savings, family cards, money obtained without permission, or payments so fragmented that no one has yet calculated the true total.

High spending was also associated with more symptoms of gaming disorder and problem gambling. However, the cross-sectional design cannot establish which comes first: spending may intensify a pattern of impaired control, but those who are already more vulnerable may also end up spending more.

The association is concerning; causation still needs more research.

2) What microtransactions really are

In simple terms, a microtransaction is a purchase made within a video game. For example, it may buy an appearance, a character, an upgrade, virtual currency, an expansion, time, energy, competitive advantages, or a random reward. However, they do not all carry the same risk.

Buying a known item is not the same as paying for the chance to obtain it.

3) Why loot boxes resemble gambling

First, not every loot box legally meets the definition of gambling. Even so, many share psychological and structural elements with gambling: there is payment, an uncertain outcome, prizes of unequal value, rapid repetition, and a desired item that may never appear.

Mechanisms that encourage continued spending

• For example, near misses: the feeling of having come close increases the desire to repeat.
• Also, the illusion of control: an animation, a streak, or a promotion is interpreted as a sign that the outcome can be predicted.
• Another is sunk cost: the more has been spent, the harder it seems to stop without obtaining the reward.
• Also, high frequency: each opening leads within seconds to another opportunity.
• By contrast, unpredictable rewards: uncertainty maintains anticipation.
• Finally, artificial scarcity: limited events and items turn waiting into a supposed loss.

The thinking that maintains the cycle

“I’ve opened so many packs; it has to come soon.”
“I can’t stop after everything I’ve invested.”
“I only need one last pull.”
“If I don’t get it today, it will disappear.”

However, each opening may be independent of the previous ones. Spending a hundred euros does not oblige the system to deliver the desired item with the next purchase.

4) It is not simply “dopamine”

On social media, almost any addictive behavior is often explained by saying it “releases dopamine.” That explanation is insufficient. Dopamine is involved in learning, motivation, anticipation, and reward, but impaired control over microtransactions also depends on age, impulsivity, peer pressure, competitiveness, attachment to the character, urgency of offers, immediate access to payment, and emotional state.

What a virtual reward can represent

That is why saying “just stop buying” may be as insufficient as telling someone with problem gambling to “just stop gambling.” Payment serves a function within an emotional and social ecosystem.

5) Virtual money makes spending feel less real

First, many games do not display prices directly in euros. Gems, credits, points, tokens, coins, or bundles are purchased first; that currency is then exchanged for items. Buying 1,200 gems therefore does not feel the same as paying 14.99 euros.

Designs that reduce friction

• bundles in amounts that are hard to convert into euros;
• leftover currency that encourages another purchase;
• limited-time offers and countdown clocks;
• discounts available for only a few hours;
• pop-ups and commercial notifications;
• rewards for logging in every day;
• and one-click payments.

Consequently, these features are not always decorative: they may form part of an architecture that prolongs engagement and encourages spending. This does not mean every video game is predatory. It means the product should be evaluated rather than placing responsibility solely on the player.

6) “It’s free”: the model that needs someone to spend heavily

Economically, free-to-play video games earn revenue through advertising, in-game purchases, or both. Most players may spend little or nothing; however, the business may depend on a small group spending far larger amounts.

The industry has also historically used the term “whales”
for these high spenders. The language is revealing: the person stops being viewed as a player and is valued instead according to how much money can be extracted from them.

The Austrian study also found a concentration of spending similar to that observed in gambling markets. However, microtransactions and gambling for money remain distinct phenomena and must not become interchangeable diagnoses.

The problem is not that a company makes a profit, but that a disproportionate share comes from users with impaired control or particular vulnerability.

7) Intensive use, problematic spending, addiction, and gambling disorder are not synonyms

A good assessment identifies which problem exists rather than assuming they are all the same.

8) What the Spanish data show

In Spain, the official 2025 report on behavioral addictions, based on a representative sample of more than 35,000 students, shows that video games are a regular part of adolescent recreation: they are used by 84.4 % of young people ages 14 to 18.

However, these percentages come from screening instruments and do not mean all these adolescents received a clinical diagnosis. Moreover, 81% of treatment admissions involved gambling, while around 9% jointly involved video games, social media, and other digital devices.

We are therefore not facing an epidemic in which every teenager who plays is ill. But neither is the problem imaginary.

9) Can loot boxes bring players closer to gambling?

Research suggests a relationship, although it should be explained without alarmism. For example, a Spanish study of 6,633 adolescents and young adults found more indicators of possible gaming disorder and online gambling problems among those who had bought loot boxes. However, it was cross-sectional: it shows association, not causation.

Another longitudinal study followed 561 Flemish adolescents for one year. Initial engagement with loot boxes, prize wheels, social casinos, and other gambling-like elements subsequently predicted more gambling behavior, indirectly through attitudes and intention.

Even so, that design does not eliminate all alternative factors either. Impulsivity, family rules, advertising exposure, friends, ADHD, sensation-seeking, and access to money may influence both behaviors.

Gambling-like mechanics may normalize chance and spending in vulnerable people, but they do not automatically turn every player into someone who will develop gambling disorder.

10) September: when returning to routine reveals the problem

First, playing more during summer may seem normal: schedules are looser, there is no school, friends stay connected, and many events last several weeks. Some families also relax limits while working or trying to balance responsibilities.

Then September brings a reality check. It is time to turn off the console, go to bed earlier, leave a game in progress, return to studying, and pass up an offer that ends that very night.

What may become visible

• intense and prolonged irritability;
• a completely reversed sleep schedule;
• refusal to attend school;
• inability to study;
• isolation and abandonment of activities;
• lies or hidden accounts;
• unauthorized purchases;
• and disproportionate anxiety when access is limited.

September does not necessarily cause addiction; it may reveal a pattern that vacation kept hidden.

11) Twelve warning signs

Ultimately, no single sign confirms a disorder. However, the pattern, persistence, and impairment justify an assessment when several appear.

12) “My child gets angry when I take the game away”: does that prove addiction?

Not necessarily. For example, any teenager may protest when an enjoyable activity is interrupted, especially when playing with friends and unable to leave a cooperative game immediately.

However, intensity, duration, and context make the difference. There is more reason for concern when anger continues long afterward, violence or threats occur, no alternative is tolerated, they lie to regain access, use devices in the early hours, steal money, or sleep, studies, and relationships are already impaired.

The assessment should not focus solely on the reaction to switching off the console; it should examine the child’s entire life.

13) It is not only an adolescent problem

Adults can also lose control in sports games, mobile titles, persistent worlds, strategy games, digital card games, social casinos, or character collections.

Indeed, someone may maintain employment and responsibilities while spending hundreds of euros a month, hiding it from their partner, using credit, playing during work, sleeping little, or living around completing events.

“I don’t have a problem because I work and can afford it.”

However, financial means are not the only criterion. Control, concealment, interference, distress, and actual freedom to stop also matter.

14) ADHD, anxiety, depression, and other vulnerabilities

Impaired control over video games and microtransactions may also coexist with other problems. A complete assessment therefore does not ask only how many hours the person plays.

The clinical question is not just “how many hours do they play?” but “what do they find inside the game that they are not finding outside it?”

15) The mistake of humiliation

By contrast, phrases such as “you’re an addict,” “you’ve become useless,” or “video games are destroying you” tend to increase defensiveness, secrecy, damage to the relationship, and resistance to seeking help.

The person should therefore not be reduced to a label. A diagnosis can guide treatment, but does not sum up who they are or erase their abilities, interests, or possibility of recovery.

16) What families can do today

Finally, when every limit ends in war, the family may already need outside support. Seeking help does not mean demonizing gaming: it means restoring communication, financial safety, and functioning.

17) Should video games be banned completely?

Sometimes access must be temporarily removed, especially with fraudulent spending, financial risk, violence, severely disrupted sleep, or repeated breaches of agreements. However, an abrupt ban does not always solve the problem.

For example, it may increase conflict, encourage hidden accounts, shift use to other devices, or replace the behavior with another compulsion. The therapeutic goal is therefore not always to live without video games.

More useful goals

• regaining control over starting and stopping;
• restoring sleep and schedules;
• fulfilling responsibilities;
• restoring financial transparency;
• maintaining relationships and physical activity;
• and enjoying other sources of reward again.

In severe cases, temporary abstinence may form part of the plan, although it should have a defined clinical purpose and be accompanied by alternatives.

18) What is happening with Spanish regulation?

Spain currently has the Draft Organic Law for the Protection of Minors in Digital Environmentsunder consideration. Its initial text includes measures targeting certain random reward mechanisms.

However, as of August 31, 2026, the initiative remains with the Justice Committee at the report stage. It should therefore not be presented as a fully effective ban. Nor does it necessarily affect every in-game purchase: the focus is on systems combining payment, chance, and virtual rewards under certain conditions.

Ultimately, regulation can reduce exposure, but does not replace financial education, purchase controls, responsible design, family supervision, or access to treatment. Nor should an entire industry be demonized: the problem is concentrated in certain combinations of design, vulnerability, and impaired control.

19) How gaming addiction or microtransaction problems are treated

First, treatment begins by distinguishing the problem. Intervention may be needed for gaming time, spending, loot boxes, gambling, sleep, impulsivity, anxiety, depression, ADHD, family relationships, or several factors simultaneously.

Psychological interventions

Specifically, cognitive behavioral therapies are the most studied interventions. For example, they may address triggers, justifying thoughts, stimulus control, emotion regulation, relapse prevention, and rebuilding routines.

Family interventions also appear particularly useful for minors, although research remains heterogeneous. There is also no “pill to quit video games.” Medication may be appropriate for a properly diagnosed co-occurring condition, but does not replace behavioral and family work.

20) Can online therapy help?

In many cases, yes. Video consultations may also provide an entry point when the patient feels ashamed, lives far away, studies or works, the family needs guidance, or frequent follow-up is needed without an emergency.

What an assessment can distinguish

• intensive use without a disorder;
• problematic use;
• gaming disorder;
• loss of control over purchases;
• gambling or gambling disorder;
• and combinations with ADHD, anxiety, depression, or insomnia.

Specifically, Dr. Marc Agraz’s practice assesses digital habits, interference with sleep, studies, work, and relationships, financial functioning, psychiatric co-occurring conditions, and family needs.

However, in-person or urgent care may be required with severe violence, suicide risk, psychosis, several days without sleep, complete school nonattendance, major financial fraud, or an inability to ensure safety.

21) Signs of crisis

Sometimes restricting spending, removing a device, or losing an account can trigger a very intense emotional reaction. Urgent help should be sought if there are:

• threats of suicide or self-harm;
• violent destruction of objects;
• assaults or running away;
• significant disorganization;
• several days without sleep;
• or loss of contact with reality.

22) My clinical position

23) Conclusion: when free becomes too expensive

The video game may have been downloaded without payment. Yet the bill may arrive later: in money, sleep, arguments, lies, isolation, performance, and freedom.

First, a single purchase does not demonstrate a problem. Likewise, protesting when a game ends or playing many hours on vacation does not automatically mean illness. But if the person cannot stop, hides their spending, chases random rewards, neglects their life, and continues despite harm, this is no longer merely entertainment.

The decisive indicator is not how much they enjoy playing, but how much control they retain when trying to stop playing or stop paying.

September may therefore be a good time to restore schedules, review spending, and talk without accusations. When the family no longer knows how, seeking help is not an overreaction: it is intervening before the cost becomes greater.

24) Regaining control without demonizing video games

Does your child spend money on card packs, loot boxes, skins, or virtual currency and hide how much they pay? Do they become intensely angry when gaming or purchases are restricted? Do you yourself feel you have lost control over video games, gacha, or microtransactions?

A responsible assessment does not aim to remove all video games.
It aims to restore control, functioning, and freedom.

Frequently asked questions

Loot boxes, purchases, and diagnosis

Family, treatment, and emergencies

Sources and further reading