The game quietly records what you do and sells or uses it.
Your play and device data are measured, profiled and sometimes sold, and the only thing you get back is a consent prompt.
Nothing: your data is what is being bought. Inside the game, analytics tune difficulty and offers. Outside it, ad networks build profiles of age, sex and location, and brokers resell them.
Once every tap could be measured and sold, the free game's product was the player. Zynga's analytics chief said in 2010 that it was 'an analytics company masquerading as a gaming company', and by 2011 its players were generating 15 terabytes of data a day. King found that almost all Candy Crush quitters had failed level 65, and softened it. Ad networks' software kits built profiles of players, and a 2012 GCHQ report described code to lift those profiles from phones running Angry Birds; the documents do not say whether it was ever used. Patents have also been filed for matchmaking that nudges players to buy. Even optional scans in Pokémon GO helped build a map model that, by Niantic's account, now guides delivery robots.
When the data collected is minimal, explained clearly, off by default for children, and you can say no.
Zynga's July 2011 IPO filing said its CTO had joined in the fall of 2008 'with a mission of building the greatest data warehouse in the game industry', and that its players generated over 15 terabytes of game data a day. In February 2010 Ken Rudin described Zynga as 'an analytics company masquerading as a gaming company'. King's data team found level 65 was where almost all quitters left (reported in 2014). Snowden documents published on 27 January 2014 showed a 2012 GCHQ report with the code needed to pluck ad profiles from Android phones running Angry Birds; the documents do not say whether it was ever used. The FTC's 2022 complaint against data broker Kochava alleged a $25,000 location-data feed on the AWS Marketplace. Apple's App Tracking Transparency (iOS 14.5, 26 April 2021) found only about 4% of US iPhone users said yes at first. Niantic's Pokémon GO scans built a geospatial model that, by Niantic's account, now guides delivery robots; the game was sold for $3.5 billion, and the model stayed with Niantic.
In 2022 the FTC sued data broker Kochava (complaint filed in the District of Idaho) over the alleged sale of location data. The case settled in 2026 with an order barring sales of sensitive location data without consent and no monetary penalty reported.
Apple's App Tracking Transparency (April 2021) added a consent prompt for tracking; Meta estimated the impact on its business at 'on the order of $10 billion'. For the FTC's 2022 Epic Games settlement, see 'Aimed at children'.
Historical prices and revenues are in US dollars at the time unless marked A$.
Zynga's July 2011 IPO filing said players generated over 15 terabytes of game data a day, by the company's own count.
Snowden documents published on 27 January 2014 showed a 2012 GCHQ report with the code needed to pluck age, sex and location profiles from Android phones running Angry Birds; they do not say whether it was ever used.
After iOS 14.5 switched on App Tracking Transparency on 26 April 2021, only about 4% of US iPhone users shown the prompt allowed tracking in the first weeks (an early sample).
In March 2026 Niantic Spatial named Coco Robotics its first robotics partner; the model guiding roughly 1,000 sidewalk robots was trained, by Niantic's own account, on images captured by Pokémon GO and Ingress players.
Covered in Video Games & Money: Ep 36 · The game is a sensor.