The video game on tablets and smartphones “Brawl Stars” is enjoying dazzling success in the playgrounds. To the point of worrying parents and addiction professionals, particularly because of its aggressive “business model”.
“There will be ten people and the goal is to be the last survivor”: this is the principle of “Brawl Stars”, explained by Max, 12 years old. Being the last one standing after the fight in the arena allows you to get the maximum rewards. “The goal is to have the most trophies and the most characters,” explains the boy in the 7:30 p.m. “It’s this principle that I like,” he emphasizes.
A phenomenon in preteen playgrounds and bedrooms, “Brawl Stars” is an intuitive, multiplayer video game with unlimited content. “It’s very addictive,” admits Max. “As the game doesn’t last long, I’ll do another one afterwards to get more trophies.”
The youngster starts and restarts games to stay at the same level as his friends who are playing at the same time as him on their smartphone or tablet.
Parents’ dismay
To the despair of the parents. “We’re a little helpless,” admits Céline, Max’s mother. “We frame the time [qu’il passe à jouer]. But at the same time, we sense a kind of despair and stress in him, because the others are progressing when he is not. He tells us that when he starts again, he will have lost everything, that he will be the worst.”
In “Brawl Stars”, however, you only have to pay to catch up. Spending small amounts allows you to improve your characters more and more quickly. Max spent about a hundred francs in one year on these “in-app purchases”.
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“Aggressive” business model
Joël Billieux, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Lausanne and specialist in addictive and compulsive behavior, explains that this is an “aggressive business model.”
For him, the legal framework is insufficient. The game does not pose a question as such, unlike “the commercial models that are behind it and target young people who we will try to make spend money”.
And this process works: “Brawl Stars” earned 64 million francs in April alone. Parents are therefore advised to continue to monitor their child’s screen time and, above all, to take an interest in the games in question.
Gilles de Diesbach/friend
