Young Japanese aged between 20-29 have shown a proclivity for video gaming that often goes beyond reasonable management of personal finances. According to SMBC Consumer Finance’s annual survey of financial awareness, the country’s young men and women have reported making financial choices that prioritize gaming-related spending over essentials.
Young Japanese adults continue to spend on in-game purchases, in some instances, imprudently
Based on the banking subsidiary’s findings, 18.8% of the 1,000 people interviewed for the annual survey, have preferred to cover in-game purchases at the expense of living costs. In other words, nearly 1 in 5 young Japanese men and women have preferred to spend their money on digital goods sold in video games rather than cover their most pressing everyday needs.
Men were more likely to engage in such behavior, with 22.8% of the group opting for such financial decisions as opposed to only 14.8% of all women.
The annual survey has noted that there has been an increase in the number of people who responded positively to queries such as "I’m willing to pay to have an advantage in-game" and "I can’t enjoy the game if I don’t make in-game purchases" suggesting that, for the most part, people are now tying the enjoyment they get from video gaming to the purchases they make in said games.
In-game purchases and addiction tendencies in children
Loot boxes have long been tied to gambling-like mechanics, although definitive proof that the two are equal has not been discovered. Lawmakers have been reluctant to equate them as well, although singular voices of criticism have been heard.
In the United Kingdom, non-profit organization GambleAware recently introduced an installation featuring 85,000 poker chips, one for every supposed child gambling addict in the country. GambleAware has long maintained that loot boxes and in-game purchases in video games have predisposed children to exhibit gambling-like behavior and suffer gambling-related harm.
