Nintendo has tried a few experiments on mobile platforms when it comes to payments. With Super Mario Run, Nintendo asked customers to pay $10 up front to get the full experience. The game did well, but many, MANY decided they didn’t want to pay that much for a mobile game. On the flip-side you have titles like Mario Kart Tour, which is free-to-play but loaded with microtransactions. It seems mobile players much prefer that method, and the following story shows why tons of companies decide to go this route.
Microtransactions bring in big bucks on mobile platforms, and the biggest spenders among the bunch are known as “whales.” These players spend impossibly huge amounts of money on mobile games just to get the characters they want, skins they’re after, or that much better in combat. Every big-name mobile game has its whales, and Mario Kart Tour no different.
The latest whale discovered for Mario Kart Tour is 51-year-old Reverend Lawrence Kozak. While you might think a man of God would be on the up-and-up, the Reverend has been accused of racking up over $40k of debt on the parish’s credit card with microtransactions in Mario Kart Tour and Candy Crush. This apparently took place between Sept. 2019 to July 2022.
Kozak was charged with theft but is already out on bail, which was set at a whopping $250k. While these charges only just came in, Kozak was actually caught back in 2022 and removed from his position at the church. Not surprisingly, it turns out Kozak was also using the church’s credit card to buy gifts and other items for himself.
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