You’re sitting on your couch, casually matching candies or building virtual empires on your smartphone. It feels harmless, even therapeutic. But behind that colorful interface, mobile game companies are collecting an astonishing amount of personal data—often without proper consent. Recent studies reveal that 90% of popular mobile games fail to comply with privacy regulations, creating a digital surveillance ecosystem that most players never realize exists.
As someone who’s spent years covering the tech industry, I’ve watched the mobile gaming landscape evolve from simple entertainment into a sophisticated data collection machine. The findings from 2024 and early 2025 are eye-opening, and every mobile gamer deserves to know what’s really happening behind the scenes.
The Shocking State of Privacy in Mobile Gaming
According to a comprehensive analysis by Usercentrics in 2023, approximately 86% of mobile games in North America and 94% in Europe collect users’ personal data without obtaining proper consent. This isn’t just a minor oversight—it represents systematic violations of data protection laws like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the United States.
The scale of this issue becomes clearer when you consider that the mobile gaming industry reached $282.3 billion in revenue in 2024, according to Deloitte, with projections climbing to $363.2 billion by 2027. With billions of players worldwide, the amount of personal data being harvested is staggering.
What’s particularly concerning is that many developers prioritize profit over privacy. Despite the threat of substantial fines and consumers’ growing desire for control over their personal information, the vast majority of mobile game companies continue operating in a legal gray zone—or outright violating privacy laws.
What Data Are Mobile Games Actually Collecting?
When you download that innocent-looking puzzle game or battle royale app, you’re opening the door to extensive data collection. The types of information gathered fall into several distinct categories:
Behavioral Data
This encompasses everything you do within the game itself. Companies track your in-game movements, purchase patterns, time spent on specific tasks, how you interact with characters and interfaces, and even the strategies you employ. Research published in Computer Law & Security Review (2022) explains that behavioral data can reveal your interests, emotions, skills, and even personality traits.
For popular games, this data collection operates at an unprecedented scale. Some mobile games have user bases exceeding the populations of entire countries, allowing developers to compile massive datasets about human behavior and decision-making patterns.
Social Data
Many mobile games encourage or require social features—chatting with other players, forming teams, or sharing achievements. Through these interactions, games collect information about your social connections, communication patterns, and even the content of your conversations. Apps like Roblox, for instance, have been found to collect users’ search history, a data point unique among top gaming apps according to Surfshark’s 2023 research.
Device and Location Information
Mobile games routinely access your device’s GPS, Wi-Fi connections, and cell tower triangulation to pinpoint your location. According to investigations by Kotaku, some applications collect and store geolocation information up to thirteen times per minute. This reveals not just where you are, but how long you spend at specific locations, your daily routes, and even estimates of calories expended during play sessions.
Beyond location, games often access your contacts, photos, IP address, device identifiers, and other information stored on your phone—sometimes with no clear justification for why these permissions are necessary for gameplay.
Biometric and Health Data
With the integration of fitness trackers and augmented reality features, some games now collect biometric information. Games can track your heart rate, movement patterns, steps taken, and calories burned. Augmented reality games like Pokémon GO pioneered this approach, using camera access and movement data to blend virtual elements with the real world.
Financial Information
The most common data points collected include product interaction history, advertising engagement data, purchase history, and payment information. Studies show that five out of nine examined popular gaming apps collect purchase history, while advertising data collection is present in the majority of top games.
The Epic Games Wake-Up Call: A $520 Million Lesson
In December 2022, the Federal Trade Commission delivered a historic blow to Epic Games, creator of the wildly popular Fortnite. The company agreed to pay $520 million in penalties—the largest settlement ever for violations of children’s privacy laws and deceptive practices.
The case is instructive because it reveals how even major gaming companies with substantial legal resources can systematically violate privacy protections. Here’s what the FTC uncovered:
The COPPA Violations
Epic Games paid $275 million specifically for violating COPPA—the largest penalty ever obtained for breaking an FTC rule. The company was fully aware that many Fortnite players were children under 13, evidenced through internal surveys, toy licensing agreements, and player support communications. Despite this knowledge, Epic failed to obtain parental consent before collecting children’s personal information for over two years.
When parents discovered the violations and requested deletion of their children’s data, Epic made them jump through extraordinary hoops to verify their parental status. In many cases, the company simply failed to honor deletion requests entirely.
Dangerous Default Settings
Perhaps most disturbing was Epic’s decision to enable voice and text chat by default for all players, including children. This decision was made despite internal employees warning as early as 2017 about the dangers to young players. The predictable result: children and teens were matched with adult strangers, leading to bullying, threats, harassment, and sexual exploitation.
The FTC noted that Epic “consistently resisted, deprioritized, and delayed privacy and parental controls” even after receiving distressed complaints from parents and users. This wasn’t negligence—it was a deliberate business decision that prioritized engagement over safety.
Dark Pattern Deception
The additional $245 million penalty addressed Epic’s use of “dark patterns”—deceptive design tricks that manipulated players into making unintended purchases. Users were charged with a single button press while in loading screens or trying to wake the game from sleep mode. When customers disputed these unauthorized charges, Epic blocked access to content they had legitimately purchased.
The company ignored more than one million user complaints about these practices, collectively costing users hundreds of millions of dollars.
How Companies Monetize Your Data
Understanding why companies collect so much data requires examining the business models underlying “free” mobile games. The answer is remarkably straightforward: your data is the product.
Targeted Advertising
The primary monetization strategy involves selling advertising space within games, with ad rates determined by how precisely companies can target users. With detailed behavioral profiles, advertisers can show highly relevant ads to specific player segments, commanding significantly higher prices.
In 2024, in-game mobile advertising is projected to reach $11.54 billion according to eMarketer, with machine learning algorithms optimizing ad delivery in real-time based on individual player data. The more a company knows about you—your demographics, interests, purchase history, gaming behavior—the more valuable you become to advertisers.
Selling Data to Third Parties
According to research highlighted by MediaNama (2022), game companies sell player information to advertising agencies and marketing firms that use it to build comprehensive consumer profiles. By the time a child reaches 13, online advertising firms hold an average of 72 million data points about them, according to SuperAwesome, a company specializing in child-privacy compliance.
Optimizing In-App Purchases
Behavioral data helps companies identify which players are most likely to make purchases and at what price points. By analyzing player actions, companies can dynamically adjust offers, create personalized promotions, and design features that encourage spending. Mobile gaming generated $150 billion in in-app purchases and subscriptions globally in 2024, with data analytics playing a central role in maximizing this revenue.
The Regulatory Landscape in 2025
The good news is that regulations are finally catching up to the industry’s practices. As of early 2025, 82% of the world’s population is protected by at least one data privacy law, according to Usercentrics—a dramatic increase from just a few years ago.
Key Privacy Regulations
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): Europe’s comprehensive privacy law requires explicit user consent for data collection, grants users the right to access and delete their data, and imposes fines of up to 4% of global annual revenue for violations.
COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act): U.S. law protecting children under 13 requires verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information. In the U.S., 46% of teenagers play mobile games, and children aged 2-12 spend the greatest proportion of device time on gaming, making COPPA compliance critical.
California Age-Appropriate Design Code: Enacted in 2023 and taking effect in 2024, this law requires companies to consider children’s best interests when designing products and prohibits using personal information in ways that could harm young users.
EU AI Act: Implemented in June 2024, this regulation addresses privacy concerns around artificial intelligence, requiring transparency about AI-driven decision-making and prohibiting manipulative techniques that exploit vulnerable groups.
Increased Enforcement
Regulators are becoming more aggressive. In 2023, French gaming giant Voodoo was fined by France’s data protection authority CNIL. Google announced that publishers hoping to monetize app inventory in Europe must use certified Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) complying with IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework by January 2024.
Data firm Newzoo attributed lower-than-expected gaming revenue growth to the “challenging privacy landscape,” acknowledging that privacy regulations directly impact the industry’s bottom line.
Consumer Attitudes and Expectations
Players are increasingly aware of privacy issues and willing to take action. Research shows that:
- 40% of players would delete a game if they had data privacy concerns
- 80% of consumers would stop purchasing from companies they believe don’t adequately protect personal data
- 84% are more loyal to companies with strong security controls
- 66% would stop supporting a company involved in a data breach
These statistics reveal a crucial truth: building trust through transparent privacy practices isn’t just ethical—it’s good business. Companies like Homa Games have reported seeing between 5-10% increases in ad lifetime value after implementing proper consent management, demonstrating that privacy and profitability can coexist.
Protecting Yourself: Practical Steps
While systemic change requires regulatory pressure, individual players can take immediate action to protect their privacy:
Review App Permissions
Before downloading a game, check what permissions it requests. Question why a puzzle game needs access to your contacts, camera, or precise location. Deny permissions that aren’t clearly necessary for gameplay.
Read Privacy Policies
Yes, they’re long and boring. But privacy policies reveal what data is collected, how it’s used, and who receives it. Look specifically for sections on children’s data, third-party sharing, and data retention periods.
Adjust Privacy Settings
Most games bury privacy controls deep in settings menus. Take time to disable data sharing, limit ad tracking, and turn off social features you don’t use. For children’s accounts, enable the strictest privacy settings available.
Use Platform-Level Protections
Both iOS and Android offer system-wide privacy controls. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, introduced in 2021, allows users to prevent apps from tracking activity across other companies’ apps and websites. Similar features exist on Android through Google’s Privacy Sandbox.
Choose Privacy-Conscious Games
Some developers prioritize privacy. Research games before downloading, read reviews mentioning privacy practices, and support companies that demonstrate respect for user data.
The Path Forward
The mobile gaming industry stands at a crossroads. The old model of invasive data collection without meaningful consent is becoming legally untenable and increasingly rejected by consumers. Forward-thinking companies recognize that privacy-first approaches can build lasting player loyalty and create sustainable revenue streams.
The Epic Games settlement serves as a stark warning: ignoring privacy obligations carries massive financial and reputational costs. With 75% of the world’s population expected to have data privacy protections, companies can no longer treat compliance as optional.
For players, knowledge is power. Understanding what data mobile games collect, how it’s used, and what protections exist empowers you to make informed choices. The next time you download a “free” game, remember: if you’re not paying with money, you’re likely paying with your data. The question is whether you’re getting fair value in return—and whether the company collecting your information is worthy of your trust.
The conversation around data privacy in gaming isn’t going away. As technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence become more integrated into gaming experiences, the volume and sensitivity of collected data will only increase. Now is the time to demand transparency, hold companies accountable, and ensure that the next generation of mobile gaming respects the privacy rights of all players.
