In many games today, substantial money can flow in. A developer has spent a proud 437,000 euros on his own game, even though he could have gotten everything for free. But why did he do that?
Which developer is it? The Japanese developer Yoshiki Okamoto was previously part of Capcom and worked on games like Street Fighter 2. In 2013, he released the mobile game Monster Strike (capcom.fandom.com).
What is Monster Strike? In this game, a team of monsters is created and launched in individual rounds using a slingshot mechanic. The monsters bounce off opponents or walls, causing hits. In Monster Strike, orbs can be purchased with real money to obtain new monsters through a gacha mechanic or to continue a failed quest.
According to Pocketgamer.biz, Monster Strike has generated approximately 6.81 billion euros in revenue over 11 years.
Just like Monster Strike, the new Arknights: Endfield is a game with gacha mechanics, although with different gameplay:
The developer could have spent 0 euros instead of a fortune
Why did the developer pay so much money? In an interview with the Japanese site Sponichi, Yoshiki Okamoto talked about his career and about Monster Strike. He mentioned that he spent 80 million yen on his own game.
This corresponds to approximately 437,000 euros. But according to him, there is a good reason for this. Okamoto says the following about his strange expenditure: “One must understand the impression that people who spend extremely large amounts of money have. I do this to verify that the one who spends the most does not become dissatisfied.”
Why could he have received the in-game items for free? A Japanese X-user wondered why he did not use admin rights to obtain the items. Yoshiki Okamoto has a simple answer for that: “I know that there are administrator rights. But if I were to use them, it would be difficult to understand the feelings of the users.” (via gamesradar.com)
Gacha games like Monster Strike are becoming increasingly popular. Recently, on January 22, 2026, the game Arknights: Endfield was released, which also contains gacha elements. However, there was a mistake right at the release, where players were repeatedly charged money: New action RPG illegitimately charges players – Developers now respond
