Match Group CEO spent $50,000 on 'Clash of Clans' in 3 months: 'I still look back at that with lots of shame'
While speaking at a dating summit, Bernard Kim, the CEO of Match Group, said the rewards of mobile gaming don't compare to those of online dating.
Frederic J. Brown / Getty Images
- CEO of Match Group Bernard Kim spent $50,000 on the mobile gaming app Clash of Clans.
- Speaking at a dating summit, Kim said the rewards of mobile gaming don't compare to those of of online dating.
- Kim was formerly president of the mobile gaming group Zynga.
$50,000 can buy you a lot — and if you're Match Group CEO Bernard Kim, that includes a "really amazing wall" on the mobile game Clash of Clans."
While speaking at a recent New Street Research's online dating summit, the CEO of the company behind Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com admitted to spending $50,000 on in-game purchase over a three-month period — a decision he said he looks back on "with lots of shame."
Kim was responding to an attendee's question comparing the lifecycle of users on apps like Tinder to those on mobile games. Many dating apps are "designed to be deleted" (as Hinge's marketing posits), whereas gaming apps are designed to keep users hooked — and, often, paying for in-game items to level up.
"The life cycle of a gamer versus a dater are very different," Kim said, in a video that can be seen on The Verge. But, he added, "no one plays these games forever. After a certain point, people churn out of a game experience."
Kim was previously steeped in the mobile gaming industry as the president of mobile gaming group Zynga, known for creating Words With Friends.
Like mobile games, many dating apps — including those in Match's portfolio — offer in-app purchases, including a new $50-per-month Hinge subscription.
But at the panel, he said the rewards of mobile gaming don't compare to the potential rewards of online dating.
"The rewards of finding the right date or having that great experience, finding the one…. Those rewards are literally endless,"Kim said.
"I've personally spent $50,000 in three months in 'Clash of Clans,' and I still look back at that with lots of shame," he added. "I'm like 'oh my God, what did I really get out of that experience?' Nothing, other than, like, a really amazing wall, which is not cool today."