Someone spent $1 million on Game of War and didn’t get Kate Upton

If you're still crying about those $100 you spent once in a free-to-play game, then what do you think about someone who spent $1 million on Game of War, the mobile game mostly known for Kate Upton's “bouncy” commercials – an ad campaign that cost approximately $40 million.

A 45-year-old California man Kevin Lee Co admitted in Sacramento federal court that he embezzled nearly $5 million from his controller job at a heavy-equipment company called Holt California, this running from May 2008 to March 2015. What did he spend the money on? Luxury cars, plastic surgery, season tickets to the San Francisco 49ers, and approximately $1 million on Game of War. Co is now facing a maximum 20-year term when sentenced in May, plus a $500,000 fine and a 5-year period of supervised release, among other things.

Game of War is a mobile strategy game and one, if not the greatest whale-catcher of recent years, being somewhat of an evolved Evony in shape and form – it lures players with an ad campaign featuring sexy women – Kate Upton being the most famous here, but Mariah Carey was also part of it – and then enthralls them in a game with so many systems and so much to take care of that they eventually will want to speed up construction or upgrade times, or purchase other virtual items to get the illusion of faster progress. The problem is that in Game of War and other similar games you can lose hundreds or thousands of your dollars in a few minutes and, just like gambling, by this time you're already addicted and probably spending even more money right after. It's not an enjoyable experience, just one that is similar to gambling but where you only lose money.

And if you got into Game of War because of Kate Upton, do you know what else the internet can be used for? Exactly.

How much did you ever spend purchasing virtual items in a game, free-to-play or not? Don't be scared to tell us, we're curious!