['< sod > in august 2015, a former employee of mz was arrested and charged with stealing proprietary data that included " player spending habits broken down by time, location, age and other characteristics " which showed, for example, which of\'\' game of war\'\' { {\'} } s " in - game items generate the most revenue and where in the game players often quit. " < ref name = needleman > { { cite journal | title = why\'game of war\'user data is so valuable | first = sarah e. | last = needleman | date = august 26, 2015 | journal = wall street journal | url = http : / / blogs. wsj. com / digits / 2015 / 08 / 26 / why - game - of - war - user - data - is - so - valuable / | deadurl = no | archiveurl = http : / / web. archive. org / web / 20151225213912 / http : / / blogs. wsj. com / digits / 2015 / 08 / 26 / why - game - of - war - user - data - is - so - valuable / | archivedate = 2015 - 12 - 25 } } < / ref > according to the\'\' [ [ wall street journal ] ]\'\', the monetary value of the data derived from the fact that " about 3 % of mobile - game players buy virtual goodies, such as extra turns and special powers. once you have purchased the initial low cost deals the price goes up to $ 99. 99 for in game items. it is not possible to spend only a few dollars a month. there are players known as whales – a name derived from casinos – plunk down $ 100s and $ 1, 000\'s of dollars every month. with the introduction of ancient kingdoms these so called whales are going from kingdom to kingdom and attacking the few non spending players who haven\'t quit already " < ref name = needleman / > < eod > < sod > in august 2015, a former employee of mz was arrested and charged with stealing proprietary data that included " player spending habits broken down by time, location, age and other characteristics " which showed, for example, which of\'\' game of war\'\' { {\'} } s " in - game items generate the most revenue and where in the game players often regularly quit. " < ref name = needleman > { { cite journal | title = why\'game of war\'user data is so valuable | first = sarah e. | last = needleman | date = august 26, 2015 | journal = wall street journal | url = http : / / blogs. wsj. com / digits / 2015 / 08 / 26 / why - game - of - war - user - data - is - so - valuable / | deadurl = no | archiveurl = http : / / web. archive. org / web / 20151225213912 / http : / / blogs. wsj. com / digits / 2015 / 08 / 26 / why - game - of - war - user - data - is - so - valuable / | archivedate = 2015 - 12 - 25 } } < / ref > according to the\'\' [ [ wall street journal ] ]\'\', the monetary value of the data derived from the fact that " about 3 % of mobile - game players buy virtual goodies, such as extra turns and special powers. most spend only a few dollars a month, while a tiny fraction known as whales – a name derived from casinos – plunk down $ 50 or more a month. " < ref name = needleman / > < eod >']