Whale
Etymology
Borrowed from casino jargon, where “whale” long meant a high roller worth courting, the term migrated to free-to-play games and apps in the 2010s. Designers found that revenue concentrated in a tiny cohort, and whole systems were tuned to keep whales spending. The animal image conveys both size and the effort spent to land one.
noun · /wayl/
A user who spends dramatically more than everyone else, often funding a free-to-play product single-handedly.
What it names
The heavy spender whose outlays quietly subsidize the free majority.
Example
A single whale can outspend ten thousand casual players, so the game’s design revolves around him.
Related idea
The whale is the paying counterpart to participation inequality: just as a few users make most content, a few users provide most revenue.