Hi Guys, I've been a long time reader / consumer of this site but have never posted. I'm an iOS developer (generally doing contract work) and will be releasing my own game soonish. I want to hear your thoughts as players on how you feel about ads in games. I know personally I find it really annoying when ads pop up in my face. And banner ads I really don't click on. But as a developer when things are flipped and I'm faced with figuring out a way to monetize my game, ads are an easy option to include. My game is a simple 2D game inspired by an old game I had my my TI-83+ graphing calculator. I've been working on the game and design, and my wife, a self taught graphic artist, has been doing the graphics. I'm a huge fan of Nimblebit's games, especially their latest Nimble Quest. I really love how fun and well done Nimble Quest is, despite being such a simple concept. Thats my goal with this game, the concept is simple but I'm aiming for a well polished and executed final product (the gameplay is nothing like NimbleQuest, I just like their design philosophy). I also really love how Nimblebit has handled their free to play games. They make their game playable and fun first and then work in app purchases into the game. Our game has been influenced heavily by this system. So in terms of monetization, the game will be free with in app purchases. My goal now is to decide, is it worth putting ads in the game and giving the user the option to remove them? Feedback from other game developers I've found on various blogs online seems to indicate a remove ad IAP is not effective. But are the ads themselves effective at generating revenue through clicks? I don't know but I think it depends on multiple factors. If you're an active gamer, you've probably seen the "Do you want a free game?" type pop up ads. While I find these personally annoying, statistically they are more effective than simple banner ads. Hit a big enough audience and you're going to get people clicking on them out of curiosity. So if a game handled them well (ie not constantly harassing you), would you care if you were asked from time to time? Would you care if the game's main screen and maybe a couple other menu's had a banner ad at the bottom? Does it take away from the experience or do you just ignore it and not really care? Have you seen a game that handled ads in a different way that you thought was better? Please share if you have! Looking forward to hearing some feedback! Jason
Wow tough crowd here! No one has an opinion on ads? I guess thats good for me as a developer Someone out there has to have an opinion!
You should post this on the public developer forums this way you'll get insight from devs experience too. If the game is good I can live with ads, but ads during the main gameplay are unacceptable to me.
I personally think ads are fine, even pop ups if the game is free. As long as there is a way to pay to remove them.
I don't know if I'm representitive of the vast majority of iPhone owners, I pretty much instantly delete games with ads and have only ever accidentally clicked on one. There are a few exceptions, Dead Ahead, Holy Archer, maybe a few more. Those have a feature where purchasing any In app purchase removes ads. If that's the case I believe it should be a non consumable purchase, one that can be restored if I delete and re-install. I hope this is not true of your game, the vast majority of ad powered games are sub par and often very similar in gameplay to hundreds of other sub par offerings on the AppStore. All the vertical "racing" lane changing games come to mind. If your game were to be original(ish) in design, fun to play, and in app purchases were designed to not be ridiculous, ie $20 for a reskin of a car/bike, I may consider it. I do find ad financed games get much less of a chance from me. Just my opinion and all. I guess that's what you were looking for though.
Ads are the quickest way to pull the players attention out of the game. Any prior attempt at immersion is lost. Ads and gaming don't mix well
As an example, I can put up with a banner ad like Big Fish has on their adventure/hidden object games when first starting the game on the title screen. I believe this is the best choice because the ads are not appearing within or between a game being played or an annoying pop-up that needs to be closed continually. Both of those ad options would interfere with my enjoyment of the game and would rather delete a paid or free game than put up with the aggravation. So if there is to be ads than the title screen would be the best place, imo. (I would prefer not to have them at all) To pay for a game and then pay extra to remove the ads is personally disliked but if its mentioned within the games description then at least I'm aware of it and more willing to purchase a game knowing this beforehand.
Agreed on the title screen placement, as long as it doesn't interfere with the functions of starting the game or such. Any game that intentionally places ads in a way that effectively forces you to click them to do something functional basically ensures I will never touch their work again, paid or not. But non-obstructing ads on a main menu are natural and not even a bad thing to me.
Agree with Colder, I think lardge ads within or between a game being played and the annoying ads that need to be closed constantly are really unnecessary.
If a games free i dont think i can moan about ad's appearing. I do like the games where for 69p you can then get rid of the ads, that type of IAP is fine by me as i'm getting the game for free anyway. I understand devs need to eat. But if i buy a game i dont want to see ads on the menu/loading up the game or between levels etc. If that happens i'll probably delete the app, leave bad feedback and moan about the app on forums. I dont care if the games 1 dollar or 2 or more, if i buy it i dont want to see ads
I hate ads and never click on them. Also sadly I've had to delete several games I really enjoyed because the ads were just too annoying or got in the way of the game.
Hey Guys, Thanks for the feedback so far! I totally agree, any ad that puts a break in the gameplay is annoying and will be avoided. My plan right now is for a banner add on the main title screen and possibly on the options screen. I'm debating about whether or not there is any appropriate place to put a pop ad (or maybe another banner / link to a free game). Also mentioned, if you paid for the app, there shouldn't be ads in it is my opinion as well. My game will be free to play, hence this post. My next game idea I feel caters towards a premium game (not free to play) and I would never think of putting ads in it. @kioshi, I thought of putting something in the developer forums and may do so eventually to get developer thoughts on the effectiveness of ads in generating revenue. But right now I'm more interested in how they affect players like yourselves. @Nobunaga, you bring up a good point. My plan was to have any IAP you purchase remove the ads, so I'll have to figure out how to make this work with consumables. My goal is also to make the game completely playable and enjoyable, without the need to ever make a purchase. I'm debating if ads would be worth it to help with the monetization in these cases. In the end, I know this is my first game and my expectations are not too high for the revenue it will generate. The idea started from an old game I used to play some ~12 years ago. Its a simple concept, but I do believe the game will be fun for others and worth their time to play it (especially since its free). I definitely don't want to ruin the experience with annoying ads. I would love to recoup my costs making it, however, I would much rather build a game that doesn't make any money but gains a good reputation for itself and for me as the developer. Jason
