Ads are bad for the small guys....

zombiesdrulezombiesdrule PRO Posts: 131
edited September 2012 in Business and Marketing Theory
A lot of us have put ads in our games so we can give them away free. We then hope that enough people download them and we make a little money back, maybe enough to cover our fees.
Well that not working for me, yes I know maybe my games suck and that's why it's not working....

But before I give up I thought, maybe having a website, facebooking etc is not enough.
Maybe I should spend some money and advertise one of my games.

That is when it hit me... ads are bad for the small guy.

If I want to advertise my game in other peoples app it costs a lot. Take Playhaven for example, I wrote to them to get some idea of the cost and it huge (for me) $1000 a day for minimum of 20 days. To me this means only the big companies can afford to advertise with it, and we (the little guys) are helping make that gap bigger....

Rant Over... :)

Comments

  • 3xL3xL Member Posts: 676
    personally i think its not the size of the "guys", its the quality of the game. a good game will sell. period. tiny wings is a perfect example of this. game was simple but had great visuals. good mechanics, easy to play and cute music. on paper, its simple. just make a nice looking, fun game. however it takes great dedication to follow through with your vision.

    notice i didnt say it takes HARD WORK, because when you enjoy something and wanna see it through, its not HARD, its more like consistent lol thats the way i look at it
  • pinkio75pinkio75 Member, PRO Posts: 1,214
    edited September 2012
    I think all depends on the game, if it's nice so you have a lot of sales; there are many examples here on the forum, an advertising campaign helps but not enough to make a game a great game

    ✮My Web Site✮ ✮My Full Games On Sale✮ ✮Follow Me✮ ✮My Video Channel✮ ✮Contact Me To Buy My GS Games✮

  • jtoellejtoelle Member Posts: 5
    would be good to see more people comment on their game release experience.
  • 3xL3xL Member Posts: 676
    edited September 2012
    would be good to see more people comment on their game release experience.

    they're too busy on vacation from all the money they've made mwahahahahahahahahaha...sorry :(
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    This is my own personal view, so bear with me...

    I think your title is too long - it should just be 'ads are bad' :D

    Let me ask you this:

    When was the last time you had a positive reaction to those ads that appear before the start of Youtube videos these days?

    Or the ads on the videos at the bottom of a youtube clip you have to press the little 'x' in the corner to get rid of? So that, you know, you can watch the clip you want to watch without an ad on it?

    Or visiting a website and a video ad will suddenly auto-play in the sidebar about something or other?

    Or when you get ads in games?

    Or you see product placement in a film?


    I don't like advertising. Traditional advertising that is. I don't think it works.

    Instead, to stay informed, I follow people i have a genuine interest in on Twitter. Or Facebook. Or Youtube. Or specialist websites (e.g. gaming websites, film websites, tv show websites etc etc).

    These sites then advertise back to us through the people actually using them. As this article on io9 opines:

    "YouTube is at once, a new kind of site that gives people the freedom to become brands. We are all now brands, and we all, for free, spread the messages of the advertisers. We have become the messages of the advertisers."

    http://io9.com/5940768/the-director-of-branded-explains-why-youtube-is-the-most-evil-form-of-marketing?tag=branded

    My point is, I am a consumer. I buy games, films, toys(!), books etc etc. I *hate* seeing adverts. So I would, as a consumer, much rather pay for something I want, than get it for free and have it blighted by adverts.

    When I make my games, I try and think of how my players will enjoy them. What should I add on level 5 that might surprise them? Is the control system responsive enough? Is the game fair?

    I never ask myself:

    "Where can I put an advert?"

    Because I'm making games for players. Not for advertisers. I'm making games to spread some fun around the world.

    And adverts are never fun really, are they?

    Firemaple's games used no adverts, and had just one press release outlining his game.

    He has sold more games, and made more money, than all of us here combined.

    The best piece of 'marketing', if you can call it that, was making Grisly Manor free and providing a link to his newest game.

    Then 'word of mouth' and 'a quality game' secured the rest.


    But you know, that's just my own take on it. The world seems to be adopting free to play with ads/IAP as the go-to model to make money.

    Good luck with that!

    QS


    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • zombiesdrulezombiesdrule PRO Posts: 131
    Thanks for all the comments. Just to be clear what i'm saying is ads are bad. Bad for everyone except the big companies that can afford to advertise.
    I currently don't have any ads in any of my games and don't plan to. (I thought Kiip was great though)
  • famekraftsfamekrafts Member, BASIC Posts: 834
    The placement of ads are very important. I would just go for a banner ad right at the bottom of the main menu or the Map Scene. That doesn't interfere with playing and as a player I will go for such free games, where my gaming is not interfered by ads. Actually being new to ipad, I found many new free good games with ads in games.

    IOS has changed the way gaming industry works, 5 years from now, you make a game and the only way to sell was on PC or Mac. Now with IOS no one wishes to buy games.

    Everyone wants it for free.

    Ask me, will I prefer buying, maybe something I know that is good enough.

    For a completely new game, I am not going to shell out even one dollar.

    So till the time you game gets very popular it is better to have some revenue coming in. Even $4 a day from ad gives average $100 from ads on a monthly basis, obviously depending on the downloads.

    I am creating a game where I have worked over 6 months on 3D style graphics, I need some return back for that amount of time, even if its not huge, just to keep the ball rolling and pay for the annual game salad pro and apple license fees.

    So unless you get lucky and sell 100,000 of your game app for 1 dollars, I would say stick with the banner ads and free model.

    Gameplay and Design matters a lot, that is why I am spending so much time with my 3D graphics.








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