Removing all ads from my game - tough call?

Corona Marketplace inneractive
#1

I’m close to making a tough decision and remove the ads entirely from my game Wonder Witches.

A couple of people contacted me via email, and mentioned that the displayed ads are not that great. There is just not enough controls in place around filtering the content with inneractive, and the only negative feedback so far is about the ads.

My previous experience with pubcenter for Windows Phone is entirely different, I hadn’t had a single complaint and got over 100 reviews with more ten thousand downloads.

I really would like that kids play this as well and have fun - they shouldn’t be bothered by weird ads.

There are a few In-App purchase items and maybe that way I get some money back to cover my expenses. At this point I just don’t have enough data points to make the call (e.g. I don’t know yet if people are buying the remove ads IAP, or if they would expect there to be no ads in the first place).

Any thoughts, or experiences folks can share?
What happens if I publish an update for the AppStore? Are all previous reviews and ratings gone?

–wunderwuzzi [import]uid: 118947 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 322415[/import]

#2

How about a Paid and Free Version? Keep Ads on free version and maybe 2 witches and more content on the pay one with No Ads.

“What happens if I publish an update for the AppStore? Are all previous reviews and ratings gone?”
Nearly a year ago I made my 1st app and after I had a few reviews I submitted an update and when approved my reviews remained and ratings, but recently I saw one of the apps I downloaded to play make an update and it seems as if Review reset. Im wondering if things have changed and maybe now when you submit and update ratings/reviews are gone? [import]uid: 30314 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89360[/import]

#3

Here is a blog post from a fellow Corona developer who had to remove ads from his toddler apps because of adult type ads:

http://www.eiswuxe.de/a-risky-decision/

He had to remove ads as well and went paid. I would follow his posts as he posts all of his numbers and has promised to report back on the results of going from ads to paid. [import]uid: 31262 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89364[/import]

#4

Thanks, this is useful and I already thought that I can’t be the only one with this problem.

I think I will go ahead and submit the new binary without ads ( I still have some other IAPs items in my shop), if there I see that the ad revenue is crazy amazing in the next 24-48 hours I can sill reject it - otherwise it’s just not worth it.

–wunderwuzzi [import]uid: 118947 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89370[/import]

#5

To be honest, the ads are not that intrusive because it only pops up every few replays. I would just leave it in there but what you should do is add some bg music, a must imho.
edit:

here’s the perfect music for your game. I like version one better “The Path of the Goblin King”

http://www.incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?keywords=The+Path+of+the+Goblin+King&Search=Search
Sid [import]uid: 7475 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89376[/import]

#6

Thanks Sid,
Yeah, it’s about every 6-10th crash that a full-screen ad is displayed, which I think is fine. The content of the ads might be more the real issue. I have an update ready but will wait a little to see how things progress - I think it’s too early at this point to make any short term decisions.

And thanks for the link, I will think about some music to potential add with a future update!

–wunderwuzzi [import]uid: 118947 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89433[/import]

#7

You should go with AdMob. It has controls that keep adult-related ads off it. [import]uid: 8776 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89647[/import]

#8

I know you already submitted a binary removing them, but I still want to add a vote for removing of all ads. The game is pretty fun, I really like the heavy gravity and the witch graphics are appealing (but they feel low res on the iPhone 4/4S which bothers me).

I’d be surprised if you’re making a good amount of money with the ads there, and I really think that in your case your game is fun enough that you’ll get people to spend money on IAP more if the ads aren’t there to drive them away and you make a few other small changes. It’s pretty difficult to get the 800 points to unlock the first broom, and until you unlock the broom all those magic bottles are just there teasing you since you don’t have any powers and you don’t know what the game will be like with the powers. If you reach 600+ points and then get a six second ad, you might walk away from the game forever at that point. If you lowered the barrier just to unlock that first broom so more players get it, they’ll see how much fun the game is with magic powers enabled and will be more likely to A) buy magic since they can actually use it! and B) want to unlock more brooms so they can try more magic powers now that they have a taste for the magic. You could still pop up the screen where you used to have ads with a link to the store instead, but no count-down timer (just tap to get past the screen).

After playing your game for just five minutes or so, I feel like I have a hundred ideas for it, these are just a couple that I think would help convert more free players to paid players with IAP. If you want an e-mail with more, just let me know and I can write it up and send it your way. Many of the ideas you’ve probably heard before or seen in other games, and you may already want to have many of them in your game but haven’t had time or financial success to justify adding them (I know all about that!).

One final note back on the topic of ads. Some of the ads are just plain deceptive, like a “Upgrade” or “Cancel” button that is trying to get you to click it by pretending it’s part of the game itself. I hate ads like that and would never use inneractive if it means having that kind of deceptive ad.

[import]uid: 14598 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89698[/import]

#9
  • 1 alanfalcon

I agree with all he said and just again my $0.02 cent in add music =P the one Sid T suggested is pretty good for your type of game. Check out your other forum post when you released the game I posted 3 links for you for Music and SFX very cheap and some are free,

cheers,
LeivaGames [import]uid: 30314 topic_id: 22415 reply_id: 89700[/import]