Full Version + Ad Supported

Unity Engine
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1

Normally, a lite version of a game has missing features, maybe some ads, and an upgrade button. This is how I’ve done my lite versions. I’m about to create my next lite version, but I was thinking instead of taking out features, why not release the full featured version of the game, and make it ad-supported.

The full game (Zombie Pop!) has leaderboards, achievements, and 3 difficulty levels. Initially the lite version was going to only have 1 difficulty, and maybe 1 leaderboard with a few achievements. Now I might re-release the full game with ads, kinda like Paper Toss. What do you guys think? Is that giving away too much? Good idea? Thanks!

2

I think it’s a fine strategy. Several (many?) apps already do this. The paid and free versions are the exact same app, but the free version is ad supported.

Another route would be the find a way to integrate in-app purchases, and simply have one version of the app (the free one) with an offer within the app to remove ads for $.

It’s trickier if you already have paid users of the existing app, obviously you’d have to keep the paid one active to allow previous purchasers to receive updates.