Hi
UnityAds is great for mobiles, but is there a similar solution for displaying ads on a windows standalone game?
No, and there shouldn’t ever be one.
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No, advertisements tend to be very different and more specialized for PCs. Instead of having obnoxious little windows that pop up they tend to be integrated into the world around you (eg billboards, signs, clutter objects, etc). I’m not aware of any solution that makes this process easier for you.
And why is it so? If ads would mean good free games, then why the heck not? After all, it’s up to you if you want to download ad-supported version. If I’d had the option to “pay” for CoD or AssCreed (don’t like those, just examples) by watching ads, I’d do so.
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That’s just it. Players have shown they are willing to buy the game in addition to having the advertisements. Why would you go with a purely free model when you can have your cake and eat it too? Below is linked one example of in-game ads and they were apparently effective too.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/121171/Nielsen_EA_Sports_InGame_Ads_Boosted_Gatorade_Sales.php
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The biggest reason PC game ads have never taken off is they are pretty easy to spoof and manipulate. As a general rule ads require a connection to the ad server to run. Simply break the connection to the ad sever and you are now ad free.
On the other hand its very easy to get paid for ads that are never shown to the player. PC allows devs a lot of control over what is rendered on screen. And its very easy to render ads that never get shown.
Combine these with the general PC gamers dislike of ads and you have a recipe for failure.
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Because players aren’t limited to those two options*. There are plenty of great free games that don’t require ads on the PC. Path of Exile is a great example of this. They use microtransactions (completely cosmetic so it’s not a “pay-to-win” scenario) and nothing else. All expansions are free, the game itself is free and it’s a lot of fun to play if that’s the kind of game you enjoy.
The fact is there isn’t any real precedence for ads in PC games and there’s no reason for there to be. Ads don’t bring anything to the table on that platform.
*The two options being a paid game vs. free game with ads.
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Thank you. I was looking for the right words - but you summed it up nicely.
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Wow, i didnt expect to get up this morning to find such a passionate discussion about this. thats great though, its great to see people opinions on this subject.
UnityAds sounds like its successful for mobiles, but maybe its just, not right for pc. maybe simply i game purchases is the way to go for pc.
Thank you everybody for your thoughts and feelings on this
Unless your game needs thousands of players to work, like a MOBA or MMO, then premium is probably still the best model for PC.
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Or, as @Kiwasi suggested, you simply need to stop trying to treat the PC market as if it were yet another mobile platform. The PC platform has an audience with a very different mindset. We expect our games to have upfront costs and only in very rare situations have in-game purchases (like mentioned those are MMOs and MOBAs).
If you want an example of how things can go wrong with this approach in normal video games, check out the latest SimCity game from Electronic Arts and the uproar surrounding it. By comparison Cities Skylines approached it with an upfront cost and they are far more popular than SimCity now.
Additionally check out the Early Access scene. Some people aren’t just willing to pay an upfront cost, but they’re willing to do it with a game that hasn’t even reached a finished state in many cases.
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Discouraging Piracy is a good reason
Can you please stop necroing 2-3 year old threads without contributing anything useful to the thread?
This isnt the first thread you have done this in today
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Why don’t u suggest the admin to lock old threads ?!
U could also ignore them ?!
No.
Pointless necroing is specifically noted as against rules of conduct for this forum. Please review and ensure you are following the rules here:
https://discussions.unity.com/t/757848
Old threads are not locked because a) it would be a massive time suck, b) legitimate new information may come to light that is relevant, c) we expect users to read and follow the rules.
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