Adding ads to TETR.IO, some questions answered
by at 2020/11/01 (Sun) 12:19:03 am (edited)
Starting November 2nd, I'm putting ad space up on TETR.IO. I understand this is going to cause some confusion, so I want to answer some common questions in this blog post.
So what kind of ads?
I don't intend to devalue the TETR.IO experience. So, the ads will only be simple banner ads, like this example:
Ads will only show up in menus, never ingame. No video ads, no popups, etc. The site also won't complain if you use an adblocker. At a later point, I may introduce rewarded video ads (ads you choose to watch that get you something in return), but that isn't going to happen any time soon.
The ads will be personalized, so they'll try to be based on your interests. By default, you should receive gaming ads. I will keep care to ensure all ads are safe for work. Furthermore, supporters of Deca tier and up won't see ads.
Why add ads?
Simply said, TETR.IO has outgrown being a hobby project. Operating TETR.IO is as taxing as a full-time job for me, and I want to be able to take it seriously as one. Currently, I'm trying to balance multiple workloads at once, and you might be able to tell by the lower amount of updates that that isn't particularly working.
I am incredibly grateful for all the support by patrons, and that won't change! You are the ones who made TETR.IO happen in the first place. This change is aimed towards the 99.97% of players that don't (or can't) support. Serving ads to that segment of the playerbase will allow them to indirectly support TETR.IO as well!
Having a bit more revenue available would also generally help TETR.IO development a lot. There's a lot of things I cannot do, or don't have the time to do. Think about hiring artists, voice actors etc. Perhaps at some point even other programmers to assist me in the things I lack experience in, or simply to grow the workforce to keep up with demand.
But the Patreon is so expensive!
I don't disagree. The Patreon tiers are really expensive right now. .....It's for a reason, though. Patreon takes insane fees, and simply isn't worth it for small amounts. I hope to, in the relative future, switch to a more direct platform for Supporter, so I can bring down the price of the ingame benefits.
How much will the ads make, anyway?
I do not currently know. I will be experimenting a lot with different ad slots and positions, to see what is the most effective way to place ads. I get about 350K potential impressions daily, but cannot know an RPM yet. I'll let you know once I have actual data, to perhaps help other webgame developers interested in these kinds of statistics for their games.
Is this the beginning of the end?
Not at all. I 100% stand by the fact that TETR.IO will always be free-to-win. There won't be any ingame purchases that increase your skill, required payments to play more, lootboxes, or other shady practices like that. Reaching #1 on the leaderboards will always be equally difficult for paying players as non-paying players with Adblock on. No exceptions.
But (other game) doesn't have ads!
Please compare the two by more than just whether they have ads. I am (surprise, surprise) not a multi-billion-dollar corporation, but I do have a large-scale game that tries to reach those kinds of levels of quality. On top of that, these games are often monetized anyway. How often do you see a free game made by an AAA company that's actually free of monetization?
"If you add ads, I'll quit TETR.IO!!!!"
That's your choice. I hope, however, that after reading this post, you can understand why I am adding ads. And if you still disagree, well.... it's a free game. I'm not sure what you expected. Nothing in the world is free, you know?
In all seriousness, if you have any other questions or (constructive) things to add, feel free to reply to this post with your feedback.
Takasugi Fumika
at 2020/11/01 (Sun) 12:28:16 am
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