Ads in mobile games: Doing it right and learning from Archero.
Archero is a hybridcasual mobile game where players control a miniature archer and fight their way through different dungeons (chapters).
Each chapter consists of 20–50 stages a player must complete without dying in order to progress to the next chapter. Whilst fighting through each chapter players level up their archer (always starting at level one) unlocking new abilities. On top of this players earn currency and items in runs that they can use to permanently upgrade their archer.
Archero has rightfully been heaped full of praise for its downright fun-ness, in this article I want to take a look at how it’s approach to ads has contributed to that success.
Ads in mobile games: The right choice
Ads have existed in mobile games for years now and it doesn’t look like they are going away anytime soon. It is now difficult to find a free to play game on the app stores that don’t have some sort of in-game ads model. Generally ads in mobile games appear in 3 different forms;
- Static banner ads; Ads that appear on the screen while you’re playing the game, but do not take over the whole screen.
- Full screen takeovers; Ads that appear (without players initiating) and take over the whole screen.
- Rewarded Video Ads; players click to watch an ad in order to receive some reward/in-game benefit.
Now for anyone who has played Archero you can probably guess what I’m going to say as my first point; Archero only contains rewarded video ads.
Players will never be forced to engage with an ad unless they chose too, this removes the friction players have with many hyper casual games & instead puts an onus on the game to show the value of engaging with ads.
Ads as a way to pay
Games that force you to watch Ads aren’t free to play. There is a clear transaction taking place; you pay with your time watching ads.
Whilst playing Archero you get the sense that this treatment of ad watching as a form of payment is respected. In fact you are often presented with the option to pay or watch ads side by side.
As a player, to start with, I was often amazed by the value I was able to get from watching an Ad vs paying (100gems for $0.99 means an Ad watch is valued at nearly $0.30!) but as I progressed in the game, I found myself paying for gems, as I wanted to upgrade my equipment to progress faster.
I found there was a clear distinction in value between spending money and watching ads. Ads were an option for me to help my short term progress; purchases where an option for me to progress my longer term goals quicker.
I want to get that reward. I NEED that Ad.
When players start to look forward to watching Ads to gain rewards, I believe you are doing something right. Archero nails this with players being able to look forward to free chests & rewards, but most importantly in-game prompts become sacred.
A core decision point in any dungeon run is at the point of your inevitable death. You’ve completed 47 out of 50 stages, but wait here it comes there’s an option to continue! Praise the lord, but wait you’ve died again at stage 48!? No problem right!? Wrong you’ve lost.
This brilliant mechanic of giving you one chance to continue on each run creates a great sense of relief when you fail and you can watch an Ad (or pay gems) to continue, but it does not diminish the challenge of the game by allowing you to do this over and over again in a single run. Instead it ensures players have to level up equipment and “get good” to some degree.
This great balance of providing a meaningful product in players’ time of need but not letting it undermine the challenge of the game is what makes engaging with ads in Archero so compelling to me.
In Summary
- For a game with hyper casual roots, Archero confidently throws out full screen takeovers in favour of player choice to great effect.
- To support this choice the value proposition is balanced brilliantly; it doesn’t diminish the value of spending money whilst still showing a clear value proposition for engaging with ads.
- Archero brilliantly balances providing meaningful Ads (& IAP) products that give players real value without undermining the overall gameplay experience.
A side note: why do Ads matter in mobile games?
For the game maker there is a clear benefit; advertisers pay for that ad space which will be a core part of how the developers make their revenue. Not only will this fund them to continue to provide the game for players across the world. It will also enable them to market the game to more players.
I wanted to just add this at the end as I know ads in mobile games (not undeservedly) get a lot of stick, but it’s also an important part of what enables many developers to continue making games. It also helps them put their games in the hands of more players. Which to me is kind of what making games is all about.
