86% of Gamers Prefer Free Games With Advertisements

[phitsc]

http://toucharcade.com/2014/03/31/86-percent-of-gamers-prefer-free-games-with-ads/

I guess the day when 100% of games are free with ads will be the day I stop playing games. I always cringe when I start reading about a cool new game and see that it'll be 'free to play'.

[mouser]

I hear you.. I hate to think where this trend is going.

[40hz]

I'd be more willing to believe them if they shared the experiment and metrics they used to determine this  alleged fact. How you ask a question, or interpret a response, can radically affect an outcome in a survey.

I'm generally suspicious of any industry "paid-for" study. Especially when dealing with marketing consultants that have a vested interest in "confirming" the validity of an industry's desired outcome or supporting a decision already made.

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[wraith808]

http://toucharcade.com/2014/03/31/86-percent-of-gamers-prefer-free-games-with-ads/

I guess the day when 100% of games are free with ads will be the day I stop playing games. I always cringe when I start reading about a cool new game and see that it'll be 'free to play'.

That day will never come.  The % (whatever it is- I distrust their 'science' used to get the numbers) are casual gamers- which is why Zynga was so popular.  But notice Zynga's fall.  You have to continue to innovate, even with that in-built reliance on addicting gamers, or one day you'll find that your user base has moved onto the next cool thing.  Hardcore gamers will always pay to support games.  It's a smaller market, for sure... but a very voracious one.

[Jibz]

Games with advertisement and free-to-play games can sometimes work. The problem is it opens up the opportunity of making easy money with scammy tactics like keeping your app going when it should be closed, popping up adds over the "continue" button at just the right time, huge adds with 5 pixel close buttons, etc.

I like to think if your revenue is based on selling your product, you are more likely to try to improve business by improving your product.

[Deozaan]

April Fools!!!!!

Right? ... Right?

[app103]

86% of Gamers Prefer Free Games With Advertisements?

I must be among the elite 14%, since I prefer free games without. 

[TaoPhoenix]

86% of Gamers Prefer Free Games With Advertisements?

I must be among the elite 14%, since I prefer free games without. 

Yep. Because while they conveniently didn't report their study, whatever huge surge in casual "gamers" then creates a decently sized 14%, of whom *lots* of them are protesting! (Hooray for weighted statistics!)

So you can almost say that "86% of gamers prefer free games with ads. Meanwhile 86% of the remainder is posting their frustration in comments!"

[40hz]

Reminds me of the old joke based on a Camel Cigarette ad that boasted "4 out of 5 smokers who tried one preferred Camels."

The tag line went: "But of their number 5 out of 5 said they still preferred doin' it with a woman."

[Innuendo]

Some free games, like Path of Exile, are free-to-play without any ads. They just rely on micro-transactions to make money. Some are more sketchy about using that model than others, though.