Glu has removed the adverts from its iPhone game Space Monkey and reverted it back from free to a paid-for title, after complaints from consumers who'd paid for it previously.
The game only went ad-funded last week, when Glu dropped the price to free and included adverts in between levels, courtesy of mobile advertising network AdMob.
The problem appears to be that people who'd paid for the game also got the ads after the game was updated. Several posted negative 1-star reviews on the App Store to complain.
Samples? "I'm absolutely disgusted, I paid for this app! Now I have to suffer ads which should have been released as a separate version..."
And also: "I paid for this app! Why should I see ads? Create a lite version if you want to show ads!"
To its credit, Glu has reacted quickly and reverted the game to its most recent price of £0.59, without ads. The publisher has apologised on the game's App Store page too:
"We have heard your feedback loud and clear and we sincerely apologize for causing you any distress over the in-game ads in Space Monkey. When the monkey started screaming and throwing junk at us, we knew we had to get the cosmos back in order. For our existing customers who have previously bought the game or tried the free version, we have removed the ads and updated Space Monkey with all the new features."
It's a valuable lesson both for Glu and rival developers and publishers, as many will be tempted to use ads as a way to squeeze more revenue out of games as they reach the end of their natural sales lives on the App Store.
It raises the prospect of three separate versions of an iPhone game being available: a premium version that's paid for, a free 'Lite' limited demo, and then later in its lifespan, an ad-funded free full version.
Meanwhile, the whole affair shows one of the key strengths of the App Store, which is players' ability to express their anger through the ratings process.
News
Contributing Editor
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)
Top Stories
News
11 hours, 29 minutes ago
King and Flexion partner to bring Candy Crush Saga to App Gallery and more alternative app stores
News
12 hours, 24 minutes ago
Zynga’s Game of Thrones: Legends is open for pre-registrations with a July 25th release date
Feature
Jun 11th, 2024
Mobile Mavens: Are today's everlasting, live ops games holding back new innovation?
Feature
Jun 11th, 2024
The key takeaway from Apple's AI-laden WWDC keynote? It's time to buy a new iPhone
Events
Tribeca Games Festival 2024 | North America | Jun 5th |
Steam Next Fest: June 2024 Edition | Jun 10th | |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
GamesForum Hamburg 2024 | Europe | Jun 11th |
ESI London 2024 | Europe | Jun 13th |
Game Con Canada (GCC) 2024 | North America | Jun 14th |
Indie Dev Play 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Popular Stories
Interview
Jun 5th, 2024
A galaxy far, far away… Why Star Wars: Hunters took six years to hit the target
Interview
Jun 7th, 2024