While freemium gaming has been the industry trend of 2011, German publisher HandyGames is building its future on something a little different.

Giving complete games away for free, it's making the majority of its revenue via in-game advertising, most of which is run through Google's AdMob network.

During November, HandyGames' titles such as Guns'n'Glory WW2 and Clouds & Sheep, ran over 300 million in-game ads across iOS, Android and Ovi.

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"Mobile games used to be about network operator deck placement and collecting a one-time purchase price from customers," said CEO Christopher Kassulke.

"Now it's about free games and regular content updates that generate revenue through advertisements. The transition has been rough, but incredibly successful for us - and we owe that success in no small part to AdMob."

As well as easy of distribution, Kassulke argues that the ad-monetised models offers other key advantages.

The shelf life of games is extended, while the company can also use AdMob's House Ads to cross-promote its own titles.

Interestingly, HandyGames still uses in-app purchases but this is a secondary source of cash.

"Ease of implementation, a responsive technical support team and an industry-leading ad fill rate make Google AdMob our ad network of choice," Kassulke ended.