That’s how they get you to download it. They show it being played absolutely terribly and the 4th or 5th time you see thead and the obvious mistakes and you’re like I’ll show you how to fucking do it, and you download it and it’s fucking Farmville dressed different and the ad was only showing a sidegame you get to access exactly once.
9 times outta 10, the game they show in the ad isnt even the same game you end up downloading from the link.
They use that trick to see which game interests people. That game ad you clicked on isn’t a real game, but might be if lots of people try to download it. It’s cheap to do an ad, expensive to make a game…
It’s amazing how fast the gaming industry went from “let’s make an even more incredible game” to dark patterns and shit like this.
I don’t think you can compare scam mobile game ads to the actual game development industry
I dunno’, with EA/Ubisoft et. al. going to 50 DLCs and never releasing a single unique idea EVER, I think it’s fair to say of everything but the indie space.
Going by revenue, that IS the actual mobile game development industry
When this happens, I make it a point to one-star review.
A sternly-worded letter
I’m pretty sure that’s how a lot of YouTube game previewers sell themselves to publishers. “Look how badly I can repeatedly play games, I’ll do a 1 off and never bother to learn any of the mechanics, and my viewers will need to purchase it themselves to see how it’s actually ‘meant to be played’”
I got suckered 3 or 4 times by northernlion back in the day before I caught on.
I don’t get it? Are you saying NL is playing these promo games badly on purpose?
I never got that impression, more that he didn’t care about learning the mechanics because its a job; done is better than perfect.
It’s like in those shitty kitchenware commercials where it starts with someone opening a cabinet and all the things immediately come flying out at them.
They’re intentionally easy questions because ego stroking is a tried and true way to farm engagement. Like those old ads that went like:
99% of MIT students got this question WRONG! can YOU do better?
3 + 8 / 2 = ?
And the answer to the next question is always: No, you don’t want to download it.
