
Microsoft cut off game maker's revenue stream, so he built his own replacement - aluket
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/14/random-salad-ceo-offers-own-ad-network-after-microsoft-cuts-support.html
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desc
"People don't consider my games worth what I spent to make them, so I'll sneak
in adverts too so I don't have to charge them more and pop their little
bubble, so they can continue thinking games are this cheap because the sticker
price is still low."

No, this is not acceptable, and holding it up as a Good Thing that it's being
perpetuated is stupid.

Microsoft have seen the writing on the wall (because it's been there for, I
dunno, at least a decade?) and are saying 'you have to have an actual workable
fucking business model now, k?'

~~~
throway1n
Sounds reasonable to me - how else is he going to pay bills if not through
some ad revenue? You know glorified 9 to 5 jobs are cool, but some of is
indies prefer freedom - and that costs money.

~~~
desc
Then you charge a reasonable price. You don't put a 'free' sticker on it with
an unknowable 'ad revenue' cost in the background.

One might argue that the customer should know the price they pay in
advertising data-scraping before logging in, these days, but we still convict
people of fraud for taking advantage.

Advertising revenue is fraud.

~~~
DarknessFalls
Television has been paying for programming through ads for decades now. Do you
think that's not a 'real' business model? A good business model is one that
makes someone 7 figures a year for cloning solitaire. It might not be the most
enjoyable gaming experience, but if purity of solitaire is what you want, then
there are plenty of paid alternatives.

~~~
crooked-v
A massive difference here is that TV ads don't come with ubiquitous invasions
of privacy every time you see them, nor do they have a small but constant risk
of malware infecting your TV.

~~~
DanBC
But as tv moves away from broadcast signals to VOD services that's going to
change. See for an early example 4OD in the UK:
[https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/04/28/behind-all-4s-new-
pe...](https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/04/28/behind-all-4s-new-personalised-
vod-ads-call-out-the-names-viewers)

> Channel 4 earlier this week unveiled a new video on demand advertising
> package allowing brands to directly address viewers - in practise this meant
> first adopters 20th Century Fox, Foster' and Ronseal, could grab the
> attention of by literally calling out their names in their creative.

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speedgoose
I don't feel bad for the game developer. Its business model is to publish
simple classic games, but with ads.

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iotku
>Its business model is to publish simple classic games, but with ads.

Is this not precisely what Microsoft is doing?

I haven't played game of solitaire since Windows 7 because I'm not going to
watch a 15-30 second preroll video advertisement in order to play the
Microsoft Solitaire Collection.

And I'm certainly not going to pay monthly to avoid ads for games that used to
be included with the OS without advertisements.

~~~
albertshin
Have you considered that perhaps it's not the ad itself but that it just takes
a 15-30 seconds of a delay to maybe realize that you're about to waste your
time / ease your boredom that maybe keeps you from playing?

~~~
Fjolsvith
Every ad on YouTube makes me reconsider how badly I want to watch the video.
Lots of times I just close YouTube and pull up Bitchute.

~~~
thisiswater
Tangent: Is there anything on bitchute that isn't right-wing or conspiracy
theory? I've just pulled it up for the first time and by the front-page videos
it's an alt-right cesspool. I'll use the alternative if it's viable, but this
content isn't.

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GlitchMr
I sorta wonder what will happen to ads in Microsoft's own games (in particular
Solitaire). I kinda hope they will be removed, but I doubt that would actually
happen.

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jayd16
Microsoft is shutting down their ad service but there are plenty others. Why
is this dev or his ad sdk interesting?

~~~
optimiz3
What other ad services are there for Windows apps?

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swiley
Building a business that relies on a platform you can’t function without is
irresponsible. It’s not just bad for you because of how fragile it makes your
business but it’s also bad for everyone else because it normalizes it and
makes building stable businesses harder.

~~~
wtracy
What's the alternative for native mobile apps today? Roll your own smartphone
OS?

And yes, I'm deeply frustrated with Apple and Google for so forceably locking
everyone into their walled gardens.

~~~
BlueTemplar
And what are you going to do about it? I'm researching Google-free LineageOS
and checking out Librem's smartphone...

~~~
wtracy
If you think there's ever going to be enough people flashing their phones with
custom ROMs to support an industry of consumer software developers, I think
you're going to be very disappointed.

Now, if we could get some major carriers and/or retailers backing Librem, that
could be interesting. I'm not holding my breath, though.

~~~
BlueTemplar
Yeah, mostly the second. Though it doesn't stand much of a chance until
something (more serious) is done about the GAFAM...

