This story was published more than 4 years ago.
Game developer NetEnt will soon be displaying ads on their online slot loading screens, bringing an annoyance that no player asked for with seemingly little upside for those involved.
The company partnered with onload{media} to begin offering online ads on the games. The groups claim to offer targeted spots to audiences verified to be 18 and older, and are pitching the service as a way to offset costs associated with regulatory changes in the industry. Ads will be 15 seconds in length and will not be skippable, which is sure to be a hit among players who just want to spin the reels and try to win some money.
The first brand to feature the games will be LeoVegas, with whom onload has been working with.
Commenting on the ads NetEnt's Henrik Fagerlund said, "We love making engaging games and we even want to make the game-loading process more entertaining for the players, as well as monetising the space that we create together with the operators. The onload{media} ad network offers us additional revenue every time one of our games is played, which is great."
onload{media} CEO Justin Chamberlain added: "This is a game-changing service. Players in the industry should be looking to diversify revenue streams to survive increasingly tight controls, including regulatory limits and charges. We are especially interested in engaging with operator and supplier partners who are keen to join efforts to help clean up the industry."
So the next time you're gearing up to play some NetEnt games, make sure to bring a bit of popcorn so that you can sit in on a bunch of boring ads pitching crap you don't want or need, as the spots will likely be up sooner rather than later.
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Comments
NetEnt's been struggling lately, and this is how they try to turn things around? Why not focus on creating games that people want to play, or put out a cool new progressive jackpot with sky-high prizes? This seems like such a bad decision that I can't wait to see it fail.
sharpe
Very good point there slim...so that would make the punters avoid them even more...I couldn't think of any other conclusion to that...but probably what they deserved really.
Yup, I said this in the other thread too but I can't believe that their solution to long loading screens is to spam players with ads instead of trying to make their games load quicker. If the game loads quicker, the player spins quicker, which surely makes them more money. Yet they want to penny pinch around the edges by showing ads and annoying their customers.
It is a dumb move that reeks of desperation, which maybe isn't so surprising when you look at the recent history of their share price.
sharpe
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The language used is telling, it's all about monetisation. These guys obviously fell for the pitch by onload media hook line and sinker. Had they bothered to stop and consider the player they would know that sticking ads into games would do anything but make it more entertaining!
sharpe
Yeah, you're right klaw I really like the way their CEO speaking of entertaining the players while brutally admitting it's all about making them more money...so no losers here...apparently everybody should be happy about it.
I would like to see their share price going down even further...for me it surely has to be the case after that action..to say the least they'll look desperate even in their customer's eyes.
This sounds really terrible and so so SO unnecessary! I don't understand, players already are not too keen on their games recently (with few exceptions like Doa etc). Imagine a session where you have some technical error and have to reload the game multiple times or just bonus hunts with ads every time? And given the fact that the audience for gaming online is so different, how are they gonna target it? This was the one way of entertainment that wasn't ruined with ads and desperation and now here we go.