Chapter 18
Using Ads to Increase Revenue

While there are many reasons you might choose to make a mobile game, one reason shouldn’t be overlooked: to make money. But monetizing your game, especially as an indie game developer, isn’t an easy task. Luckily, though, you have some options to make it easier. One such option is in-app advertising.

With in-app advertising, you can show ads from multiple ad networks. While many ad networks are available to connect your games with paying advertisers, this chapter focuses on using Google AdMob.

Google AdMob^[57] is “a mobile advertising platform that you can use to generate revenue from your app.” As you might expect, Google AdMob works with the Google Mobile Ads SDK—and in this chapter, you’ll work with both.

Don’t Wait Until the End

Although this chapter was saved for the end, it’s important to recognize that planning your game’s monetization strategy shouldn’t be an afterthought. When you’re thinking up a new game, its monetization strategy depends largely on the game’s design and features. Game monetization is a complex and fascinating topic that could easily fill the pages of a book on its own; this chapter is meant to get you started.