Next steps with Mobile Video Ads (Feedback thread)

[DezelPower]

Dear Kings and Queens,

Please leave any feedback for our announcement Next steps with Mobile Video Ads below. Please keep it constructive so we can pass along your thoughts. Thanks!

Your forge of Empires team

4.5yrs playing and have happily supported Inno/FOE by buying diamonds. This is it, I'm done. You took the best things about FOE and said FU to the daily players. It's not just the irrelevant and annoying ads. It's the now installed bias towards failure in gbg negotiations. Rewards on ge4 are lackluster at best. I mean seriously, victory towers and medals on ge4 for a reward??? Be better to give nothing than something so insulting to any player past Iron age.

 

[Angel.]

People also ask


Can you play Forge of Empires free?


Forge of Empires – A free to play browser game.

ok they got us phone is not broswer

 

[Eeeeee Haaaaaaaa]

I am so disappointed in this ‘upgrade’
I have been playing for a few years now, and I have thoroughly enjoyed this game-until today. I have played daily, and looked forward to the events. But after seeing that I have to watch video ads - no thank you. I will find another game. This is ridiculous and beyond frustrating. It seems that greed has won yet again.
I can tell you why I enjoyed FOE prior to this ‘update, or upgrade’ whatever you want to call it.
I enjoyed playing every single day, without video ads. This was different than any game I have ever played. It was enjoyable, entertaining, and fun. My husband has played even longer than I have. He got me hooked. And the game was great- without video ads.
I can understand you need to make money, which I thought was done through diamonds- which I have bought more than my husband would like.
And the adding Forge Plus, I get it.
But after 11 years you have decided we now need to watch ads? Really? I’m not sure about the other players but I don’t have the time to watch 20 ads every day before I play. I look forward to my FOE time, or I should say I did.
I’m going to stop playing as of now, and won’t be back until the new ‘upgraded’ version goes away
I’ll go find something else to play and look forward too. I’m fairly confident I won’t be the only one leaving.

 

[The Last Diesel]

Disappointing... Time to re-evaluate the amount of time and money spent on this game. Why spend money on the extras or diamonds when they bombard you with ads.

 

[Nemy]

I stopped buying diamonds because the cheating is running rampant on my server. I'm certainly not going to pay to remove ads. However, fix the exploits that your devs are fully aware of and ignoring, and I'd gladly pay the $4 to play ad free. As it is tho, I'm more likely to just quit over it.

 

[Dursland]

Sad to see you go but not sure why 675 was unobtainable, I made it all the way to 750 without time jumps.

Looks like you're not alone - this has affected another player I know and he is very upset about it too, he might quit as well.

 

[InfinitePossum332]

Can't believe you started shoving ads down my throat I've spent over $1k on this game if you think you need more revenue it shouldn't be off me. I will not watch any ads and it will liking lead to me discontinuing playing all together I and not pay some as free $15/mo plan. Just ridiculous

 

[TroyEdward]

Happy Anniversary Forge? What a great addition to celebrate your 11 years, all of which I have also been playing. Now I will have to take a serious look and reevaluate the time I spend, and moreover the money I spend on this diversion. This game once was fun, now it has morphed into an endless stream of events, tasks, quests and requirements that have created a monster demanding more time and more money. This was a bad idea to shove ads down our collective throats, A VERY VERY BAD IDEA!

 

[Brenye ToujourKaeril]

I have played FOE almost from day one. I’ve been a guild leader, a top 10 player on my game world, and at one point even considered applying as a support member. These ads, however, are too much. My playing days on FOE are done if there isn’t some change made. Having to watch an ad to collect an incident is just beyond greed. I gladly paid diamonds to do a bulk collection, but i refuse to have to click a video ad to perform individual tasks.

The thing that set FOE apart was the lack of ads. Now you’ve gone and joined the rest of the monetized run of the mill games, with really no substantive changes to show for it. It was a good run, but now it’s time to leave.

 

[Alc the Just]

I’ve played the game everyday since forever. I‘ve spent real money every year like I would for a subscription. Forcing players to watch ads is annoying at best. I am sure I am not alone that this is a good reason for many to stop playing which is what I will most likely do due to boredom soon if inno doesn’t reverse this madness within days.

 

[Wildgraf von Westenwald]

I’ve been playing for 5(+) years, and ads just showed up for me yesterday. I didn’t even know it was already a thing. I know they need to make money, that’s fine. But I have spent hundred of dollars on this game over the years. Suddenly popping up ads all over my city, to get access to things I already use every day? Nope. Never going to watch an ad.

I don’t think I have ever come to a forum before. I just like to play the game. My initial response was to open a ticket, in which I wrote the above comment plus F*** you, without asterisks. Like others, if the ads do not disappear very quickly, I am done with this game.

I would be fine with a subscription for an ad-free game. I paid for World of Warcraft for years. They should have d one that first, and made some kind of announcement that they would be having ads. Their update announcement didn’t even say anything about ads. They just showed up, like booby traps. Not the way to treat paying customers.

Too bad - they ruined their game, and maybe their company.

 

[Xenosaur]

@TroyEdward - I hope you enjoyed it lasting as long as it did, which means it ended for you with the very recent (days) discontinuation of the A/B video test.

For many people, our video ad "shock and awe" now with chests that do not go away and blink all the time, ended over 6 months ago in 2022, much like yours just did now.

Many of us thought that there might have been some extended value for the spending we did in FoE's "formative growth years" and that was our immunity. Not so - and we're all now equal again. You got your shock a lot later, but it's here now.

Inno's mantra of "what have you done for us lately" is where we're at. If you step back and look at all the things being developed and released, quietly, and out in the open too - the path is clear. Fragmentation, reduction of buildings to generate diamonds, reduced diamond winning probability, etc.

Video ads are annoying to some, but not to others. Hopefully they help keep the lights on, courtesy of those that click on them, or pay to turn them off - BOTH personal decisions.

Inno need to secure revenue and add profit to change the curve to back up. Look at FoE in the chart below. It was a nice smooth classic growth curve - no hiccups. Including the bump (help) from Covid making people isolate @ home. That's now gone - and it's actually reversed for them. People are going OUTSIDE to be social and re-balance their real life and on-line time after 2-3 years of "work at home" and reduce person-to-person contact.

Can you wonder what happened in 2022? I don't think it's a mystery.

So now, there is a "drop" in revenue and profits from the peak, and they don't want to make it a TREND, which it might just be - 2 years in a row.

Inno needs to renew their emphasis on retaining players here, but more importantly, getting them to open their wallets to fund ongoing development.

Their plan is what you see happening in all segments of the game that was once "a lot more" FREE

They are us asking to pay for features we've long asked them for. or want from the game.

I know it's painful to hear that, because FoE has this game quality that it's "home" and the city is your 10 year investment. We all feel that way. But there is a huge cost for engineering, content development, support, and infrastructure to host servers around the world.

I hate to think of what happens as the game "lights" start to dim...

 

[Emberguard]

They should have d one that first, and made some kind of announcement that they would be having ads.

They did. Back in August.

 

[Angel.]

Yes @Ericness , that post just about sums it up on mobile.

In a word: aggravation-ware.

very much so i say the castle button got me today i stoped it an went on

 

[Fafhrd]

Can I have your guitar if you're leaving ?

I am very unhappy with this ad policy, to the point where I may leave FoE.

I am a premium player, to the tune of some hundreds of dollars a year. Now I find my screen cluttered with “play ad” buttons, and access to the most useful “quality of life” feature - “aid all” - blocked with yet more ad buttons. Being told that I have to pay a monthly nuisance fee to get rid of the ads feels like extortion, or perhaps a deliberate insult to a long-time good customer.

Here is my response.

1). I will NEVER pay a nuisance fee under these circumstance.

2). I will NOT buy another pack, either on FoE or the other Inno games I play, until this policy is reversed.

3). In the event that this policy is not reversed in a reasonable period of time I will very likely close all my Inno accounts. If I end up doing this, I will NEVER return.

I have no idea why any sensible manager would think an “annoy your best customers to try to squeeze a few additional pennies out of them” policy for an entertainment app was a good idea. And I very much hope that whoever is tracking the financial consequences of this is able to offset whatever revenue is gained with the income lost from packs not purchased or paying customers leaving the platform.

 

[Dursland]

I'm a desktop player so the ads don't affect me. What will affect me, however, is the exodus of players.

Dilmun is already less than half the size of Zorskog. Now it's only going to get worse.

I'd say I'd wish inno would rethink this one, but they wont - besides it's too late already, so many have quit and are not coming back.

 

[Orius Maximus]

Eh, I was in the guinea pig group for this again, so I've gotten used to it. I use the ads to aid, but that's about it. The other stuff isn't worth it. I've got an ad in the quest bar that'll reward me for some supplies -- waste of time. The tavern ads aren't really worth it either, I'm more annoyed the tavern defaults to the ads than the main tavern room. Haven't bothered with the castle one. Don't bother with the incident ad chests either unless I need an incident, usually for a quest. Bottom line, insignificant rewards aren't an incentive to watch ads.

 

[M the Engineer]

Yes, the spin FofE put on the explanation like it's a benefit to all players to have adds attached to everything is a complete delusion of grandeur. What used to be great relaxing fun has become an irritating annoyance. My love for the game after 2 1/2 yrs and spending a lot of money for in game purchases, more than I have ever spent on any game, my time with FofE is coming to an end unless the adds go away or are put back to the way they were. It's truly a shame to ruin such a well liked game.

 

[Mor-Rioghain]

Also a browser user and haven't personally experienced anything more annoying in terms of ads/related changes other than the tavern boosters seem route you somewhere else if you don't access them from the tool bar rather than the inside of tavern (which was already a "new" thing). I feel badly for my mobile-counterparts as all I've heard for weeks - and today! oh, my! - is just how bad it is. I've always supported gaming companies charging for their services provided the players want to pay but I've never been a fan of the ad-blasters. I've seen them on other games where I do play with my mobile device and I can't begin to count the number of games that I've quit as I saw that the more money I might spend the worse it got. I honestly thought that a game developer like Inno would know better than to resort to such tactics! I've used restaurant analogies before as I was in the industry for over 35 years, so here's another one: How do you know when a restaurant is going out of business? They start raising the menu prices or begin charging for things that were always gratis.

I concur with @Dursland , this type of change is going to affect the browser players whether or not that was the intent of the developers. I'm already saying goodbye - and it's terribly sad - to friends I've had for years on this game! Not a smart move, imho.

 

[Ebeondi Asi]

Just that it sucks that you are ruining a game that millions invested so much of their time in over 11 years. This is so disrespectful to everyone affected.

I would say the word "You" is incorrect. It's way way more likely some bean counters who are responsible.