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Valve bans all Steam games that force players to watch advertisements [edit: Not a new policy, see comments] (www.eurogamer.net)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/games@sh.itjust.works
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Late edit:

per https://sopuli.xyz/comment/14584874 & https://bsky.app/profile/steamdb.info/post/3lhsxkmaj7c2c this is not a new policy.

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[–] 179 points 2 years ago (6 children)

They should do the same on the Play and App Store.

There’s even games where you can pay to remove ads, but it will still ask you if you wanna watch an ad to get a bonus or some shit. Fuck that.

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  • [–] 123 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    They should do the same on the Play and App Store.

    95% of "games" removed

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  • [–] 37 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    At least 95% of them are shit anyway 😂

    I really enjoy Apple Arcade. Quality games for the kids with no ads or micro transactions.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Is that a subscription

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Yes. It’s $6.99/mo for access to a load of games with no ads or IAPs. Half of the games on there are only available on Apple Arcade, the others are editions of regular App Store games but with no ads and all the IAPs already unlocked.

    It kinda sucks that Apple gatekeeps certain games behind the subscription though… I wanted to play Mini Motorways on mobile, but it’s only available through Apple Arcade. For comparison Mini Metro is a OTP of $5 iirc.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    This is exactly why I don't play games on mobile.

    I absolutely don't have the time to wade through that shit.

    about a year ago, I was like, "It'd be nice to have a few mindless games on my phone"... tried like four... just ADS ADS ADS...

    Even the ones where I liked the game, and wanted to just remove the ad bullshit for a price... nothing...

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  • [–] 25 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Loop hero

    Vampire Survivors base game is free and has the option of watching and ad for a free revive (which you don't get at all on other platforms)

    Slay the spire

    Balatro

    Plenty of great games without ads

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    GooglePlay search favors popular trash, but there and on F-Droid you can still find some fun ones without ads. Searching from outside, like on a regular web search engine or lemmy\reddit subs for free games may help. I don't mind piracy but I was glad to obtain Antimine and Mindustry. Also, there are ways to block internet or patch apps, but they usually imply you have root and may break things if not careful.

    Idk about iPhone apps, but I'm sure the first solution would work too and the second means jailbreaking thus cutting off most of their praised ecosystem.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    On my phone, I have two games:

    • PySolFC - FOSS collection of a bunch of solitaire-like games, with varying levels of attention required
    • Lichess - FOSS chess game, with puzzles, bots, and MP

    The first is available on F-Droid, not sure about other stores, and the second is probably available everywhere (I got it on Google Play).

    I, too, got tired of sifting through ad-riddled BS and just didn't play games on my phone for years.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Yeah, there is a tiny amount of good mobile games, like oceanhorn or world of goo. You're better off just sticking to emulating console games on mobile, than playing native mobile games

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah it's really hard to find the few normal ones.

    I don't like promoting Netflix but I was surprised how many good phone games you can get with your subscription, like Hades, Civilization 6 or Rise of the golden idol. Doesn't seem to me like phone games are a good match for Netflix but hey these good games are free now for me.

    Also Balatro is great on the phone

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    Seems like phone games are a good match if it makes even %1 of their subscription's stick around. Gives you another excuse to not cancel a subscription that's slowly losing it's value over time.

    Jesus, Netflix games.... my mind is still baffled.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago

    Mobile game subscriptions (like apple) is good. Every once in a while I’ll find a great game with no ads. Just dlc. I usually try to support them. I’ve been playing unnamed space idle for months, and it’s a great example of a game of a developer that respects its players.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Yes, that's yet another dark pattern.
    You can use this site to help with your game choices.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    I don't mind the fact that apps on Android show ads. I mind the terrible inconsistency of those ads. Some have an X button at the top left, some at the top right. I've seen "mute" buttons in at least three different quadrants, plus some are within a small landscape window rather than taking up the full portrait-held phone. And some don't have mute at all.

    And then some have a fake-out X button that actually clicks on the ad if you try to use it.

    And a couple of times I've gotten an ad that I literally couldn't exit. Had to force quit the app to get back to it.

    If the ads were a consistent experience, I would have a much less intensely negative opinion of them.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I feel like spotify does a similar thing. Even if you have premium, sometimes i just get random ads and it's like oh no what a glitch in the system.

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