3 ms·

I disagree. Lots of cool stuff existed before advertisers took over the internet, and it was allowed to be a lot weirder and less clickbait-y because they didn'

I disagree. Lots of cool stuff existed before advertisers took over the internet, and it was allowed to be a lot weirder and less clickbait-y because they didn't have to appease everyone or constantly be driving for more views. In fact, a lot of this was funded out of people's own pockets, at a financial loss, because they wanted other people to see it or use it. With search engine optimized ad-delivery platforms dominating the front pages of search results, these people don't see the encouragement from users they used to see, and have died off. In the rare cases where people are still doing this stuff, they're much harder to find. In short, advertising has killed a lot more, and a lot better, than it has funded.

BizarroLand 5y ago
I wonder why no one has come up with a try-before-you-buy download option. First X levels are free, next Y levels are $0.25-$0.50 (assuming the full cost of the game is $1, adjust accordingly), the rest of the levels are the remaining price of the same. For a casual game a model like this would be a good way to get a decent amount of revenue from anyone that likes the game but may not be completionist or get bored with it at some point. Then, in the rare instance that you have a hit game, you can further supplement it with paid DLC for extra levels that you have to own the base game for.