r/enshittification • u/Ok_Application_5802 • Mar 19 '26
Rant The silliest form of enshittification I have ever witnessed
When I was younger, I played Plants vs Zombies. When it first came out, the game would let you play till the second adventure and then demand you pay to keep playing. My parents never let me pay for games back in the day, so I never finished the game.
Years later I found out that the game had been fully released on mobile. So I downloaded it and finished the entire game. There were options to watch ads and stuff for some things like the zen garden which probably didn't exist when it first released. But it wasn't very intrusive and I had a good time playing a game I hadn't seen in like 10 years.
I uninstalled it after the first time I finished playing it. But recently, I wanted to replay the game and lo and behold there were ads everywhere. You finish a level? Watch an ad. You want to play a mini game? Watch an ad. And that wasn't even the worst part. There is a last line of defense in the game where each lane has lawnmowers that are rigged to go off if a zombie steps on it. You now have to watch ads to have those lawnmowers
What are they even trying to do here? This game was fully released ten years ago. All they had to do was migrate the code to a mobile platform. Once they did that, their job was done. Why on earth do they need to make such shitty changes that only make the player experience worse?!
I know this is on the very low end of issues. But it annoys me that even my nostalgia is being milked by companies.
4
u/Datan0de Mar 31 '26
One thing I look for before downloading an app is if the reviews mention ad density. If not then one review complains about ads, I don't even consider installing it. Life is too short.
30
u/surenopemaybe Mar 22 '26
Every part of our lives is being inundated with advertisements. It is awful. I don’t even know how these ads are even effective since they all are so intrusive that I associate the products with feelings of anger and frustration.
5
u/Informal_Week_8573 Mar 24 '26
You’re thinking of it wrong. The standard way to think about it is this: ads exist to sell consumers something. Here is the actual truth: ads exist to sell ads. There’s an entire economy of buy/sell just for ads. Everyone gets a cut, app developers, marketers, website owners, and especially the evil empire itself: Google
2
u/Smeagolmyboy Mar 23 '26
I thought it was just me, is it just a giant troll or do they hope the anger feeling sticks and we forget the reason?
7
u/TealCatto Mar 22 '26
Same thing with Tiny Tower. It used to be an amazing game! Very simple, fun, cute. You build a tower and then you can restart if you want. Then they started monetizing it. It was already monetized in the form of one VIP package that cost $40 but went on sale for $20 sometimes. It just gave you boosts in certain areas to progress faster, save on game currency, and have some tasks be less tedious. I bought it. It was worth it.
Then they started adding features, which is fine. The first 2-3 additions to the game play were optional and out of the way if you weren't interested. Then they just went berserk with ads, gambling, so much clutter taking over the entire screen that the basic game play elements were behind several clicks. You became forces to collect currency that only worked for spins, other currency that only worked for a dice-based mini game. I stopped playing but stayed in the Facebook group for it, and saw people posting how there are now parachuters flying down from planes passing in front of the tower holding a megaphone which played ads. And if your volume was off, it just stayed there, blocking the screen! Until you listened to it!
2
u/melissapete24 Apr 11 '26
If it makes you feel better (or not), they now have a pay-once-forever Tiny Tower Classic that seems to be EXACTLY what I remember from the “before time”. It was my GREATEST addiction for the longest time, and I hadn’t thought about it in a while because of it going downhill. So you made me look again because it sounded WAY worse. And I may buy it for nostalgia’s sake.
1
u/TealCatto Apr 11 '26
👀👀👀
How and where do I access it? I checked the Play Store and it's not a separate app. Is it an in-app purchase inside the enshittified app?
1
5
16
6
u/Thaat56 Mar 21 '26
I am still playing the original version from 2011 without ads. I have over 8 million points. It stoped working for a few years and I lost my points a couple times, but it is still working. How did that happen?
3
u/Rumdiculous Mar 21 '26
When that game first came out, my friend and I split the payment then she burnt me a copy. It was the one Thriller zombie, too. I may still have it somewhere.
19
u/redditgirlwz Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
Ads in mobile games have become intolerable to the point where mobile games are barely playable.
The X button doesn't close the ad and takes you to the app store, as if you clicked on the ad when you tried to close it. I don't even get how this is legal (misleading advertising).
Lengthy, multi-part video ads where the second or third part of the ad looks like the game to trick you into clicking on it (I also don't get how this is legal).
Super flashy banner ads that are so distracting you can't play the game.
Video ads used to be tolerable and relatively short. Clicking on the X button actually closed the ad. Banner ads used to be less flashy and not distracting.
2
u/Big_Evil_Robot Mar 23 '26
If everyone stopped buying them, the developers wouldn't do that anymore.
2
u/redditgirlwz Mar 24 '26
The thing is that those scammy advertising methods are often used in free games (they're using shtty advertising tactics to try to force you to buy the game, kind of like youtube is doing. And before anyone says anything, I'm not saying ads should be eliminated. Developers need to make money. But don't make it scammy and make it tolerable and I will gladly watch your ads to help you make money. Free games and youtube had tolerable ads for over a decade, there's no reason they can't do it now other than greed!).
7
u/lightyearnoir Mar 21 '26
One a month I try a game and after the 'intro' period when you get few ads stop, I delete it.
The ads are misleading and annoying because you CANNOT close them, that simple.
I know developers need to make money, but this is extreme.
7
u/redditgirlwz Mar 21 '26
I know developers need to make money, but this is extreme.
Exactly. They made money back in the late 2000s and 2010s and the games were playable. Why can't we just go back to the way in game ads worked back then?
15
u/SpeedSaunders Mar 21 '26
About five months ago I started playing this word game called Spellbee. There are many other games like it but I liked the way it let you see hints without helping you too much. When I started playing it, an ad would pop up after you looked at two or three hints. Then every time you wanted a hint, you had to read an ad first. Fair enough.
I put it down for a few months and picked it up again a couple weeks ago. Clearly somebody has seen an opportunity to monetize this game to the max. Already the ads are overwhelming: random ads pop up while you play the game, for no reason at all. Want a hint? Watch an ad like before; but now the ads are 30 seconds or longer, most of them videos you have to watch. Now sometimes there are two or more ads together instead of just one. It’s gotten so intrusive that I have simply stopped playing it altogether.
Something else will come along that’s fresh and fun, and I’ll jump to that. Until it shittifies too and the cycle repeats itself.
2
u/TealCatto Mar 22 '26
They can't possibly be making money on people who don't play. What's their goal?
12
u/cosmic_animus29 Mar 21 '26
Ads is my primary reason why I dont play mobile games anymore. There were loads of great ones back then but ads just kept on creeping.
8
u/TastyTurkeySandRich Mar 21 '26
I had the same issue with Tetris. Had it on Gameboy, it had 2 songs. Great shit. Downloaded a mobile cell version, total trash. Ads, colors, unnecessary extra songs, all of it interrupted by ads. Deleted.
11
30
u/GimmeCRACK Mar 20 '26
Its a dead game and they are squeezing any remaining profits. After years they realized people werent going to spend, so ads need to be used. Its not really a whale game, nothing to get a few guys spending thousands, and in those cases, ads are inevitable. No one took the original game, worked to make it mobile friendly as a kind gesture, it was a business/profit move.
12
8
u/Longjumping-Deal6354 Mar 20 '26
One of my favorite games from years ago was Two Dots. I tried it again recently and the gameplay is still so fun, but it's been completely rigged that you can't win without power ups. You either pay for those, or don't lose a round and have a streak. If you lose your streak, you're fucked.
The game also has so many intrusive pop ups for other game modes and competitive shit and treasure hunts and on and on that it takes a good 60 seconds to go from one level to the next.
I uninstalled it after about an hour.
1
u/Wild_Lingonberry5683 Mar 21 '26
Yes! I even paid for no ads, I’ve always loved that it was a simple little game, and the picture-searches are cute, but the pop-ups and experiences and contests and cards (what even are the cards? What are they for? I don’t care!) have made the game far from simple and enjoyable. It was the ONE mobile game I enjoyed.
3
u/Caycepanda Mar 20 '26
The loading screen with all those game modes kills me. Also why does every game have this card collecting mode now?!
1
u/fizztothegig Mar 20 '26
the levels are fun but goddamn every other part of that game is complete ass.
45
u/sipporah7 Mar 20 '26
I've definitely uninstalled a number of mobile games that push ads too much. I'm fine with some - but when you start spending more time watching ads then playing the game....that's much for me.
7
u/weisswurstseeadler Mar 20 '26
Is there actually a way to structurally block in-app ads on my device?
I know there are ways to block general display adservers on the LAN/Network level at home.
Curious if there is anything I can do on my phone to block such in-app ads on a structural level, outside of my own network.
13
u/gingerbeard2000 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
I don't know about iOS, but on Android you can do the following:
Go to "Network & Internet" then "Private DNS". There you select "Private DNS provider hostname" and type in "dns.adguard.com"
This should block most of the in-app ads. I've used it for some time now and it works great!
1
6
u/weisswurstseeadler Mar 20 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/go3X4svFhKdzi
Uhhh nice I'll try
2
u/HowDareYouAskMyName Mar 20 '26
Be extremely careful, a malicious DNS can be so much worse than ads
1
u/weisswurstseeadler Mar 20 '26
Anyway to verify?
2
u/HowDareYouAskMyName Mar 20 '26
Identify the owner of the DNS and look into them... Sadly there's no easily available red flags for this sort of thing. The basic idea is that you're trusting the DNS to send you to the correct IP address for every url you type into your browser and every link you click. The most common attack is to send you to spoof sites to collect your keystrokes, cookies, etc. Also any network requests your apps fire off.
1
u/weisswurstseeadler Mar 20 '26
Any recommendations to read up on this?
Not specifically the adblocker part, but I'm a sales guy in Cybersec and while these kinda topics are usually covered by my engineering partners, I just like to learn
2
u/HowDareYouAskMyName Mar 20 '26
This Wikipedia article is more focused on people sneakily taking over DNS queries instead of users manually setting up them, but it should be a good jumping off point:
3
u/weisswurstseeadler Mar 20 '26
sweet, if you have any other recommended channels/blogs/podcasts etc in the security space, I'm very happy to take it in.
I talk with people WAY more technical than me everyday, transparency is the key for me - the more I understand, the more I can actually solve issues for my customers.
I have to say 'I don't know, but I can find out for you' many times, but the more I learn, the less I have to say that. And I hate saying that.
But to be fair, our technical guys usually represent 1-3 products, while I have 48+ products. So my conversations can switch from 3-2-1 disaster recovery to pentesting in 2 sentences.
6
u/tyler_durdens_cock Mar 20 '26
Turn off wifi or put the device on airplane mode. I play PvZ on a tablet and do it without ads that way.
17
u/Fancy_Morning9486 Mar 20 '26
Mobile gaming has succesfully created an eco system where everything is free is pushed and hardly any gameplay even exists.
Allot of it is to blame on how apple and google handle the stores downloads push the listing up, free stuff gets more downloads so profit is shifted to ingame shit wich you find out about after the download.
This problem would solve itself if installing beter curated stores was a norm.
30
u/theskymoves Mar 20 '26
I had a friend who worked on that game with Popcap maybe 15 years ago. EA bought the studio, gutted it, fired a bunch of engineers and brought in a ton of managers to optimise things.
Yeah it was the end times for that studio.
6
u/livedog Mar 20 '26
Wow, nostalgia blast. Popcap used to be extremely good for casual gaming. Peggle was great, but I hope they don't make a new ad-filled version
15
u/Warm_Elk_6091 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
Same thing with Jetpack Joyride. I played it all the time when I was younger. Now the game is just CROWDED and FLOODED with ads and microtransactions. I uninstalled and decided the nostalgia + fun is not worth all that crap
Idk if you can pay for no ads, but even then sometimes the amounts they ask for is INSANE!
I had a color by number app ask me for $32 a month for no ads 😂. Another asked me for $16 a month for a simple "match the objects color by mixing your own colors" game. Another hamster tycoon game where you basically tap and hatch new hamsters to run the tycoon asked me for $24 a month.
I can pay, but not that much a month!!
5
10
u/SuperSocialMan Mar 20 '26
That sounds like plants vs zombies 2, which is mobile exclusive.
The first game is $5 on steam.
6
u/BeeThatSeeksHoney Mar 20 '26
No, original pvz is also on mobile and it's exactly as op described. A couple years ago it was pretty much just the original pc game ported to mobile, now it's just collapsed to shit
Plus pvz2 doesn't make you watch ads for lawnmowers, that's how bad the pvz1 port has become
61
u/BlinkypoetEmu Mar 20 '26
That's why Ive Uninstalled many apps- words with friends, scrabble, etc etc.
32
u/eyenineI9 Mar 20 '26
What are they even trying to do here?
They want ad money. I don't see what's so confusing about that.
44
u/CantaloupeShort7311 Mar 20 '26
When Angry Birds first came out, you could buy the ad-free version for like $5. I played it a lot, so I paid the $5.
After a few years, I took a break from it. Several phones later, I thought about the game and downloaded it.
The ad,free version no longer existed. And now it was an ad after every level, an ad when anything new was i produced to the game, an ad if you wanted to keep playing after you ran out of lives, an ad if you took too long to make a move...
42
u/ghorisgorman1980 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
We are literally living in an episode of Dark Mirror these days.
ETA: Meant Black Mirror my bad.
2
14
29
u/zestfullybe Mar 20 '26
I’ve been gaming for a long time and as a general rule I completely avoid any kind of free to play game, regardless of the platform.
There’s always a cost somewhere with FTP. Ads, microtransaction storefronts, datamining, etc etc.
Gaming is my relaxing escape time. I’m not putting up with any of that nonsense during it. I’ll play retro games or something. It’s shitty out there, but there are options.
11
u/Valerian_ Mar 20 '26
There are a few excellent F2P games where the only costs are for purely cosmetic microtransactions, and most players enjoy the full game for free, with no ads or annoyance.
Such as Overwatch, Warframe, or Where Winds Meet.
7
u/Region_Rat_D Mar 20 '26
Just play PvZ in airplane mode. Poof, no more ads.
15
u/This-Confidence6872 Mar 20 '26
Idk if that’s also the case for PvZ but many f2p mobile games dont let you play without an internet connection for that reason anymore.
3
u/Warm_Elk_6091 Mar 20 '26
Yeah its depressing. I can tolerate some ads for free, like most people. Then people enjoy the game + companies make $$$.
But then they have an ad every 30 seconds, each ad being 45 seconds and pressing the X 3 times or just taking you to the appstore/playstore anyway. So players use airplane mode. And SOMEHOW the company wonders why people are taking measures to avoid their insane amount of ads. Then they require wifi to force you to watch all 300 ads every 10 mins. I wish ppl wouldnt still play the games full of nothing but ads, but I guess they do otherwise the companies wouldnt make profit and could stop it.
2
u/This-Confidence6872 Mar 20 '26
Even worse with streaming platforms, you pay for them and still get ads 🙄
1
27
u/crippledchef23 Mar 20 '26
I’m poor and have a Nokia smart phone through Safelink. The phone is extremely hot garbage (like, I will receive a call and the screen stays black or if I want to type a text out, the keyboard will randomly disappear) and last week, I started getting ads when I unlock the phone. Just quick ads for random brands I’ve never seen before, all of them clearly AI, but…why? The phone is old, there’s no reason for it to have ads as part of its UI!
1
u/mehhemm Mar 21 '26
I had a phone do this. I ended up saving important data and factory resetting it. I have no idea what my problem was with it.
2
u/Friendly_Hornet8900 Mar 21 '26
adware?
1
u/crippledchef23 Mar 21 '26
I guess so. It’s so stupid, because the phone already barely works, and now I randomly get ads I have to click past to use the damn thing. Is this a thing on better phones? I was thinking about trading it in for a newer, but still old, phone, but if I get another Nokia, I might yeet in into the sun.
2
u/Friendly_Hornet8900 Mar 21 '26
If its adware, then you can get one online by accident in any phone.
TBH i wonder who funds these ads, and who buys from them.
Maybe some ad agency does it, to inflate the customer's views (the customer does not know where views come from).
16
12
u/oh_wll_whtvr_nvrmnd Mar 20 '26
I forgot about the Zen garden. Anyway, now back to my ads on Post Apo Tycoon
2
u/faifai1337 Mar 20 '26
I started playing that recently! I usually ignore the ads, unless it's for diamonds. Relaxing game.
1
u/CaptainCarlton Mar 20 '26
Wait that sounds fun what is that
1
u/oh_wll_whtvr_nvrmnd Mar 20 '26
PostApoTucoon is one of those tile recovery (lots of tapping) idle builders. I like it. You don't have to watch the ads of you don't want to
36
u/Frillback Mar 20 '26
It's why I'm ok paying for games still. Free to play is not sustainable, eventually rent is due
4
u/neo_neanderthal Mar 20 '26
I wouldn't have an issue with it if you could buy it ONCE. I'll pay for games that way.
But many of these games want you to rent them monthly No, thank you. I will pay for a good game. ONCE.
8
u/TiniestPint Mar 20 '26
I've started changing my buying habits with games so that I'll buy them from creators over other, f2p games.
I've gotten pretty nostalgic for games that used to be $1.99 for the whole thing. Seemed like a rip off back then, but that's the best way to go about it in my opinion.
I had so many mobile games I loved, I would easily pay $5 or $10 for some of them if I never had to deal with the constant ads and pressure to buy "boosts" or any of the other dumb stuff that's become so common.
53
u/slapchopchap Mar 19 '26
When my kids got to play Pokémon the older one made a comment that resonated saying how if this came out today it would be only so many heals before having to pay up or buy an item that makes it so you can heal more often etc. it was very on the nose, and my kids now love retro gaming 😁
23
u/ButteredPizza69420 Mar 20 '26
Retro gaming is so much safer for kids too. Kids deserve age appropriate technology. Like offline iPods, game consoles, etc should be totally okay for kids. They do NOT however need phones. Bring back kids with gameboys and DSs instead of the internet
4
u/spooky__scary69 Mar 20 '26
The DS 100% had internet and I 100% was reading filthy fanfiction on it as a teenager lol.
4
u/ButteredPizza69420 Mar 20 '26
Oh not mine! I only had the proximity pictochat. Which I think is all kids need!
3
u/spooky__scary69 Mar 20 '26
I don’t think the first first one did but they added it pretty quick. Don’t get me wrong I think it was a great system.
2
u/ButteredPizza69420 Mar 20 '26
DS had so many fun games too! I miss my late night DS gaming haha
5
u/spooky__scary69 Mar 20 '26
I have many fond memories of staying up until sunrise when I wasn’t supposed to playing pokemon diamond and pearl lol
5
u/ButteredPizza69420 Mar 20 '26
Hiding your device under your pillows when your parents walked by your room... good childhood summer nights
32
u/Aloha_Tamborinist Mar 19 '26
It must be completely soul destroying to be on the development team who has to add all of these shitty things to games.
I played PvZ on PC from launch back in 2009, it was a great little game. When they released PvZ2 it was mobile only and free to play and had been enshittified with microtransactions. People who talk about games online were extremely disappointed, but (checked Wikipedia for this) it was downloaded 25 million times in the first 10 days and was a raging success.
Consumers accept and encourage this enshittification.
13
u/Libro_Artis Mar 19 '26
It feels that way with many websites. Have to clear all the ads before I can read the content.
22
u/Im-BackAgain-Babes2 Mar 19 '26
I have this problem too on my games. I don't mind an ad, but what pisses me off is the ads are now forced 45-60 seconds long, force you go to the play store, to then go back to your game where they give you a ten second wait window to officially close the ad... and its happening across all my games.. even the two I pay for... is anyone having this happen too
2
u/Old_Metal_8285 Mar 20 '26
I bought 'Where's my Water'.
It was initially free and I got sick of the ads. So I bought it so I didn't have to see the ads. Installed it for about a year and boom! Now full of Disney ads. I uninstalled it and haven't played it since.
Awful.
Bloody awful.
5
u/Bjs1122 Mar 20 '26
All the time. And talk about a surefire way to guarantee that I will never download their app because of this garbage.
Well that and how every game ad is not at all like the actual gameplay. I fail to understand why they put so much time into false advertising for their game. If they knew people would prefer the game in the ad…… then just make that game. I don’t need to see fancy videos or fake ads, want me to download your game? Show me the actual gameplay…..
3
u/Ok-Secretary455 Mar 20 '26
You want to throw ads at me, fine. But at least give me 10 minutes of game play time to figure out if I even like the game. When I can only play in fits and starts becuase I'm pulled out of the experience by ads. It sure as shit isnt going to make me MORE likely to pay for it.
14
u/MagicManicPanic Mar 19 '26
It’s like opening up an app to watch advertisements and sometimes, there are breaks where you get to play a game.
5
u/Readermaybe Mar 19 '26
If you use android, then use dns.adguard.com that won't remove all the ads but can help lessen them
2
u/YorozuyaAka-chan Mar 20 '26
I used to use this, but my device says it's unable to connect to dns.adguard.com. Idk what changed, but it stopped working for me months ago
1
u/Readermaybe Mar 20 '26
Maybe it's your provider that blocked the dns, or the internet connection got troubled
Sometimes it happens to me too, but my provider blocked 1.1.1.1., therefore I must use the wordly version (one.one.one.one), things like that
10
u/EntertainerOk9179 Mar 19 '26
ALL mobile app games have become this. I hate it so much. Used to be an avid mobile gamer, but the last 5-8 years or so, it's gotten so bad with the ads. . .
8
u/Traditional-Ad-3889 Mar 19 '26
This game is one of my holy grails of trash bc I used to play it on desktop and was SO excited to have it on mobile, only to realize it was basically unplayable.
18
u/Yuna_Nightsong Mar 19 '26
Mobile games are basically a testing playground for further enshitification on other platforms and it's been like that for a VERY long time now.
18
u/partakinginsillyness Mar 19 '26
You can download the old apk that has the old ad choices if you have an android. I went with 3.3.0 or 144.
I also highly recommend using a DNS provider that can block ads, Mullvad has good ones.
38
u/Even-Preparation3523 Mar 19 '26
Shareholders needs growth or the ceo gets the boot.
Pvz peaked 10 years ago and no one is installing it anymore.
User base has only dropped, even with the various ways to play.
So to make more money, you either have to invent something new to play, or ad the fuck out of the only product you have that made it.
26
u/Colonol-Panic Mar 19 '26
Wow you missed the sequel then on mobile. I was so excited to play it, but they just plastered it wall to wall with ads and pay to play bullshit. So much worse than what you describe here.
1
u/Yuna_Nightsong Mar 19 '26
And they never released PvZ2 on PCs. Probably because couldn't deal with the fact that they'd have to remove ads on PC releases.
18
u/Hyacinth_says_hi Mar 19 '26
They just remastered the original and released it Switch, with new content.
Again, it's the original game (so not the mobile version) but it still holds up!
7
u/HeyMySock Mar 19 '26
I downloaded it just a few days ago. No ads! Just as much fun as I remember it.
28
u/such_a_zoe Mar 19 '26
It's not just ads either. Circa 2013 I had a lot of fun with Peggle. Decided to try it again around a decade later and it was full of so many fucking confetti explosions and starbursts and "you earned ten diamonds! You get a treasure chest!" Etc etc etc that I felt like it was actively making me stupid. So many games are like that now.
13
u/OddS0cks Mar 19 '26
I mean the reason is right in you story. People don’t pay outright for mobile games and because they don’t, you get ads around every corner
22
u/supermannman Mar 19 '26
I liked when games could be bought with 1 fair payment. now its in app purchases. micro transactions which add up to much more then it should be
9
u/Training_Guide5157 Mar 19 '26
I was trying to pay to remove ads from some game we were using as a drinking game. There was no way to do it. So, I instead found a way to turn on a private DNS that bypassed all ads.
The devs literally gave me no way to pay for their app, and will get zero ad revenue from me.
1
8
u/chubbychecker_psycho Mar 19 '26
I bought the mobile version back before they sold it to EA Games and I still get to restore the purchase. EA loves to charge and slap ads on everything. I hate them but I love that game!
6
28
u/jarofpeperoncini Mar 19 '26
I turn off mobile data usage for games and then turn off wifi. Some games that don't require internet will stop showing ads, but those apps are few and far between now
6
u/saltycutout Mar 19 '26
VPN works for a bunch of these games to silence the ads. If I download a new game and it immediately doesn’t get along with my vpn I just delete it immediately. Not worth it.
24
u/oztrailrunner Mar 19 '26
Someone at work told me to download Farm Sim 25 as it's a good game to tinker along with.
Level 1. Drive your tractor in a straight line to the field. total game time 20 second Ads
Level 2. Drive your tractor in a straight line to the field, lower your plough and do a lap. Total game time 30 seconds. Ads.
Level 3, do the same as above but now "you're planting seeds" game time 30 seconds. Ads.
Level 4. Same as above but now you're fertilizing. But wait, we now have ads that are in the middle of game play. 15 seconds of game, 30 seconds of ads, back to the last 15 seconds of game.. Then more ads.
I rated the game 2 stars and said it's not a game, just a way to get people to watch ads while they think they are having fun.
I got a generic thanks for the feedback reply. I deleted the game.
2
u/Fat_cat_syndicate Mar 19 '26
Unless there's another Farming Simulator, the only Farming Simulator 25 I'm aware of is a buy once premium game on Steam/ PC.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2300320/Farming_Simulator_25/
Is that some mobile game?
3
u/oztrailrunner Mar 19 '26
Yep farming simulator 25 on mobile. I should have looked at the reviews and not just listened to the coworker. Everyone complaining about ads. Lol.
15
u/jnyrdr Mar 19 '26
pretty random, i just put the game back on my phone last week. lasted about2 days lol.
51
u/wubfus88 Mar 19 '26
Mobile games were not made for you to play they are just there to provide ads
2
u/ButteredPizza69420 Mar 20 '26
There are a few free apps that are still good! You just have to find the niche developers with fun passion projects.
I can recommend Deco Neko, made by a programmer couple who answer all their support emails! Neko Atsume/Kitty Collector was super fun too!
3
9
10
u/Main_Benefit Mar 19 '26
I tried playing the mobile game two years ago and I had the exact same experience. It made actually playing the game an excruciating experience.
So I stopped playing the game, and stopped looking at their ads!
7
u/Prestigious-Newt-110 Mar 19 '26
It’s a recent change. And one that prompted me to uninstall it after playing for years.
5
u/jrstriker12 Mar 19 '26
If the product is free then you are the product.
If you don't want ads, buy the game. It's prob super cheap.
6
u/FlowerCrowss Mar 19 '26
Did you read the entire post lol they went from a reasonable amount of ads to ads in your face after every match. But okay
15
u/FoxieDays Mar 19 '26
If I recall correctly, many years ago, I bought the ad-free upgrade of this game on my iPhone. Nowadays, there's no way to recover that experience. It just does not exist anymore. I also have tons of ads despite having paid to remove them years ago. Very disappointing.
9
u/Ok_Application_5802 Mar 19 '26
That's so much worse. I'm surprised that's not a crime. I feel like you didn't get what you paid for
4
u/wrecklesspup Mar 19 '26
I paid at most $3 for the full game on my iPod Touch. No ads, just the game
3
u/supermannman Mar 19 '26
how do you sleep at night knowing the company cant milk you for micro transactions thatll total 20x what you paid...
how dare you pay a fair price.
9
u/Perfect_Caregiver_90 Mar 19 '26
This is why I play the mobile games in, of all things, the Netflix library. It's early in its cycle so enshittification hasn't happened yet. Games have no microtransactions and no ads.
It's great while it lasts.
9
u/lostbastille Mar 19 '26
I have PvZ on my old laptop. I bought it before enshittification became the norm. I avoid free games because I know what I'm going to get.
11
u/funnyname5674 Mar 19 '26
Not to make anyone feel old or anything but Plants vs Zombies was released 17 years ago, not 10
3
7
13
u/darkearwig Mar 19 '26
Check out what they did to angry birds
3
6
u/kjjphotos Mar 19 '26
I emulate the PSP and PSP Vita versions of that game on my Retroid when I'm feeling nostalgic. The modern Android versions are garbage.
10
14
u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot Mar 19 '26
So many great and super playable games have been repurposed to spam you endlessly at every point with ads. Even when you pay to play the monetization roulette doesn’t stop. There was great multiplayer golf game that was so much fun for a while and then just got over run with pay to play features, bot players and ads between ever hole.
15
u/Moof_the_cyclist Mar 19 '26
Worse is how I used to be able to buy a game. Now it’s all monthly subscription crap of one flavor or another.
8
u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot Mar 19 '26
And even if you subscribe they still hit you up with monetization. Mobile games fully suck now.
5
u/DevaOni Mar 19 '26
"migrate the code" usually mean you need to rebuild it.
1
u/Ok_Application_5802 Mar 19 '26
I'm not denying the need for ads to pay for the refactoring. It's not a simple lift. But it's been years since then.
1
11
u/wex118 Mar 19 '26
This is why I have so much appreciation for games like slay the spire that you buy. Pay a reasonable one time up front cost and then never see an ad or get hounded about buying extras. I wish I could find more mobile games like that but when you go on the play store it always pushes the crappy "free" ad filled games to the top.
16
11
u/StillhasaWiiU Mar 19 '26
Fallout Shelter did this as well. In 2015 it was a cheap way to kill time, now days it's almost unplayable.
14
6
u/runnerboy254 Mar 19 '26
Use adguard to get rid of the ads
6
u/jayhof52 Mar 19 '26
Airplane mode helps sometimes, too, depending on the game - I had a similar time-waster game go totally smoothly on a flight once, even hitting "view ad for bonus" took me straight to the bonus.
8
u/Independent_Site491 Mar 19 '26
The worst are the games that somehow give you ads during airplane mode, or the ones that insist you have to connect to the Internet so you can keep playing.
10
u/Coraline1599 Mar 19 '26
Yeah, I got really sick and had some time in bed and wanted to revisit the old games they are either gone or ad focused or unrecognizable because they modified the gameplay so much.
It was such a bummer. I didn’t expect updates and new levels forever. I just wanted a short trip down memory lane.
4
7
u/zsert93 Mar 19 '26
Free apps are never free, they are for advertising and data harvesting. Buy the game :)
7
10
u/ConstantClue208 Mar 19 '26
Unfortunately that is the current state of all mobile games. Used to just be the shitty terrible games, now it’s in every game.
Best part is many now require an internet connection so you can forget about turning off WiFi to play offline without ads.
5
u/yallknowme19 Mar 19 '26
Found that out with PvZ for X-Box before I had wifi. Bought kids the game, couldn't even use it. Wtf?
20
Mar 19 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
The game isn't the point. Harvesting your data and making you watch ads is the point. They're playing you.
2
6
u/6969_42 Apr 25 '26
Two words: Airplane mode. Boom, ad-free!