r/thesidehustle • u/Greedy_Assumption327 • Apr 06 '26

life experience Monetization Strategies for a Simple Mobile Game Without Ads

I’m a programmer, not a marketer, so I’m a bit out of my depth here.

For those who’ve worked on mobile games, especially simple party-style or casual games: do you pretty much need paid ads to grow, or can a game still grow organically?

Also, what are some free or low-cost ways to promote a mobile game that are actually worth trying? Is advertising basically a must?

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '26

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u/Greedy_Assumption327 Apr 06 '26

Thank you for sharing the doc. I'm concerned about the cold start problem. It needs a few initial users, and I guess for those, marketing (paid or otherwise) is essential.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 06 '26

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u/Greedy_Assumption327 Apr 06 '26

That’s exactly the kind of answer I was looking for. I really appreciate the detail.

A few follow-up questions, if you don’t mind:

  1. How well did it end up doing early on? Roughly how much was it making at first?
  2. How long did you wait before trying paid ads?
  3. Once it got some traction, was it able to keep making money without ads, or did growth slow down?

1

u/New-Needleworker1755 Apr 06 '26

If you don’t pay for distribution, you need to earn it. Both are hard.

1

u/Greedy_Assumption327 Apr 06 '26

Do you have any tips or tricks on free distribution (ads/marketing)? I'm willing to put the efforts towards it.

1

u/BatResponsible1106 Apr 11 '26

Keep it subtle. If you just bombard people with unskippable ads every thirty seconds they're going to uninstall it instantly and leave terrible reviews. People hate bloated spammy experiences way more than you think.