All of that’s not to say IAP in mobile games is experiencing a universal decline. Over in the significant ‘midcore and strategy’ space, AppsFlyer data points to a near consistent split in IAP’s favour. IAA in that category accounted for 30% of revenues – or just under – throughout 2018. In Q3 of 2018, midcore and strategy accounted for 52% of installs, while casual accounted for 37%. So, it would be very premature to call anything like a projected demise of IAP. For one, a single year does not point to a lasting trend. While there has clearly been a rise in mobile casual IAA’s impact, it will take analysis over a longer timeframe to be absolutely confident in a coming dominance by ads in this field. Equally, IAP is doing plenty well enough for itself in other spaces. At the time of writing, Candy Crush Saga’s IAP-powered daily revenues stand at USD$1.4m (£1.1m). However common it is to read about that game’s success, that is still remarkable considering it was launched as a mobile title over six years ago. And Candy Crush Saga isn’t an oddity. Plenty of players are spending money on IAP across all mobile gaming forms. Furthermore, beyond smartphone gaming, it’s the model that’s earning Fortnite its enviable revenues. Still, IAA has seemingly been embraced by a player base that long resisted in-game ads. The deployment of IAA is now more nuanced, often giving players the option to watch video commercials in return for in-game currency, rather than forcing content on them. Meanwhile interstitial pop-ups and subtle banners appear to have won out, perhaps as a public once besotted by the notion of free games has become savvy to the potential cost of IAP. The figures certainly point to one thing – it may be an increasingly good time to work in gaming ad technology and services.