Advertising can make or break a new game release. Good marketing shows players why they should be interested in the game quickly and efficiently. When it comes to mobile games, however, it seems as though many of them have taken the complete opposite approach. There's no shortage of mobile game ads that are weird, wild, or just plain misleading, but all of them seem to avoid actually showing the game.

The idea of not showing the game may seem strange at first, but it certainly seems to work. Marvel Snap, for example, has ads that focus on its card art or developer interviews, rather than showing actual gameplay. Marvel Snap's ads are nowhere near as strange as some other mobile games and don't try to present the game as something it isn't, however. State of Survival, Lilly's Garden, Project Makeover, and Evertale are particularly noteworthy for their ads, especially when considering how they compare to the actual games. A wide majority of the ads for these four games show very little actual gameplay if any. What's even stranger is how often the ads show shocking content to try and drive interest. Looking at these four games, a trend starts to emerge that may just explain why mobile game companies have gotten so weird with their ads.

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Some Mobile Game Ads Showcase Stories Instead of Actual Gameplay

State of Survival Ad Screenshot

One of the most common kinds of mobile game ads are ones that feature some admittedly impressive CG animation. State of Survival and Lilly's Garden fall into this category with their story-driven ads set within the world of their games. Lilly's Garden tends to dance between misleading and creative, as elements of what happens in the ads do actually show up in-game in the form of character dialogue between levels. However, the actual gameplay of Lilly's Garden is mostly just match-three puzzles with some light home design elements, which is nothing close to the soap opera-like story that the ads tell.

State of Survival also has some animated ads, though a lot of their recent ones have been live-action shorts that focus on people playing the game. To State of Survival's credit, these ads often focus on the core hero and city-building mechanics of the game by having two people argue over whose in-game characters and shelters have a higher power. They're actually somewhat reminiscent of the "Settle It in Smash" advertisements that were aired to promote Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

The animated State of Survival ads, however, highlight small stories and feature characters players can unlock in the game. For example, one ad may feature a character saving another from zombies, only for the two of them to run inside a house and fortify it as a shelter. While there may be similar strategy mechanics in State of Survival, the game doesn't ever get as in-depth as these animated ads try to show. To the game's credit, however, the ads do focus on what the actual gameplay prioritizes.

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Other Mobile Ads Sell with Shock or Are Misleading

A screenshot of an ad for the mobile game Project Makeover

Project Makeover has ads that almost always venture into the absurd with gross visuals that are meant to shock viewers. Most of Project Makeover's ads depict someone with disheveled hair, running mascara, and other similar features. The fake player in the ads attempts to give them a makeover, only for it to go horribly wrong. Certain aspects of these ads are exaggerated for shock value, such as one where there is a river of mud flowing down the client's body.

One might assume that Project Makeover is a makeover simulator game, but in reality, it's nearly identical to Lilly's Garden. In other words, it's another match-three game. A mobile title that takes a similar approach is Evertale, which seems to present itself as a take on Pokémon but with a horror twist. While the ads often feature brutal murder, dismemberment, and genetic experimentation, the actual game is a fairly standard mobile RPG that doesn't really stray from the formula.

However, Evertale's ads dip into some of the darker aspects of mobile game advertising. Many of the visuals, assets, and even stories in these ads are either heavily inspired by or are directly ripping off more popular games. Many players have even pointed out that some Evertale ads appear to rip off scenes from the indie RPG OMORI. While the other mobile games mentioned so far blur the line between creative advertisement and lying, Evertale is almost a completely different game than what the ads show.

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Mobile Games Aren't Really Advertising Their Game

A screenshot from State of Survival's Google Play Store page.

Mobile game ads really only have enough time to highlight what the developers think will bring in the most viewers. There are a lot of marketing practices at play with these ads, but the big one to highlight is how they grab their intended audience's attention. State of Survival focuses on the gacha mechanics of leveling up specific characters, as this showcases both a gameplay mechanic and the game's character art. Project Makeover tries to catch a viewer's attention with shocking imagery so that they download the game to see if it's actually like what the ads show.

The wildest part of mobile game ads is that they actually work. Project Makeover is a perfect example of this. Despite how off-putting some of its ads can be, the game shot up in popularity within four days of its initial launch. The ads caught people's attention and made them want to know more. If someone downloads a game like Lilly's Garden but ends up not playing it after seeing the gameplay, that's still a download. More downloads mean it's more likely that an app will be recommended to other users, which leads to more players checking out the game.