One of the biggest challenges game developers face is figuring out how to improve monetization without compromising their game experience. Many game developers embed ads into their titles, which enables them to offer their games for free and remove the cost barrier of adoption for players - while still generating revenue. In-app advertising can be lucrative, when done effectively and in moderation.

But how do you know what types of ads are best-suited for your game? How do you ensure ads won’t drive away players? These are the exact questions Pomelo Games had. For answers, they turned to Firebase.

Why Pomelo Games turned to Firebase

Pomelo Games is one of the top game studios in Uruguay. They pride themselves on developing unique and polished games that capture players’ imaginations. Their recent release, Once Upon a Tower, “is an easy-to-pick-up, hard-to-put-down, free-to-play game,” says co-founder Jonás Mora. A Play Store Editors’ Choice, the game is beloved for its high-fidelity graphics, as well as the “fairness of its free-to-play mechanics,” says Jonás.

So when the team needed to improve the game’s monetization, they were unsure how to proceed. They were looking for a way to increase revenue without sacrificing the affordability and game quality their players loved.

How Pomelo Games used Firebase to grow revenue

Pomelo Games used Firebase Remote Config and Firebase A/B Testing to test a new ad format: interstitials. They also used Google Analytics to monitor revenue and Firebase Crashlytics to keep an eye on stability.

Although initially opposed to the idea, Jonás and his team discovered that showing interstitial ads to their entire player base led to an average 25% increase in AdMob revenue, and surprisingly, a 35% increase in in-app purchases as well. In both cases, there was almost no negative impact on retention or game stability. Firebase gave Pomelo Games the confidence to try new approaches to grow revenue without driving players away. Read Pomelo Games’ full story and get details on their success with Firebase in our new case study. And learn more about how Firebase can help you build and grow your game, and see what other game studios are using Firebase.