Game developers need to be aware there are many ways to monetize your games besides click banner ads that most people never click.
One way I have found that brings in more revenue and is easy to implement and allows me to choose the content of ads in my games is using the Amazon Associate Program.
I became an Amazon Associate when Amazon first launched the program and I have had a steady revenue using their ads in my media which includes on my website, integrated ads in ebooks and videos, and recently I have used them in games I publish.
In order to use Amazon Associate services and ads you must join the Amazon Associates program and you will need a dedicated website in order to get approved to be an associate.
You can get a free webpage from any service but I recommend you get your own domain name before applying to be an Amazon Associate and they will look over you website to make sure it meets their standards so don't put anything on your website that might not meet their approval.
You will also need a bank account routing number for direct deposit and a SS number for IRS tax records.
Once you are approved as an associate you can use the associate service to create banners and store fronts for your own website and the great thing about using Amazon ads is if someone clicks on a banner and buys ANYTHING you will get a percentage of the sale and the more clicks the higher that percentage will be and up to 10% on some purchases.
I recently included a test Amazon ad in a game I am publishing and on the first click someone purchased a Japanese soaking tub for $167.51 and I made 8% of the sale or $13.40 off that one click and I did not advertise a tub. It was a game ad and they just decided to purchase something else on Amazon and I still get a percentage of any purchase they make after clicking on one of my ads.
That is a lot better than 3 cents a click now don't you think?
I use ads relevant to my games so in a Football game I use Amazon ads related to football and the ads may be to other Football games or to Football collectors items or memorabilia that my users might be interested in and inserting the ads is very simple and you can use rotating ads so the user will see a new ad each time they play.
I also use ads for things that are very hot in the news and in my latest game I included an ad for Zelda: Breath of the wild and Horizon a PS4 game.
Once you get your associate account you should spend some time on the associate page learning all the ad methods you can use but inserting ads is as easy as choosing an ad subject that would fit well with your game and then copying the image and link.
You will set a sprite to the image and use the WEB Object to open the link in another window. Use another window so you don't interrupt your users game play. That window stays open even if they stop playing the game so the user can make a purchase or browse for other items of interest and any purchase made from that window will be recorded to your associate link and you get a percentage of the sale.
Here is a picture of game ads I included in my last game:
Here are the links I used from my associate account that open when you click those pics:
AD1:http://amzn.to/2mwIyGc
AD2:http://amzn.to/2mhFCgh
Don't worry- the links will open in a new window on Amazon and no purchase required. Now look at the top of the browser search box and you will see my associate link included in that website link so I will get a percentage of any sale made after that link is clicked.
I believe this is a great way for game developers that want to monetize games to make some extra revenue and my average Amazon revenue is around $300 a month and it goes up much more around the holidays or when a special or really hot product is included in my ads and I get a higher percentage because I have been an associate for quite awhile and Amazon rewards high yield associates.
I included a simple CAPX so you can see how I set up my ads and you can start today by getting an Amazon Associate account!
CAPX:https://static3.scirra.net/uploads/articles/9447/Amazon%20Associates%20Example.capx