New ad network 2025 - provide feedback here

[shaunj66]

We have switched to a new ad network. Please use this thread to report any browsing issues specifically caused by ads on GBAtemp.

Most ads include a "Report Ad" button so please use it to report any issues with ad content. There's no need to post about it on the forums, as we'll just direct you to that button.

Also, please keep in mind that these ads arent there just for the fun of it. We need revenue to keep servers going, to allow some staff to get (small) payments to keep the site alive, and giveaways, contests etc.

 

[Costello]

The fix is to switch to a different network. Ad-Shield is known for doing exactly this, chances are they will not relent.

yes, you might be right, that being said we still need to give our current ad network a chance to adjust first, and if they can't fix that real quick well goodbye then.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Great, now I have these white bars on GBAtemp.

 

[Smoker1]

Great, now I have these white bars on GBAtemp.
View attachment 521840

Same here. Guess we both are using OS that are older? Do not seem to have this Issue on my Win10 Laptop.

Seriously, though - I do not care about these Ads, not going to click on them anyway, but also, unless you can absolutely make sure that NONE of the Ads have been compromised, no one can force People to Disable Ad-Blockers, or White List them. Sorry, but never going to happen.

 

[Dionicio3]

this is just getting ridiculous

 

[Vixi]

I feel like a lot of people who use this site are the types to know what they want and not buy random crap from ads anyway tbh.

Affiliate links for gaming/tech stores would make a lot of sense.

 

[Kirby6417]

Why not make a YouTube channel and get volunteers to host it. Video Game Esoterica seems to have time to make long videos every day and keeps up with all the latest minutia about his corner of the scene. Somehow he makes money doing that, GBA Temp could do the same. The website and forums does all the research so it would be an easy gig if you already knew how to make videos in the first place.

I really like this idea. I think there are probably other volunteer-oriented tasks that people would happily do to support the website.

The hard part would be mobilizing & organizing the volunteers and their projects.

Comparatively, the aggressive ads are a simpler solution. But I am persuaded by the phrase “race to the bottom” that I have seen in this thread. It doesn’t seem sustainable, and I think there is a culture or even global paradigm of reasons why.

As I edited this, the page crashed and I lost my additional thought. This is why I usually type my posts in Notes first and then copy-paste! Is it my fault for using this site on Safari on iPhone? Maybe, but still a pretty unfriendly mobile experience.

 

[shaunj66]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

We have made some changes while we continue to tweak the experience for everyone. The messages that render the site unusable should no longer occur. This was never our intent and was just part of the growing pains as we tune our partnership with our affiliates.

Thank you for your patience.

 

[subcon959]

My mobile experience was suddenly terrible earlier today, but it seems to be back to normal now.

 

[Reecey]

You claim nobody it's hard to get ads, and then flood the home page with ads?

This seems like everyone else who claims they can't pay server bills anymore and that people should donate.

Your staff has gotten extremely lazy and the articles they put out are worse than AI articles. Get better writers for better content.

I'd never give you guys a cent after complaining about the lack of advertisers and then putting an ad after every break on the homepage.

This site's been going downhill for years. I'm pretty sure you just put the final nail in the coffin.

Bro if you’re complaining that much about the adds put a blocker on it’s been a thing for a longtime now

 

[fst312]

Just curious do these ads need to really be clicked on for you to get the revenue.

 

[LexDG]

Bro if you’re complaining that much about the adds put a blocker on it’s been a thing for a longtime now

Read the thread

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2025

I really like this idea. I think there are probably other volunteer-oriented tasks that people would happily do to support the website.

The hard part would be mobilizing & organizing the volunteers and their projects.

Comparatively, the aggressive ads are a simpler solution. But I am persuaded by the phrase “race to the bottom” that I have seen in this thread. It doesn’t seem sustainable, and I think there is a culture or even global paradigm of reasons why.

As I edited this, the page crashed and I lost my additional thought. This is why I usually type my posts in Notes first and then copy-paste! Is it my fault for using this site on Safari on iPhone? Maybe, but still a pretty unfriendly mobile experience.

Asking for people to work for free so you don’t have to work for free is a bad look.

HIRE YouTube talent. PAY people. If this whole thing is about money then nobody should be asked to work for free.

I said way back that a youtube channel like spawn wave should be the goal. Gaming news channels often cite GBA temp content so GBAtemp should just cut the middle man.

 

[Thulinma]

We ran a T-shirt designing contest a few years ago and it was really cool seeing the designs contributed. Now that drop shipping exists maybe there's a better profit in it. I like that idea.

Hm, if there was a subscription tier that was e.g. "$X per year and you get a cool fan-designed t-shirt sent to you once per year" I'd be up for that as well. Supports the site financially, gets me something cool, and by wearing it we'd be subtly advertising the site to people around us as well. That's not a bad idea at all.
There's a patron I've backed for some time now that does a similar thing: they send a new sticker to their backers above a certain tier once per month (which are cheap to send because they fit in an envelope, of course). Something like that but with shirts (or maybe even pins, or something else nice to have like that) would be pretty cool.

 

[JaNDeRPeiCH]

First ads are terrible choice to get money.Because they are 3 type of people dont want ads:

*Newbies see ads,newbies left the site,they dont use adblockers.

*Users adblocking for real good reason: Ads can deliver malware,virus etc. You cannot dennied this good complain.

* Users adblocking because they want to do it with no reason at all.

Also in this thread costello said they need money to maintain gbatemp.So get to the point to my questions:

Gbatemp servers.. which company you use to pay your servers?

How much cost maintain the server for a long time (10 years or more?

Yep how much electricity you use to maintain gbatemp and which company you use to use all the energy?

 

[Reecey]

I blame Team Xecuter since the crew fell apart it’s all gone downhill

 

[DragonMals]

you might want to pin this thread to the homepage, admins/mods so a bunch of people are able to see this massive change.

 

[Deleted member 753700]

Please make donation/support options more accessible and viewable from the portal. Perhaps a perma banner of some kind like wikipedia. Also a goal bar is a MUST! Hope you guys can work out a solution as GBATEMP is such an asset to the community.

 

[ikynx]

You claim nobody it's hard to get ads, and then flood the home page with ads?

This seems like everyone else who claims they can't pay server bills anymore and that people should donate.

Your staff has gotten extremely lazy and the articles they put out are worse than AI articles. Get better writers for better content.

I'd never give you guys a cent after complaining about the lack of advertisers and then putting an ad after every break on the homepage.

This site's been going downhill for years. I'm pretty sure you just put the final nail in the coffin.

You need actual money to hire real writers. Vague promises and threats without leverage like yours do not help. Remember: if you are not a customer, your opinion is quite irrelevant.

 

[eternal]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

We have made some changes while we continue to tweak the experience for everyone. The messages that render the site unusable should no longer occur. This was never our intent and was just part of the growing pains as we tune our partnership with our affiliates.

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for the heads up.
Also I need to go back through the thread just in case, but why arent you guys using this reddit profile to get more people too?
I have no idea if its official, or some random, but i found it today.
https://www.reddit.com/user/GBAtemp/

It might help to also post a default, auto post to a(or this), user sub-reddit called gbatemp, that hosts the news from here as free marketing since reddit gets so many people there.
Then again unless you do not want that much publicity?

 

[Francie]

You only need revenue to keep the servers going, staff here are useless. No one cares about your giveaways & contest. The staff, giveaways, contest aren't responsible for the traffic that this website receives. No one comes here to read your crappy little paid reviews. The only reason anyone comes here is because of DEVELOPERS that actually contribute. If anyone should be getting small payments, it's the developers not the staff.

I like the articles written by "staff" but you're right, I'm here for the forums, and I think those articles can be written by cheaper contractors instead (harsh reality, I know)

same as how the developers can be replaced by cheaper contractors, and how the site and its infrastructure and features could be improved by said developers

no mention of cost cutting measures was in the article of discussion which kind of rubs me the wrong way, but unfortunately my opinion doesn't matter according to this guy

You need actual money to hire real writers. Vague promises and threats without leverage like yours do not help. Remember: if you are not a customer, your opinion is quite irrelevant.

 

[JuanMena]

Then again unless you do not want that much publicity?

Haha, flashbacks from 2016 rushing back. Yeah, when GBADTEMP got super popular for a while... like... beyond belief... or was it 2017?