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As you have probably heard by now, Mochi Media is shutting down. This is very sad news for the Flash community and particularly to myself. As with most things surrounding Flash in the last 10 years or so, this news has been blown well out of proportion by the anti-Flash crowd. As you'll see, there are plenty of other options available for Flash developers when it comes to monetizing and distributing games.
I feel like I was late to the party with Mochi, publishing my first game with them in 2012. However, I really enjoyed the service, the community, and was a big fan of their Flash Gaming Summit event. I'm grateful I had the chance to speak at FGS 5 last year; especially knowing now that it was the last. I was sad to hear they were shutting down and wasn't really sure what it meant for myself and future development projects. A week later I have already ported my latest game, Crash Planet off of the Mochi platform and on to others. Let's take a look at some of the other options available to developers.
FGL and FGD
Closely following the Mochi announcement, FGL stepped up and started making a big push about their own services. FGL's Flash Game Distribution channel may be the next best route for developers to go with Mochi biting the dust. They also seem to have several other services covered, such as leaderboards, with their Gamersafe product. I can't speak as to how good that is as I have not used it yet; perhaps in the near future!
In addition to the services mentioned above, they now have their own ad service: FGL Ads. I tested this with one of my projects and found it was very simple to implement. My main issues with it at the moment are that there does not appear to be a way to manually remove an ad through code unless you specify a timeout when showing the ad. Also, it doesn't handle Adblock very well. They have not been white-listed yet and the API does not notify you that it encountered any problems. It is worth noting that if you want to distribute your game with FGD, you MUST implement FGL Ads as well. If you want to keep up with new developments and chat with other developers about the service, check out the FGL Ads forum here.
Newgrounds
Currently, this is my favorite option available. Having recently implemented the NG API with Crash Planet, I was really pleased with how simple and robust it is. The Newgrounds revenue share is easy to enroll in and they too have their own ad service available. The Newgrounds API is a complete solution that offers leaderboards and medals in addition to the ads. I personally have also had better luck with games getting more views and higher ratings on Newgrounds than on other sites. This may not be the case for you, but if you've been passing over Newgrounds with your content, it is time to get with the program!
Kongregate
Kongregate has long been a popular hub for Flash games and that hasn't changed. It can admittedly be difficult to get exposure on the site, but you can earn money from ads and boost your percentage by releasing exclusives or implementing the Kong services API.
Google
A friend and coworker also turned me on to the Google Interactive Media Ads (IMA) SDK this week. This is another service that I haven't tried yet, but will be something I look at in the near future. Google also posted this message about easier integration for Flash Builder and FlashDevelop just days after the Mochi announcement came out. Coincidence? I think not.
As you can see, there are some major players stepping up to fill the Mochi void. If you have used any of these services or others not mentioned, feel free to leave feedback. Also, if you have a Mochi account with less than $100, but more than $10, you can still get your money. You just have to fill out this form and make sure your payment/tax information is up to date on your account. Mochi services will go down on March 31.
