Question IronSource: Account verification denied. "Your app doesn't match our current focus".

I've been looking into upgrading the mediation adapter. Now that you have teamed up with IronSource, I have a story to share.

I'm a solo developer and last year I worked with IronSource, I spent a lot of time getting their ad network set up, when I went to verify my account I gave them the link to my app. They refused to verify my account with this message "Following careful review, we found that your app doesn't match our current focus. Therefore, your account was not approved and your app can't go live on the ironSource Network."

Here's the game that didn't meet 'their focus'.

iOS | Android

SuperSonic uses IronSource for their games, so what exactly does 'their focus' actually mean? I asked them for further explanation and my ticket was ignored. So, apparently it's arbitrary and if IronSource denies you an account, it's tough luck.

Is there any guarantee that IronSource won't do this via LevelPlay? I had to switch back to UnityAds (not an easy task), but going forward I'd like to use mediation, but not if IronSource can deny you access after setting it up.

Just to clarify, you only can ask for account verification AFTER you publish your game. So for anyone out there implementing mediation, you should know that it's up to IronSource's whim whether you get on their network or not.

 

It has just happened to me. I still don't understand it. It is the official Unity Ads that is rejecting my app. They don't say why. And they didn't say anything when I bought the license. Now I need to research on the non official ways to show ads to be able to start my business, while with the previous framework there wasn't any problem and it was way easier to integrate. Well done.

 

Do somebody know how fix the same problem? IronSource responses with "Your app doesn't match our current focus".

 

Sorry to hear that, I used the 'legacy' UnityAds (not mediation) with my game above after being rejected by IronSource and had no issue regarding 'focus'.

I had sent IronSource an email for clarification but they flat out ignored it. However, you should try and see if they get back to you. What do you do if they ignore it? Unity needs to step in and clarify. When I got rejected, I didn't complain here at the time because Unity Mediation was an option, but now that option has been re-routed to IronSource.

I thought the CEO called us big [cough]ing idiots for not using ads? Well, I feel like a pretty big [cough]ing idiot for even attempting mediation. Where is the support now that Unity bought IronSource? It's just crickets in here.

There should be a pop-up when downloading the mediation package that warns developers that after implementing this, you might have to tear it back out again. Not because you did anything wrong, but because you don't meet IronSource's 'focus'.

At the very least they should mention it as a precaution in this thread. If anyone has any experience implementing ads, they know it touches almost every part of their game and is not an easy thing to rip out.

 

I've started to upgrade my Unity version, and now I get a message. "Advertisement Legacy package will soon be unsupported. If you are installing this package for the first time please use Advertisement with Mediation instead to ensure long term Unity Ads support"

A couple of things about this, first off there is no warning about using Unity Mediation and not meeting Ironsource's 'focus'. If you can make a pop-up telling people to move to mediation the very least you could do is warn them about this. Second, are you phasing out Unity Ads entirely? That seems to be exactly what this prompt is telling me but on the 'current status' thread there is no mention about Unity Ads 'soon being unsupported'.

Can we get someone to reply to this, or are you just gonna pull an Ironsource and ignore it?

 

AFTER?! That's ridiculous.

 

yeah, I couldn't believe it... but, sign up for IronSource and see for yourself.

They will not verify your account until you have published. Only after you have implemented their code and published the game they will 'consider' it and can refuse you for no good reason. This is a serious issue, and by the looks of it they want to get rid of UnityAds and switch to mediation only. So unless you have an existing userbase of millions, forget about becoming an indie developer. That's the message coming from IronSource and Unity.

If I'm incorrect on any of this, I'd love for someone in Unity to come here and correct the record because their silence isn't helping.

 

Am I the only stuck at this point? I've already sent the information they required ending with "Your ticket was closed" with no answer nor "account accepted or denied".

 

My guess is that they want games with a large existing or potential user base.