A virtual city needs scenery. Lagos Life has found a business hiding inside it: let advertisers become part of what players pass on the way through town.
The official rate card changes quickly. Its weekly listings cover billboards, Sea Plots, statistics-page space and airport boards. Check the booking page for a current quote, or read our illustrated creator-and-business explainer for the latest dated snapshot.
The page describes an upload-and-pay flow for a brand's image and link. City screens rotate advertisements in ten-second turns, and tapping an ad opens the advertiser's destination. Those are the site's stated products and prices; the listing alone does not tell us how many placements have sold.
Our favourite part of the idea is the setting. In a game built around living in a city, an advertisement can also become a landmark: something to pass, notice or joke about with somebody else. Whether players welcome that depends on what actually appears in their neighbourhood.
For now, this is a particularly fitting development for a game about urban life. The map has become a place businesses can pay to be seen. We will be watching for the creative, surprising and unintentionally funny ads that make people stop scrolling.
