Apple's iOS 14 is coming this fall.
Apple's iOS 14 is coming this fall.
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Consumer Acquisition: Apple’s IDFA change will disrupt mobile game ads and prompt layoffs (updated)

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 8 min

Apple is about to disrupt mobile game and app advertising in the name of privacy, a move that could lead to substantial layoffs in the game industry, according to an analysis by mobile marketing firm Consumer Acquisition.

In a couple of weeks, Apple is expected to release iOS 14, and the mobile operating system update will effectively retire the use of the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA). That identifier is used to determine which mobile users downloaded an app or game in response to an ad, which enables game developers to measure how well targeted their advertising is. While some predict the loss of IDFA will have a big impact on the industry, others aren’t sure because so many things are still unknown.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.