Yeah, the Gears one has been up for quite a bit now but neither of us have been over there for a while so have no idea how busy it is...feel free to head over and make it look active :lol: -
Gears of War 2
Steve uses two monetization packages to get the bulk of his income from the sites whereby he allows certain advertisements to be placed strategically across the site and forum (which disappear when you register) in return for a cut of the profits. Basically, if someone clicks an ad, he gets a percentage of whatever the site has paid for advertising. It doesn't cost them any extra on top of whatever fees they pay the middle-man (i.e. Google, Yahoo etc) and they get more traffic - and Steve gets content appropriate advertisements, as opposed to the junk you see splashed all over freeboards and crap sites, which encourages people to stick around, click and make us money.
It covers the costs of running the sites, obtaining licences for software etc as well as some left over - we also get a very tiny amount from Premium Subscriptions which goes straight back into the management of the websites.
I think Steve does it more for the nejoyment than the cash, as our income is generated from investments and savings rather than the sites, but it's always a nice bonus when a game is released and our sites suddenly get an insane boost in traffic and with that, profits. I won't share how much Fable 2 earned us in just a month before, during and just after release, but suffice to say it was damn good