It seems like if what you’re showing is what you understand they find appealing and fun, then surely that’s what should be in the game. You give them that.
But instead, you give them something else that is unrelated to what they’ve seen on the ad? A gem matching candy crush clone they’ve seen a thousand times?
How is that model working? How is that holding up as a marketing technique???
Because no matter how “easy” you think it is to build said game, it’s always easier to build a video. You don’t have to make the whole thing. You don’t have to use unity. You don’t have to have actual mechanics. You don’t need save states. You don’t need an app store listing. You don’t need other screen shots.
But no matter what, when you release the game, you’re going to want to make these ads. So why not just make the ad, then run it, and see if it’s worth it?
As simple as you think it is to make these games work, it’s always cheaper to not do the whole thing and just do a subset. Hell, even making the game and just only doing one level and not making any controls is easier and would still be more than enough to make the video.
The number of people that see it as a scam game is nothing next to the target audience when it’s released. It’s a drop in the bucket. So it’s well worth the savings.