It's definitely a pay to play game. It's really fun until you reach that point where you need to spend money in order to not get wiped out every game. Or, you have that one player that has spent the money and wipes out your whole team in 30 seconds. Oh, and it takes your 45 seconds to navigate a map from one end to the other because the bots move at a snails pace and in the meantime you'll get your a$$ shot off. And no, the ads are not NEEDED, if you so choose you can see them in the shop menu.