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Advergames
Anne_Nonymous writes "Here's an interesting story on the use of video games as advertising. They claim 'advergames could be a $1 billion industry by 2005'."
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The article failed to mention the pretty decent video game put out by (I believe) the US Army call "America's Army".
Who'd ever of thunk the US Army would be leading the charge into this realm.
America's Amry is a great recruiting and training tool.
-- jimmycarter
Didn't the Sims Online do this by including a McDonald's kiosk? By eating at the McDonalds, your happiness goes up, or something like that.
As I recall, having the advertising in the game certainly didn't make it any cheaper. Having the movies full of advertisements doesn't make them any cheaper for me to see either.
So while this might not really be a bad thing, I don't see how it could be that good of a thing either.
So you pay $50-$60 bucks for a game, and then you're inundated with advertisements on top of that? Isn't the money that you're spending on the game revenue enough?
Read the article.
I think it is good, very straightforward for the cars & trucks.
It demonstrates the product for you, and builds excitement over it. It's an interactive way to learn about the product, and it is something you WANT to do. I don't want to watch TV ads or read billboards. But I do want to drive sports cars.
the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon he was test-driving up the slope. He flipped a switch to lock in four-wheel drive, and the sport-utility vehicle clambered to the top.
I wonder if they included the Wrangler's poor handling in the video game. If they didn't, perhaps someone would get the idea that they could take a sharp turn at 50mph and not go flying off the road. Of course the game probably has a disclaimer that renders it useless in actually evaluating the vehicle's performance.
If it's unobtrusive and maybe drops the price of the game some, I don't see a real problem with this. Sports games have been doing this for awhile already - Tony Hawk has ads all over the place, racing games might as well be car commercials (sure, it's cool to see someone driving a Porsche on TV, but when I can do it in surround sound, that's something else), and there're even authentic equipment labels on some other games. It's nothing new.
I doubt that, since increased product placement and additional commercials in movie theatres hasn't brought down ticket prices. Supply and demand determine prices. Considering how well video games are selling this year games will probably stay at the current price point.
But, the money from product placement will help cover the budget and let companies spend a little more on the game.
Although the idea of simulated cars doesn't quite seem right to me (do they similate when your Ford truck goes haywire because the steering box gets loose), it sounds like not such a bad idea... and not really a new one either.
A lot of games use realistic/lifelike locations, etc. Movies incorporate subliminal advertising, so why not do this to game. Example, Duke Nukum Never finally comes out, due to being funded by advertisers. Throughout the game, virtual billboards have advertisments for Coke or Pepsi (there's already game billboard anyways). This could apply to any shooter game, or a racing game etc.
Next, we step on to the simulations/etc. The Sims already has a MacDonalds... so it's been done.
I can't really see a use for this in Strategy games though, unless perhaps Starcraft 2 has a few shelled out Macdonalds buildings (hey, they're going to be everywhere in the universe in the future, you know it).
It could be a good thing, if slapping a few pepsi-like billboards in doom3 makes it come out under $50, I'd have no problem. Such subliminal messaging often works best, so they're not a need for huge and obvious advertising (you'll just get a craving for a nice cold drink whilst next fragging Cacodemons).
This sounds vaugely familliar to something 20 years ago. Granted, we have shifted to advertisements IN games, instead of advertisements AS games.
- Remember the Kool-Aid man video game for Atari?
- Anyone else have that CGA Avoid the Noid game from Domino's Pizza for the IBM PC?
I'm sure there are other gems out there as well.Anyone with small children and a computer is probably familiar with the either free or nominally-priced games featuring Hot Wheels, Barbie, Buzz Lightyear, Tonka Trucks, and other well-recognized properties. These are games that are fairly fun for the kids to play, where the product is a major component of the game, and there are sometimes links to the websites of the products.
The games I have seen in the genre tend to be lightweight, but get the kids excited enough about it to want to go home, install it, and play it.
I believe that the market size of 1 billion would be primarily bourne by the companies who want to place their products as part of their promotions budgets, and not on the end-consumer.
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
This seems to be the key difference to me. If an advertisement uses a interactive means to get me interesting (keep me oocupied?) to learn about their product, then I dont expect to pay anything for it. Why? Because I'll be damned if I have to start paying twice to buy something (once to learn about it, and once to buy it).
Product placement in videogames has been around for a while, the most recent example I'm framiliar with is Tony Hawk 4. Ads dont dominate and they are just billboards. I dont get extra points for completing a 900 while drinking my mountain dew.
Then there is the middle ground. This is where game companies whore out themselves to advertisers, a la Sims Online, where eating at McDonalds increases your happiness (which is an absolutely horrible message to send to youth). I hope the gaming community doesnt support these titles.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
I recently started playing the Nitto 1320 challenge, which you can download at http://www.nittoracing.com/
It is a very addicting game; sort of like a Gran Tourismo 3 for drag racing, with far inferior graphics, but it's in flash....give em a break. This game is free, and does the job of advertising quite well without cluttering the game with ads. Perhaps advergames will take this same track towards their development. Remember in Duke Nukem how they had the posters up on the walls in some rooms, what if you could dynamically replace those with advertisements. This wouldn't take away from gameplay in my opinion, because it's not something you have to pay attention to if don't want to. Companies could pay per day/week/whatever to advertise within games, without interfering with the game itself. Another place they could put ads would be at the end of first person shooter rounds. This could provide money for top notch servers, and they could simply put a little "This server is sponsored by..." somewhere noticable, but not intruding, within the screen. I don't think I would mind these methods, but if companies start putting ads up and making you watch them before you can play again, then you can count on the cracks to start rolling out.
I don't have a problem with a company producing its own advertising, but if I pay money for a game and discover attempts to hawk products to me embedded in the game, I consider that shifting the costs of advertising onto my shoulders (much like spam) and I won't buy the placed products.
Yeah, I read that too. That's why I was mentioning the simulated cars. Even if they simualated performance and handling... they're not going to cover the fact that when vehicle XX climbs up a cliff, the low exhaust gets torn off by a rock. Or after 30 days of playing, the radio goes on the fritz, etc.
Anyone buying a car based mainly on the simulation seems a bit cukoo to me.
P.S. Where did a Yugo get it's name?
"Yugo buy one, 'cause I'm sure as heck not going to"
Price is really not the problem with games. I consider myself an avid gamers and know many others like me who spent a vast amount of their high school/ college time playing games. If you look at the actual time spent in a one year period, most people will play at most 2-3 games for over 90% of their time. At one point a combination of starcraft, counter strike, everquest and baldurs gate and few others probably accounted for more gaming time than all other games combined. If you average it out, games that are actually purchased (as opposed to borrowed, demoed, or warezed) cost a gamer pennies on the hour. What a real gamer wants is _better_ games, not cheaper games. A bad game isnt even worth the time downloading from a warez site, but a great game is worth alot more than the $50 it costs retail. Thats why great games always come with expansions and the expansions always sell despite the fact that they cost almost as much as the game themselves.
Okay, every comment I've read so far is talking about product placement in videogames. A fun topic, sure, and I like talking about it, but I would those who haven't done so to just skim the short article. It talks about entire games whose primary aim is to sell a product. So, instead of having McD's in The Sims, we're talking about car companies putting out games (often for free) that let you drive around in their new cars. A nifty little article, and I'm wondering if people think this will take off...
I don't mind if they put ads IN the game. If I'm driving on the highway in a new racing game I'd rather see McDonalds bulleting boards that "burger co." It makes the game feel more like I'm on earth and not in a weird video game world.
It's a different story if the ads effect gameplay negatively. Like if I have to stop, watch an ad, then return to play.
As for games that ARE advertisements themselves. Like that Ford racing game. If the games are good, then it will be a good ad, and I wont mind. As long as it doesn't have ads that effect gameplay. If coke makes a coke game that sucks, they're just paying for negative advertising against themselves.
It's the same as movies. If you buy product placement in a shitty movie it sucks for you. Imagine a really crappy movie about a guy who works in a Coke factory. Not going to go well for the soda man.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Like this one
from the article:
For Pert, the demands of caring for two preschoolers often means he only has time to go four-wheeling via computer while his $25,000 Rubicon sits in the driveway.
``Sometimes when the girls are asleep I sneak off to play,'' he said.
This, from an owner in Kansas. Kansas which is flat as a pancake. If he's not going offroading, why shell out $25k for a Jeep , when any number of regular cars would better suit a family with 2 little kids.
And they say advertising does not work.
My company develops online advergames and we've found that if a client can get a sponsor for the game that it becomes a much more attractive proposition.
It works out very well for both the client and the sponsor because they both get lots of eyeballs on their brand for less money.
Granted, the games we develop aren't console games or PC games but it's a similary concept. It reduces the price for the person who pays us to build the game instead of reducing the price for the end user.
get your dirty sig off me, you filthy APE!
7UP did these "advertainment" games YEARS ago with the incredible Cool Spot game!
"Dancing is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire" --Robert Frost
Then it sounds like it wasn't as successful as you think. Just because an ad is being seen doesn't mean it's actually working; if the company name didn't stick in your brain than the whole thing was a waste of money.
That could be a larger problem with this whole ad-driven-game idea. One of the big myths of the early Internet economy was that eyeballs automatically translated to money; apparently, that myth is still around.
...price point.
What, exactly, is a price point? Is it different than the price?
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
I would actually pay a couple bucks a month for a station devoted to the funniest commercials, if it were convenient and right there in my living room.
Are you high? You would pay for ads? True, most ads have nothing to do with their products, so they're more like 30-second special effects or quasi-humorous spotlights, but they're still designed to sell you something. There's a reason so many people are disgusted by the industry practices that incorporate paying for ads (cable TV, movies, internet access). Industries/companies shouldn't get both, it's greed at the clear expense of the consumer. Either they give it to you for free with ads, or you pay and don't have to watch them. A few good internet sites do this, but most don't.
GL