Full-Motion Ads Come to Videogames

Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "'Advertising in videogames, dominated in the past by static ads such as billboards and signposts, is beginning to look more like TV commercials,' according to the Wall Street Journal. Massive, the company that brought still ads to videogames last year, is now introducing full-motion ads to PC-based games (not yet console titles). Massive CEO Mitchell Davis 'says Hollywood movie studios have shown particular interest in running 15-second movie trailers in online games.' Also of note: 'One problem with the full-motion ads is that gamers can easily avoid watching them. The full-motion ads start playing when a player moves near the ad spot on the screen -- and stop playing when the player moves away. As a result, gamers may see only a few seconds of the 15-second ads. Massive says it won't charge advertisers unless the full ad has been viewed.'"

Comments

Privacy

[wideBlueSkies]

>>Massive says it won't charge advertisers unless the full ad has been viewed.'"

And how do they intend to track this? This is pretty scary. I kind of thought that the purpose of gaming servers was to facilitate gaming and interaction between players...not to monitor their activity.

Where does one draw the line as to what is and isn't monitored?

wbs.

Re:Privacy

[Winkhorst]

Bottom Line: I am not going to buy a game I learn contains advertisements. I no longer watch TV. Do these bozos think I will make an exception for their pathetic little games? If their games aren't good enough to make a profit the old way, they aren't worth playing. These damned advertisers need to learn that it's the quality of their product that drives sales, not how many times they tell me how wonderful it is. I am perfectly capable of determining whether their product is wonderful all by myself. Did I mention how much I hate these folks?

kind of ridiculous

[glassjaw rocks]

So, basically what you're saying is that the 40 gb hard drive I have now will be filled up with advertisements? And furthermore, shouldn't I be able to have a game that's free of advertisements, seeing as I allready paid $49.95 for the game?

Gaming died years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

It's true. :-(

This is great!

[sgant]

So this means all our games now will be free...right? Like our commercial TV is free cause we watch all the ads.

And just like going to the movies is now free cause of all the ads in the beginning...right?

/Sarcasm mode terminated.

This is bullshit. If the consumer isn't getting any benefits out of it I guess I'll avoid the privilege of paying for something that throws advertisements at me.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

No, this is a way for big game studios to add pennies to their stock price while further pushing more CRAP into games. Advertisers will not bother with small companies. Well, not unless you want to see payday loans and herbal viagra ads in your games.

Best idea evar

[Monkelectric]

Massive says it won't charge advertisers unless the full ad has been viewed.

And I wont pay for games which have advertisements. *period*. I play games to *GET AWAY* from the bullshit that i the modern world.

Perfect

[superultra]

Putting more ads before movies has been working great for that industry.

Re:Suspension of disbelief?

[KDR_11k]

"suspension of disbelief" is not profitable.

Obligatory Bill Hicks

[Thaelon]

In the immortal words of the great Bill Hicks:

By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself. No, this is not a joke: kill yourself . . . I know what the marketing people are thinking now too: 'Oh. He's going for that anti-marketing dollar. That's a good market.' Oh man, I am not doing that, you fucking evil scumbags.

I couldn't agree more.

From TFA:

We know the 17 to 34 audience, the male audience, is elusive and quite difficult to reach through traditional broadcast. ... It is incumbent upon us to find ways to reach them," says Gerry Rich, president of world-wide marketing for Paramount Pictures.

Fuck you Gerry Rich. It's not incumbent on you to reach me. I want you to leave me the fuck alone and keep your god damn ads out of my face. I will never pay for any video game that I know beforehand has full motion ads in it.

Did we skip product placement?

[Matimus]

The adds before a movie bother me a little, but if they tried to insert an add in the middle it would really upset me. It seems like this is what they are trying to do with video games. What they could do though is use more product placement. There are plenty of fake branded soda machines in Doom 3 and Halflife that could certainly have been Coke or Pepsi machines. I wouldn't have minded, really. If done correctly I think we can find a happy medium.

Re:Yeah, that will work real well...

[wild_pointer]

or:

Game Narrator: "For watching this ad you get XXX gold added to your profile"

and gamers will flock to watch ads

that would be ideal

[SethJohnson]

Have the advertisers pay for some UT2k4 servers, then set the respawn to 15 seconds, and play adverts after you're gibbed!

This is how I would like to see advertizers get involved in the gaming industry. If they bring value to the table, consumers will appreciate their involvement. Sadly, these greedheads aren't looking to support gamers by hosting servers and providing bandwidth. They want to exploit gamers as a captive audience for their solicitations. No different from commercials in movie theaters. Advertizers are instead creating a hostile relationship with consumers.

Support gaming through sponsorship = goodwill generated
Exploit captive audience = irritating

Stop invasive commercials in movie theaters.

Seth