In-Game Adverts Could Reach $2 Billion?

Via 1up, a story on the Adweek site positing that in-game ads could reach $2 Billion by the end of the decade. The story discusses Massive, the streaming ad firm, and their success in reaching eyeballs. From the article: "Those customers include the majority of the major film and entertainment studios, according to Davis, as well as brands such as Coca-Cola, Subway, Honda, and Gillette. Davis said that Massive was benefiting from an 'overwhelming trend away from mass marketing' that is making the medium's men 18-34-dominated audience more attractive to more brands, even sometimes slow-moving packaged-goods advertisers."

Comments

Ugh

[TubeSteak]

Video Games are going to be the new Cable TV.

Originally, you were paying for the service. Now you're paying for the service and the pleasure of recieving commercials.

In-game advertising for online games is a tricky business, because it's trivial to block the IP(s) any advertising is coming from. If it's coming directly from teh game server, users can always modify their client to not display it.

This drive to monetize everything is really irritating. I personally don't like to bombarded with ads everywhere I go online.

A horrid thing.

[Lave]

Disclaimer: THis is paraphrased from a previous comment on the subject, but I'm leaving soon, and don't have time to write a new one - I hope it still makes sense, and I realise it's a shitty thing to do. Karmna whoring and all.

We've enjoyed a medium near enough free from advertising. And it is our duty to preserve this. If I pay £40 (and next gen £50) to buy a game, I buy the freedom from ads. You can put them in, but then you must make the game free. There is no middle ground. An XBOX 360 game full of ads won't cost less than some fantasy game that doesn't have them. If you think it will, I am sorry but you are fooling yourself. All it does is succeed in making genres that are not "advertising friendly" less financially viable.

Just because american TV lost the battle to product placement (as the UK might, if the EU stops product placement being illegal), that doesn't mean it's ok for games to lose too. Because this is what this is - Product Placement.

And most importantly I think it's fair to say most people who play games on slashdot want games to be seen as art. Want them to be acknowledged as a new , creative and meaningful media. And how can that happen if the people making the game have no fucking respect for their own creations.

To quote the late, great, Bill Hicks:

"Here's the deal, folks. You do a commercial - you're off the artistic roll call, forever. End of story. Okay? You're another whore at the captialist gang bang and if you do a commercial, there's a price on your head. Everything you say is suspect and every word that comes out of your mouth is now like a turd falling into my drink." - Bill Hicks

I don't mind advertising...

[Nananine]

... so long as it fits into the world. The best solution for all of this is to make more present day/post-apocalyptic MMO's. So, uhh, more post-apocalyptic games in general? Please? Fallout 3, come out soon?