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Ways to Improve In-Game Advertising
ches_grin writes "At a recent conference, Microsoft's Kevin Browne discussed the 5 most important ways to improve in-game advertising, contrasting the ideal with the current state-of-affairs in the industry." From the article: "Estimations of the growth of the in-game ad market have been varied. Microsoft's internal estimates put in-game advertising at about $1 billion per year by 2010. The Yankee group recently pegged revenues at $732 million in the same timeframe. Microsoft estimates that 2005 brought in $56 million in in-game ad revenue."
I'm pretty much done with DVDs -- when every dvd you buy now has advertisements on it. Even BBC box sets!
So in short, thanks for pointint out how to ruin another avenue of entertainment for consumers.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
1. Remove them
'nuff said
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel...
Or, if they must be in games... Make it so you can blow them up. The only thing I hate about web ads is when they pop over content I'm interested in reading. It happens all the time when I visit my local newspaper's page. So, if I see an advertisement, I don't mind, simply because I'm used to seeing ads EVERYWHERE. But if it pauses the game and I can't get by it until I've stared at an advertisement for two minutes, that game's coming out of my computer. Also, they should only be in modern games. If I'm playing World of Warcraft, and see an ad for "Microsoft Windows Vista", it'll ruin the game. If it's a near future game, make the ads at least near-futurish. Like in Back to the Future II. If I'm playing a WWII shooter, based in France, give me old time Pepsi ads in French. I don't care if Pepsi wasn't being sold in France before or during WWII... historical accuracy of a minute detail like that doesn't matter to me. And have it be a blown up billboard or a bullet filled sign on the side of a building. Don't distract me from my immersion. If I leave 1943 France because I see an ad for a 2007 Monte Carlo SS, I won't be happy. That is all.
My name is Wootzor von Leetenhaxor
Don't put ads in the games I play. I play games to escape reality, and I pay for that priviledge. We have enough ads already. You've gone too far!
Put ads in games and I will not buy them. I'll do my best to convince all my friends who also BUY (not copy) games to do the same.
And while I have your attention:
Get rid of the cd-check. They are only a annoyance to legitimate customers and it just feels wrong that I have to download a patch from a third party to be able to enjoy a game without having to eject whatever music cd (that I bought) I'm listening to.
Last game bought: Hitman: Blood Money
Last music bought: Global Chillout Lounge
Harald
The number one thing on there was to make the advertisements dynamic instead of static. Now if marketing dorks look at that and say, ok, we need a goodyear blimp crossing the screen, they missed. On the other hand, if they lay down a frito lay factory in the middle of Grand Theft Auto, and allow you to BLOW IT UP, then you have something.
Destructable advertisements. You take out your favorite franchises (DIE Walmart!!), they get name recognition. I could deal with this.
Imagine you're playing BF 2, and wham, right in the middle of the map is a McDonalds. Bleh, wonder how much money EA got for that? Then you find you can blow the golden arches off with a tank round.
What if your playing City Life, and actually get to BUY McDonalds? Not some cheap lookalike company conjured up to avoid copyright infringements. You get the burgers, the clown, the tube playgrounds out back - the whole nine yards.
Companies play their cards right in the video game market, and it could work for everyone. If they treat video games like TV shows (stale static pictures on boxes) - they will do more to turn kids away from video games than a whole congress of Jack Thompsons.
You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
The whole thing completly bypasses the issue of what will consumers (you know, those people that actually buy - or not - the games) accept or not as advertising in a game. The stated 5 Ways to Improve In-Game Advertising all have to do with how game makers can make it easier for ad-agencies to sell adverts in games - all the while ignoring the important side-effect that adverts in a game have in the profitability of that game: how much will sales of a game decrease because of the quantity/type of adverts in that game.
Here's a couple of points coming from a gamer:
- If your game is situated in a present time scenario, adverts are actually a good thing as long as they are present in the same places and forms as they would be in comparable real life situations. Thus, for example, a football (soccer for you americans) simulator should have adverts around the playing fields, just like they have in real life - in this situation adverts give depth and realism to the game.
- If your game is not situatied in a present-time/real-life-like scenario don't do in-game adverts. If you really, really want to make money from adverts, get companies to sponsor official mods and extensions for the game and make those available for free from a website while avertising (in that website) for the company that sponsored the mod/extension.
- Just follow the example of TV - in pay-TV, at most you'll see some product placement in those movies/series whose story takes place in a real-life-like present-day environment, never, for example, in science fiction movies. Free TV goes a step further an has adverts before and after each block of free content. Notice how pay-TV is way lighter on adverts than free TV - that's because most people are not willing to pay for seing adverts (at least not where i live): keep that in mind.
I've seen it bandied around that companies should avoid placing advertisements that breaks immersion in the gameworld - for example, just about any advertising in a fantasy realm would break immersion, and thus should not be included in a game.
Since game development companies want to maximize cash flow, and advertising is a way for them to increase their cash flow (especially if they have dynamic ads that can be updated after the game is initially launched) I believe you'll see a move away from games where ads aren't easily insertable into the game - in other words, a reduction in the number of fantasy, apocolyptic, and otherwise "non-advertising friendly" games with good production values.
I hate the idea of in-game advertising as much as anybody else. I also hate what I fear this trend will do to the games I enjoy...
InThane
Is some marketing or PR firm trying to use /. as an unpaid focus group? Don't tell 'em squat, people. Or lie.
Personally, I love in game advertising. The more the better. And it doesn't have to make sense in context. Just throw in product placement anywhere. Level 45 Druids drinking Coca Cola, love it! Barbarians in Hummers, oooh! Scary! Moto Razr communicators in Star Trek, Ginsu brand light sabers, Met Life insurance policies on your characters, bring it on! Right everybody?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
"why not try to think of ways that they may actually become a value-add to the game?"
Because (obviously from user comments) the majority of us DON'T WANT ADS!!!!!
I personally think (not you, maybe) that the pro-ad posters are actually industry shills ("oh in game ads are great, i love how you can order a pizza in game, now if only I could order from HOME DEPOT life would be perfect"... oh please).
We have all seen how pervasive ads are nowadays, when TV first started there were like 5 minutes of commercials per hour of Television, now it's close to 22 or more minutes per hour, parent posters above have also outlined where this trend will lead (must watch ads before play continues, pop up ads, ads that change your cursor so you can click on them to open a web browser (great for FPS?!?! >.)) we like the way games are now.
There is a reason they can charge $60 per game and people will buy it AND all of the expensive gear needed to run them, being a total escape from RL is hard to find currently. Ads will ruin this... watch.