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More In-Game Advertising on the Way
jizziknight writes "Wired has an article up detailing the many types of in-game advertisements and product placements on the way to future games. Advertisers and developers might actually be starting to think it through, rather than just slapping the company's name on everything. Adidas Basketball will be sponsoring some unlockable 'features' in Electronic Arts' NBA Live 07 on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 that showcase its new 'It Takes 5IVE' slogan. The features include 5 players with special uniforms and an exclusive arena. In Fight Night Round 3, Burger King is sponsoring an unlockable boxer as well as an avatar of The King that joins your entourage when you win a Burger King-sponsored event. There are also a few details about an ad-supported MMOG by Acclaim, in which sponsors offer to buy items for you when you go shopping in the game. Another interesting tid-bit from the article: A comScore survey showed that 'Thirty-seven percent of heavy gamers (those who play games at least 16 hours a week) agreed that featuring actual products or companies in games make the games feel more realistic. About one-third (27 percent) of medium gamers (those who played less than 11 hours per week) agreed that in-game ads can add to a game's realism.' Of course, we've all seen instances where ads make the game less realistic."
Does this mean that games are going to become free, paid for by advertising? I doubt it. Where is all the extra revenue generated from advertisements going, because it sure isn't going towards lowering game prices, from what I've seen.
As long as it's worked into the game reasonably well, and not an interruption to the game, it doesn't bother me much. Like most things, it can be done badly, in which case it will certainly be annoying. But if it revolves around product placement and brand awareness, rather than direct "Buy me now for only $14.99 at Walmart!" it shouldn't be bad. More clever things like BK having the king escort you to the ring in FightNight are actually pretty cool, and would make me laugh.
I don't have any problem with ads in game on principle. If it keeps the prices of games from going up as quickly as they would otherwise, then so much the better.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
That damn Tapper game advertising Budweiser (and Mountain Dew in a "think of the children" variant)
How do you think will they put ads in THAT and make it feel more realistic??
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I refuse to buy a game that has in-game ads AND retails for $50. If you're going to ruin the creative integrity of the game, at least make it cheaper for me to purchase. Until some of the ad revenue gets passed down to consumers in the form of cheaper retail prices, I can't get behind this scheme. For every one game that does in-game ads right, there will be 50 that blatantly sell out and ruin the gaming experience...
If I have to pay $50 for the game and $14.95 a month for online gameplay, I better NOT see any online ads.
- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.
I just wanted to let you know that I'm buying a Nintendo Wii and I am not buying any EA games for it.
37% is closer to one-third (33.3%) than 27% is. In fact, 27% is closer to one-fourth than it is to one-third. Trying to skew the perception of the numbers?
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
"Four out of Five Greenskins Agree! Diet Coke really does taste Better than Diet Pepsi!"
"Ask your local Apothecary about the new Diet Dr. Pepper restorative potion. Restores more mana with less wait time!"
"This year, vote for change. This year, vote for Edward Johnson (AKA: Endwyl the Just)"
See? It's not that hard!
Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
Every once in a while doesn't it suggest some food? Snicker Snack!
for what it's worth, it hurt to type this
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Every month (or less) another company puts out one of these hilarious *studies* that tells us that "actually, gamers really love advertising in games, they think its cool". Its always nothing more than manipulative bullshit to pimp the stock price of the game-ads companies, and sucker more publishers into stuffing their games full of burger king billboards.
Gamers might think that these are simple deals when you get some money towards dev costs in exchange for the odd billboard. this is NOT the case. I've worked directly on this stuff in a previous job.
The advertisers pay BIG money, just to have their billboards in a game, but they are NOT happy to be silent partners. Those same advertisers have very strong views on where those ads are placed, whether or not there is any way to skip them, and what content goes in the games alongside their ad. They are also keen to have a say in the game design, even putting forward their own game design ideas on how their 'product' can be better integrated into the game.
When I'm at the cinema I see people laughing at those motorola ads with the marketing guys coming up with stupid ideas to ruin films with mobile phone ads. The thing is, I've seen those kinds of people behave EXACTLY like that in the games biz. Those ads arent comedy, their a fucking documentary. Games with ads in have often had to make serious compromises in content, design and gameplay to fit in with the advertisers demands.
Gamers need to vote with their feet. Do not buy games with ads in.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
Dynamic in-game advertising for competitive multi-player games is a must imo. Especially for regional tournaments in smaller countries (such as mine, NZ) who often already struggle to provide decent incentive (prize money..) for gamers to take leave from work and spend money on travel etc.
'Thirty-seven percent of heavy gamers ... agreed that featuring actual products or companies in games make the games feel more realistic. About one-third (27 percent) of medium gamers ... agreed that in-game ads can add to a game's realism.' Of course, we've all seen instances where ads make the game less realistic."
37 percent and 27 percent aren't high percentages. More than 60 percent of gamers don't think that real ads make a game more realistic, but the way the numbers were stated in the write-up made it seem like a large portion of gamers want real ads in their games.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
I'm not sure what most people think of when they consider in-game advertising, but there are already plenty of places in games where it can go and would probably only add to them. FPS games where you're wandering through a building, or outside in a city, doesn't it seem weird to not see the media blitz you're used to in the real world? I often think city scenes turn out very plain and unrealistic due to this. Often game companies make up advertisements to put in billboards or posters, etc.. this would just be making better use of those spaces. Who cares if you see a bunch of movie posters for actual upcoming or currently showing movies when you're about to kill some zombies in the theatre? Or advertisements for Pepsi/Coke/etc behind the counter of a concession stand? I'll only be annoyed when I see this sort of thing in fantasy settings or if it gets out of hand... it can easily be done "the right way".
The biggest problem I've ever had with ads in games is repetition. After seeing the same ad for the same product about 15,000,000,000 times in one level, I start to really get sick of it. But if you can get a bunch of different brands and such involved, it becomes a LOT more bearable IMO
Coca Cola. Welcome to the coke side of life.
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I know a lot of people here have argued that advertising in games makes the game feel more realistic, but even if it does, it still spoils my enjoyment of the game. I'll agree that to create a faithful depiction of "real life", the game should have advertising; after all, you can't walk 100' (30.48m for you metric folk :-) in the real world without bumping into some sort of advertising.
But every time I see advertising in a game, it pulls me out of the experience because I know that billboard/spray-on/conveniently-placed logo/whatever was purposely placed their by marketing executives. The thought that crosses through my head is not "Oh, an ad! Just like in real life!" but instead, "I'm being advertised to". I am immediately reminded that I am not racing in the Indy500/fighting terrorists/whatever, but instead am playing a game. It completely spoils the atmosphere and mood. It doesn't make things feel more realistic because the real world -the marketing shills- forcibly drag me out of the fantasy of the game.
Worse, because games only have a limited number of advertising pieces, they re-use those over and over again. Drive down the highway in real-life and you'll see a tremendous variety of billboards advertising dozens or hundreds of different products. In a game, you'll see the same twenty products repeated over and over again. And you won't have competing products, either; if a designer puts in a Pepsi machine in the game as product placement, then you sure as heck aren't going to see a Coca Cola machine stuck right next to it. The ad execs limit you to their own fantasy world where the only choice of products is the one they give you (that is to say, no choice at all). How does this make games anymore real, again?
I suppose if all you are interested in is the challenge of a game, then maybe advertising won't bother you much. But I'm more interested in story, character, and atmosphere than twitch gaming, else I'd still be playing PacMan. Advertising does not aid in any of this.
I have the same problem with product placement in movies and television (so much so that I can't watch either, anymore, though I don't consider that much of a loss). But so far games have remained (largely) advertising free and, because of this, have remained enjoyable pasttimes to me. Put in ads, and you're less likely to get my money.
The last time this idea was brought up on Slashdot, somebody posted an interesting article on the subject. Sadly, I don't remember the URL but it did ask one thing which I thought was worth repeating: rather than accept that games such take on ads to nominally become "more realistic", why aren't we striving to make our real-lfe world more like games in this regard, e.g., bereft of the advertising we all despise?
In case you're one of those people that claims to not mind in game advertising, you have to think about the natural course of evolution for it. Anyone can write an always on top program that's just a big rectangle that covers annoying, distracting ad banners or hack a game so advertising skins don't load on 3D objects but picture this: you log on to WoW and start walking around and suddenly a strange looking character runs up to you with a Radio Shack logo on him saying "Can I help you find something?!" and then following you around until you log out. Yeah...you're against in game advertising now aren't ya?
Is it just me or is it not going to upgrade to Vista in here?
Does it seem strange to anyone else that Burger King, a company selling unhealthy fast-food burgers, should be sponsoring a sports game? Okay, boxing is a rather strange sport but you do need to be fit...
Maybe mechanically recovered head-meat from steriod enhanced cows fed on bits of other cows is actually really good for you?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
"Much more than 'free goodies,' the level of the interaction between Adidas and EA Sports has helped to create a dynamic and unique gaming experience,"
Right.
Look, whoever buys these EA Sports games obviously are not in a very high league. They do not care about adverts. They watch TV, lots of it, with adverts in it. They wear t-shirts with advertising on it. Their shoes have company logos (more advertising!) on their side.
To them, (freely) advertising a large sports company means that they appear sporty - which most of them badly require.
Pfff. So which one of us cares about advertising in EA Sport games? Nobody with enough brains.
Thus adding advertising to this is actually a good idea - the people buying this trash will actually see the ads as A Good Thing.
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what the heck does fiveive mean?
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