Take-Two Signs In-Game Ad Deal

Gamespot reports that publisher Take-Two Interactive has signed a deal with the Double Fusion company for in-game ads. The company has been signed on for somewhere around nine of titles in 2007 and 2008. From the article: "'With respect to dynamic ads, we can only serve dynamic ads as platforms authorize that,' Double Fusion CEO and president Jonathan Epstein told GameSpot. 'And right now, Sony and Nintendo, who have been very busy launching platforms, are still formulating their policies in that regard. So our arrangement is contingent on those platforms authorizing in-game advertising in the first place, and then authorizing Double Fusion as a vendor. We're hopeful that during the time of the deal... we'll see such authorizations and approvals.'"

Comments

not authorized on my PC

[El_Muerte_TDS]

So, I'm not going to buy it any of their games that contain in-game ads. And if they add it through a patch I'll demand my money back. Going to vote with my wallet.

Re:not authorized on my PC

[Aladrin]

While I applaud you for 'voting with your wallet' (not enough people do this, I'm afraid) I have to disagree with your view.

Ad revenue has pretty much been proving to be significant for a company. A famous search engine comes to mind. And game production costs ARE rising.

I only object to in-game ads if they are obnoxious and/or annoying. Billboards in a city, or product placement are fine. I'm on the fence about loading screens... I'm afraid they'd abuse that one pretty quickly. (Minimum load-time, etc.)

In the end, it simply matters whether the ad placement was tasteful or not. If not, then I'll be another one 'voting with my wallet.'

Re:not authorized on my PC

[AugstWest]

And game production costs ARE rising.

If game prices dropped, maybe I'd consider it. But really, they won't. Ever.

Re:not authorized on my PC

[oliverthered]

The problem with ingame advertising (or in movie advertising) is just when reality is starting to slip away someone opens a can of coke and you back in the world you were trying to escape from.

Re:not authorized on my PC

[g253]

And game production costs ARE rising.

The solution to that issue is not to compensate with in-game adds. The solution is to realise that the costs are rising because having shiny 3D and high definition and extremely realistic physics engine and so on is expensive.
Make a game that is just plain fun instead of making a vaguely interactive but very impressive demo, that's the solution.

Worrying

[simm1701]

I get very worried about this whole idea. Ok if its a FPS set in a city or somethign similar and they want to have live add on the bill boards and TVs around the city - then fine - I don't see a problem. But if they want to try and replace a loading scree with a "commercial break" or "a word from our sponsors" then I for one will be looking for a crack to disable it - or taking the game back to the store!

Re:Worrying

[cliffski]

As someone who once had the toe-curling job of implementing in-game ads for a game (shudder), I can 100% cast-iron pledge an assurance to you, that if you had ads on loading screens, the minimum duration of that loading screen would be hardcoded in the game and written explicitly into the advertising contract, regardless of what spec your PC was.
They would probably also want assurances that the art assets, sounds and code for displaying the ad was sufficiently encrypted to make it difficult to remove, AND contractually oblige the developer to automatically replace any such 'cracked' ads detected by any patches.

Yes, they really are that fucking evil.

Re:Not a big deal.. maybe.

[El Gigante de Justic]

The real problem with ads in games is that it's often done in way so that the ads are totally overwhelming, or they completely destroy any immersion in the game world.

  Now in some game genres, like sports games, it makes sense for there to be ads in the stadiums and arenas, etc. However, if Halo 3 had ads for Nike, Dodge, or Pepsi in it, it would seem really odd. Not to say that games like Halo can't have advertising in them, but the ads should be done in a way to look like they fit; for example, a game set in a post-apocolyptic near future (like Fallout) could conceivably have old and busted up billboards and posters around for ads, while a game set further in the future should have futuristic looking ads, possibly for made up future products for existing brand names. Likewise, a game set in France in WW2 should have ads in French, in 1940s style.
      In any case, the ads need to be varied and unobtrusive. Enter the Matrix was completely filled with Powerade machines and NVidia posters, and apparantly no other products exist in the Matrix. Likewise, any sort of forced commercial, for example, at half-time of every game of Madden, for a real product is bad move; but a commercial parody which might include a real product reference could be ok if it happens as part of the story of a bigger game and I don't see it more than once per play through.

      In any case, as the price of game development skyrockets due to demand for HD graphics increases, ads in games are inevitable unless game companies either 1) only create games guaranteed to sell millions of copies and recoup their costs, thus stifling innovation or 2) start charging $100 a game for high end systems.

ads in games

[brkello]

I think we all agree that ads in games are fine as long as they don't ruin the immersion. In a car racing game, it is comon to see adds along the side of the road in certain sections of a track. This is fine. If I see an add for Burger King in WoW or if the ultimate helmet drop from Nax is the Burger King guys head, then it becomes a problem. As long as they can keep with the theme of the game, they are fine. As soon as they cross the line, people will get irritated.

The thing that really bothers me is that this is not done to any benefit of the consumer. For example, I go to a movie and before it starts I am watching commercials. Are my prices lowered? Heck no, it is more expensive than ever to go to a movie. Now, I refuse to go to movies. I'll catch it in the $.99 rental bin when it falls of the new release shelf.

If adds become intrusive in a game, I will not buy the game. Period. Unfortunately, companies are too stupid to understand why their consumers are leaving. Instead of thinking "hey, now with the added ad revenue, I can give them a cheaper game/movie ticket and that will increase sales and profit", they are thinking "I am not making enough profit, I better jack up the prices and find a way to insert more ads". If you treat your consumers well, they will become loyal. If you treat them like crap, they will dump you. I don't understand why companies don't catch on to this.

Re:ads in games

[cswiger2005]

I think we all agree that ads in games are fine as long as they don't ruin the immersion.

Um, no, we do not all agree that ads in games are fine.

In a car racing game, it is comon to see adds along the side of the road in certain sections of a track. This is fine.

Um, no. I thoroughly enjoyed playing some of the older racing games (ie, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, Hot Persuit 2, etc), because they involved driving around in nice looking cars and outside in interesting tracks/environments that have lots of interesting turns or shortcuts or whatever. I've never been willing to watch NASCAR or F1 because I find a car covered in ads to be horribly ugly, so I don't play NASCAR/F1-style racing games either. I don't like the way the cars look, and I don't like boring fixed racing tracks (gee, let's switch from an oval to a figure-8 with an overpass!) with billboards and crap festooned all over the place.

I won't be purchasing NFS: Underground 2, or Getaway, or Carbon, because of the inline ads and the game have shifted away from purchasing a car I like and racing it, and maybe tweaking it by buying a better engine or choosing the right gearbox-- to having to place stickers on your vehicle to "enhance your rep" and similar nonsense.

Re: Look at the Movie Industry

[shambalagoon]

The movie industry got greedy and started showing commercials for half an hour before shows. The effect? I started avoiding movies unless I really really wanted to see one. I'm probably not the only one. And now they are complaining of falling revenues. The quality of movies lately has a lot to do with it, but I think the inclusion of all these commercials in the theater also is having an effect.

I expect that if in-game advertising become prevalent, we'll see the same effect. I'll certainly avoid games that make me watch ads.

Re:Never understood the problem

[Gothic_Walrus]

One correction - Pokémon was anything but toy based. The game came first.