Google Acquires In-Game Advertising Company

Firmafest writes "According to Red Herring Google has purchased an in-game advertising company called Adscape for $23 million. Is this the next logical step to delivering ads where there's sufficient potential buyers? Or is it simply a response to Microsoft acquiring a similar company?"

Comments

Great... :(

[mandelbr0t]

Now I have to watch ads every 15 minutes of raid time. What a PITA. Isn't my subscription fee enough revenue?

The only type of in-game advertising I like. . .

[Apple Acolyte]

The only type of in-game advertising I like is advertising for products in reality simulators, such as car sims. If I'm racing around in a hot car, I expect to see billboards for products. I think such advertising enhances the immersion effect. As long as game developers do not go overboard with in-game advertising by only placing it in natural, reality-based settings where one would expect to see them, I don't have a problem.

Re:In Game Advertsising Done Right?

[RichPowers]

Perhaps. I think that plastering billboards in your game is lazy and unimaginative. Rainbow Six: Vegas had an excellent in-game ad. If you shoot a can of Axe bodyspray, a blooper reel will start playing picture-in-picture. People read about this online and went back to find the Axe. I certainly like these Easter eggs more than posters decorating walls. At least I'm not forced to watch Axe-sponsored bloopers unless I want to.

The most recent CSI game also had the player lift fingerprints from a Visa card found in some guy's wallet. Again, this blends in nicely with the game.

But then you have the idiots at SOE who decide to stick Duece Biggalo movie ads in PlanetSide's main bases. Yeah, that makes total sense on an isolated planet several centuries in the future.

And Google can only go so far in "doing ads right" - after all, the devs decide where the ads are placed.

Re:In Game Advertsising Done Right?

[Kimos]

I think we can agree that the only way to do it right is to not do it at all.

I don't want video games to turn into the same system as TV. Where you pay the provider for the privilege of them showing you ads that they are getting paid to show you.

Re:The only type of in-game advertising I like. .

[An ominous Cow art]

The only type of in-game advertising I like is advertising for products in reality simulators, such as car sims. If I'm racing around in a hot car, I expect to see billboards for products. I think such advertising enhances the immersion effect. As long as game developers do not go overboard with in-game advertising by only placing it in natural, reality-based settings where one would expect to see them, I don't have a problem. In this case, it's 'reality' that's broken. You shouldn't be conditioned into expecting to see advertising while driving around a race track or regular streets.

Re:The only type of in-game advertising I like. .

[drinkypoo]

In this case, it's 'reality' that's broken. You shouldn't be conditioned into expecting to see advertising while driving around a race track or regular streets.

Uh, show me a race track without ads. Even in rallies, which are done on the street, they roll out the advertising.

And what do you know, just like any other sponsored event, it couldn't actually exist without the sponsors. Thus it's really quite reasonable to allow them to place their logo on the race track, which is pretty much everything they ever get (except sometimes the name of the race is always displayed with "sponsored by whoever" underneath it.) Whoopee.

Finally, since all the tracks have sponsor logos all over them, it would be incongruous to not have them in the game.

Now, if you're talking about billboard adverts downtown in a racing game, yes, I agree. It's horrible that we have these things all over the place cluttering up our world. But then, I find all untargeted advertising to be horribly offensive.

Re:The only type of in-game advertising I like. .

[BlackEmperor]

I agree with you, sad as it is some sports are grounded heavily in advertising, to the point where having *no ads* actually makes the game worse. I'm thinking Formula 1 here, but yeah most real life sports games.

Not sure if that is the type of in-game advertising google are getting into though. It's probably something more generic.