More Advertising in Your Next Xbox Game

ejwong writes "TheGameFeed is reporting on Microsoft's plans to offset Xbox360 game costs with more in game advertising under its subsidiary, Massive. In-game ads are gaining popularity and the wave isn't going to stop. Publishers see this as a huge potential for increased game revenues to help offset the rising development costs for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. The question is how far will they go, and how much are gamers willing to take?." From the article: "If you plan on picking up an Xbox 360 title this month, then you're probably picking up one with Massive's in-game ads. Titles such as Crackdown, Def Jam: Icon, MLB 2K7, and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 are all part of the Massive network showing off ads from Dell, Intel, Discovery Channel, Intel, NBC, Verizon and even the Navy among others. "

Comments

Just like cable TV

[maynard]

We pay an obscene amount of money for the content, and then pay again in eyeballs for advertising. Anybody feeling screwed yet?

Re:Just like cable TV

[sfnate]

This is the thin wedge of advertising--let it in and it will grow to dominate the virtual landscape in the same why it dominates the real. No question. Those who argue that the market will correct any excesses are a bit naive. One of the reasons I gave up television altogether was that the advertising was completely out of control. The advertising won't stop or be curtailed by these gaming companies once they realize it's going to pump a lot of money into their coffers--they'll come to depend on the revenue stream like a crack addict and will keep expanding the ad space by degrees, slowly so you won't notice what you're losing and unconciously become accustomed to it. And just like on TV the shows are there to keep your eyeballs focused until the next ad appears, games will become yet another way to keep you sitting still and passively taking in adverts. At least with Tivo you can fast forward--I don't think a similar workaround will be available to gamers. Charge me a price that covers your costs and keep the ads out.

Console gaming

[linvir]

Seems that every day, another piece of news shows up telling me that I got out of console gaming at exactly the right time.

This generation just gets more underwhelming by the minute.

Re:Console gaming

[linvir]

I have a whole great big rant about how the upcoming generation sucks far more than most

Let me guess:

• Needless obsession with "realistic" graphics
• Market saturated by cookie-cutter sequels, remakes and franchises
• Too little focus on fun
• Fear of innovation
• Games now cost a fortune to make
• A bunch of other stuff

I bet I have the same rant as you.

but it just makes me sound like an old man

It certainly does. I showed my cousin our old Amstrad CPC464 the other day. He was not impressed by the tape deck, the five minute loading times, or the simplistic gameplay. I think there's a happy medium though, somewhere around the SNES era.

I have a guess...

[RightSaidFred99]

Gamers will be willing to take it until the point where they won't, then the producers will stop at exactly that point. Yeah, I know, it's not rocket surgery.

Games are getting more and more expensive to produce. This seems like a reasonable extra revenue stream, unless taken to extremes. The market will adjust itself so it's not taken to extremes.

Re:I have a guess...

[edwardpickman]

The profit margins are very high on successful games. This isn't about profit as you mentioned it's about "extra" profit. This comes out of brainstorming sessions where execs are trying to figure out how to squeeze a bit more profit out of a game. It's the same logic as putting 49 olives in a jar instead of 50. It's nickell and diming to make money all the while screwing the customer. It's also like putting four or five trailers in front of DVDs. Generally they are from the same company so they are just taking advantage of free advertising. I paid for the DVD so why should I be subjected to their ads everytime I watch the DVD? The joke is with DVDs they aren't even selling the space they are annoying the hell out of me just to take advantage of a captive audience.

I dont have a problem

[adamstew]

I don't have any problem with in game ads. If it helps them generate revenue for future development, that can only help create incentive for future games.

Plus, with some games, it makes them more realistic...to have an actual Pepsi, Nike, Pizza Hut, etc. ad in the game rather than just "liberty city pizza".

I would only have a problem with it if the ads took over the game, or they were intrusive on the game play.

For example: If it's just a subway sign, or billboard in a FPS, or those signs hung up around the stadiums in sports games...those are fine...

But if the game actually cuts to a commercial between loading screens...then that's not cool at all.

so..

[mastershake_phd]

Microsoft's plans to offset Xbox360 game costs with more in game advertisingBR>

So the games are going to be cheaper right?

What's The Problem

[wolff000]

As long as the ads are done well I don't care if they are in my game. We see all kinds of stuff in games that would normally have an ad on it in real life. I don't know how many games have fake ads for products that don't exist to ad to the realism. It doesn't make a difference to me if the vending machine my character walks by says Soda or Cocoa-Cola. Honestly if done correctly in game advertising could really add to the realism of games. Yes it could be very easily overdone and become invasive but if done correctly it could improve games. How you say? Extra income! If the game developers themselves got cash for incorporating real world products in games they could spend more money developing the games and afford to hire better talent. This could be a very good thing for games then again if done wrong it could be the worst thing ever. Only time will tell.

Re:What's The Problem

[crabpeople]

"We see all kinds of stuff in games that would normally have an ad on it in real life"

So, in real life, ads are everywhere. With no debate as to whether or not this is desireable, you have concluded that the practice should naturally be ported to games.

Hows this for a compromise: Less ads in real life, to bring them down to an ingame level.

 

"Yes it could be very easily overdone and become invasive"

Could be? Thats the entire POINT of advertising!

Re:What's The Problem

[cliffski]

why stop with games then? why not do this in movies too? and books, and plays, and music?
I think pink floyds dark side of the moon would been better if they had managed to get 'pepsi' into the lyrics don't you think?
And why have lammas bread in lord of the rings, when frodo could have just feasted on a pizza hut pizza instead?

Seriously, games are in some ways an artistic endeavour, they should be designed to be fun, and immersive. Anything that compromises that ideal will make a worse game. Do I *really* think this level will play / feel / look better with yet another vending machine in it? Or has my boss told me we need 16 coke machines in the game, and so I don't have a choice in the matter?

Don't let the ad dollars become a factor in map design. And trust me they DO become a factor. I've worked on games with billboard ads, I've heard the design decisions change to fit in more billboards.
I will NEVER put ads in my games.

My favorite is theaters

[spun]

I still like to see certain movies in the theaters, but in order to get a good seat, you need to get there early and submit to a constant barrage of advertising that you just paid $9+ for the privilege of watching.

Re:My favorite is theaters

[MeanderingMind]

That always bothered me as well. Aren't they targetting the wrong demographic? You're telling the people who have just paid $9 to see the film that they should see films in theatres. Which is... where they already are and what they're trying to do. The people who pirate the film aren't likely to be there, they saw it 3 days before it arrived in theatres.

Re:My favorite is theaters

[HTH NE1]

What about all those ads about how piracy is wrong and "you wouldn't steal a car"?

You could just jump out of your seat, yell, "The hell I wouldn't!" and run out the exit as if you're going out to the parking lot to steal everyone else's cars.

Bonus: go with a friend who will stay behind and laugh loudly for awhile, then exclaim, "Wait, my car is out there!" and run out after you.

For the win, park a truck just outside the exit with big speakers and start playing the sound effects of cars starting up and rapidly driving off, maybe with some window breaking and various car alarm sounds that fade out into the distance, and see how many more people rush out.

For the David Copperfields, you have about 90 minutes to rig up an illusion of an empty parking lot before everyone leaves the theater.

marketing everywhere

[miyako]

I mourn the fact that the floodgates have been opened, because I think this will lead to the inevitable decline of the quality of games. For the moment- sure, it doesn't hurt anything, it might even add realism by having actual products in the game, but how long until some game developers are sitting around going "ok, so then we have this level where they walk through a forest and..." "what are you thinking bob? a forest? we can't stick ads in the middle of a forest, how 'bout a 10 minute long cutscene where they are on a subway instead, and ads flash by" "But Jim, the game takes place in 1047AD!" "Hmm, you're right, this whole setting needs to be changed"...etc. Of course, that's the more subtle way that ads will ruin games, the obvious fact is that advertisers don't f*cking realize that people get tired of their f*cking ads, and they keep pusing more and more intrusive ads on us. For people who say "ads will only go as far as players are willing to put up with them" - see the internet. People develop pop-up blockers and flash blockers and ad blockers to avoid ads, and marketers just keep comming up with new ways to spew their crap forth into our minds- single mindeldly bent on infesting every single facet of our lives with ceaseless messages to buy buy buy their soda and pills and toothpaste.

Oh so what

[Bluesman]

If it bothers you, just don't buy the game.

Buy a cool, refreshing Coca-Cola instead.

Brought to you by Magnavox, and Pepsi

[Omestes]

Advertising is really beggining to reach the level of absurdity. I can understand the line of reasoning behind putting advertisements on non-cable TV, but this strange trend to put advertisements into content that the consumer already has paid for boggles my mind. Yes, advertising to cover the costs free services makes sense, but when it goes towards a pay service it is nothing but greed and trying to sodomize your customers for more money.

I stopped going to baseball games because our stadium here is so peppered in ads that it distracts from the game (heck, when ESPN or such is broadcasting the game, sometimes they even pause the game for ads on TV). Our local school buses (whats left to them, most kids now being forced to use our shoddy public transportation) have ads on them. You buy a new computer and it is covered with useless services which pretty much amount to the same thing as ads. Hell its beginning to seem that a good portion of online "user" content is nothing but ads. Avertisers are now turning to strange manipulations like sending nice looking women to bars to through our nonchalant comments like "Man, my new copy of MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA makes me steamy and hot!".

What ever happened to quality selling a service?

I really think that ubiquitous advertisement is having bad consequences on people psychologically and sociologically. Advertisements depend on people not using judgment, and encouraging snap judgments based on no information, which, last I checked, is not a desirable trait. Second they further fragment society into little classes. "I'm a Nike person, who likes Coke, and runs Windows!", "Oh yeah? I'm a Reebok person who drinks Mountain Dew, and has a Mac!" Call it brand loyalty or idiocy. Hell I even knew a girl with the Nike swoosh tattooed to her arm (willingly, Nike has nothing to do with it), she didn't understand my laughing at her like it was the most absurd thing I've ever seen. She really thought that "Nike" meant something (not the goddess, the corporate symbol), which is the ultimate goal of these companies.

To get a little postmodern here, advertisements try to manipulate us to live in some realm of arbitrary symbols. They try to manipulate us in all ways except rationally. The whole game is creating a need where none really exists, and this extends beyond individual products, to the whole class of consumerism. We actually beleive, now, that we need various consumer goods to survive, and we need to update these every product revision. Take cell-phones for example, how often have people told you that they couldn't live without them? We don't need consumer goods to survive. We don't need to upgrade them daily.

The new form of ads are even subverting the best way to find quality products, word of mouth. How can you trust anyone when shills are spending millions creating artificial word of mouth? I'll continue blocking all ads online, not watching television, and staying away from sporting events, and boycotting services with obnoxious ads (as opposed to innocuous or clever ones saying what a service actually does).

Yes, you can tell that this whole issue pisses me off.

Re:Brought to you by Magnavox, and Pepsi

[Omestes]

But aren't ads just really a part of culture, our shared experiences?

Yes and no. They manipulated parts of our culture, existing only for the profit on one small group of people and not the culture as a whole. They are made up, and not organic, and while some might dismiss that as pedantic, I think that authenticity is a very important concept. Most cultural displays exist for a reason good for the culture as a whole, but ads only exist to manipulate people. Advertiser dehumanize us, and use us as mere tools, which is hard to see in a positive light.

Why would they EVER let us have a choice? It's like automatic check-out in supermarkets, they can save money by firing employees and forcing their customers to do their job, with no benefit to the consumer what so ever. We take it because we have to, since there are generally LONGER lines now at check-out. If a discount was passed down to the consumer (ever) I wouldn't mind, but it is forced on us since we don't exist as people, only as nice little "money units" to be manipulated at will.

Perhaps I'm old fashioned and don't like people playing games with me, or using me for their ends with no benefit to me.

It's here to stay, and I bet if you went back and read op-ed pieces from newspapers 100 years ago there'd be people complaining about how ads have "reached the level of absurdity."

And perhaps they were right, and it has just been getting steadily worse since. I know its here to stay, because people are always apathetic cogs who accept what their given, and thanks to advertising this is a psychological fault that we endorse more and more, why would we ever try to bring free-thought as a virtue into our society, you make more money with sheep, it isn't in anyones best interest to raise a critical society. Notice how the same tools used by advertisers are now used by politicians? And that these manipulation gimmicks actually WORK? This is because we are conditioned towards this idiotic reaction.

Sorry for the rant tone, I'm just getting sick of being an instrument for someone else's ends.

Re:I am going to research if a game has ads

[naoursla]

... unless the game is really cool. ... or fun.

I am going to research if a game has ads and if it does I will not buy it unless it is really cool or fun.

Or all of my friends are playing it.

Right. But that's it. It the game is really cool, fun or if all of my friends are playing it then I'll put up with the ads, but otherwise I am NOT buying ANY game with ads.

Unless it has a good demo.

So that's cool, fun, lots of friends, and a good demo. But otherwise NO ADS!

Although sometimes I buy a game because it has a pretty box.

Or maybe it includes a strategy guide or a book of concept art. I'm really into concept art.

But I'm drawing the line there. Cool, fun, friends, demo, box, books. If you do not have one of those and you put ads in your game then I WILL NOT BUY IT.

Unless it is really inexpensive.

"Rising development costs of the Wii"

[Overly Critical Guy]

The article mentions the Wii in that sentence, yet the Wii is by far the cheapest to develop for, by several hundred thousand, and in some cases a million or more, dollars. I'd say the Wii is the least likely to ever get ads in its games. One more reason to avoid the Dreamcast 360 and Rapestation 3 at all costs.