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Free 'Ad-Backed' Games the Future?
MacarooMac writes "EA Games recently announced they are to release a free online version of their PC game 'Battlefield Heroes', supported by in game adverts and micro payments. EA hopes the model of a free game as a download that is supported by advertising could be applied to other franchises it owns. For this particular title, no adverts will appear in the game itself due to incompatibility with the game's fictional world. Instead, adverts will appear on the website and the 'front-end' of the game. But many other titles can and do provide for product placement during game play itself. How long before improvements in video graphics, combined with dynamic, and perhaps even interactive in-game advertising, start to generate revenue increases that enable publishers to substantially reduce the price of their games?" Already a very common model for Eastern online titles, and being adapted here in the states by a number of companies.
Note that while BF:Heroes will be ad *supplemented* it will not be purely ad driven. They are also going with a microtransaction system where individuals can purchase perks or upgrades for their characters. They claim these will not be "competition breaking" but will be things like convenience perks (read: power levelling for your char) as well as vanity type upgrades for your chars.
Check out these vid interviews for some more info: (site is not english but the vids are)
http://www.pcgames.de/aid,629100/Interview/Ego-Shooter/Exklusives_Video-Interview_mit_den_Battlefield_Heroes-Entwicklern/
- Toby
I downloaded the free, ad-supported version of Far Cry when it came out. The ads were very annoying and intrusive. It would pause loading to display a short video (only one video too, so it got very repetitive), play the video, then resume loading, which also made the loading times long.
I hope that this doesn't have the ads done so intrusively.
do {print "Mini-Geek Rules!\n";}
until ($TheEndOfTheWorld);
Or at least those games.
Traditional advertising routes are failing because people:
1. Hate ads
2. Stop noticing them after a while
3. See them absolutely bloody everywhere.
Just because I can tune them out doesn't mean I want to, and I'd rather pay for the game, thanks. Actually, I wouldn't mind paying for tv with no ads too. It's not like the advertisers get much "value" from my watching anyway. I drink english ale and I get excited about a new NAS, not the sort of thing you see on tv that much...
"For this particular title, no adverts will appear in the game itself due to incompatibility with the game's fictional world." I am very glad that someone realised this. Seeing adverts for Pandora Tommorow in Chaos Theory completely broke the immersion.
Done right, sure. They can whore themselves out as much as they want, so long as the game play is fun. I don't really care if when I need health instead of drinking soda pop X, I get mountain dew. Whatever. Hell, what if in a level I got into a firefight inside a mcdonalds with huge mcdonalds advertisements all over the store. Cool.
:)
Just don't do stuff like they did with fight night 3, like having the BK guy in my ring corner, or a dodge mini van as the sponsor for a boxing game. I thought it was cool with the under armor ads all over, sweet, fits the genera, but, no bk please.
So, target the ads, it'll make me like the product, instead of hating it. This would be good for game makers and advertisers.
The other thing to watch for is the "micropayment" items. As long as the micro item doesn't offer a crippling advantage to other players, i'm all for it, esp if the game is free. I really enjoyed sierra's freestyle basketball game they grabbed from a korean game maker, and the free game + micro payments for little stat boosts worked fine. I had no problem buying the game and a few items (about 25 bucks all together) after I had clocked like 30 hours in the thing as is without paying a cent.
So, bring on the free games
Personally I think this is a terrible model for games to develop as a medium, yet it does not surprise me the EA would promote it. Having worked in game retail in the past, it's not a secret that (in the UK at least) EA's backbone is in the sportsgames with annual updates.
Advertisers are more likely to but space in, say Fifa '09 which will have much lower development costs than a new concept and such a model may even off set the development cost.
A thistle is a fat salad for an ass's mouth...
Sergeant: "Son, no one can resist the great, refreshing taste of Coca-Cola classic...not even invading cyborgs from the planet Nix."
Marine: "You were right sir! They can't resist the cool flavor and excellent value of the #1 Cola in the US! They've stopped attacking now."
Sergeant: "Hurry, while they're destracted we can use the Dodge Particle Cannon that comes standard on all new 2113 Dodge Ram Pickups. Only the superior technology of Dodge trucks can hope to defeat them."
Marine: "They've been defeated sir! Earth has been saved by the combined might of Coca-Cola and Dodge Trucks! You can't get any more American than that...I might just go buy some now!!!"
"Life's short and hard, like a body building elf." -- The Bloodhound Gang
So when you introduce games with optional micropayments you do two things:
1. You make it an exclusive for people willing to pay for improvements or perks.
2. You drive your fodder base away.
People who would just like to play once in a while, but are getting p0wned by folks who've dumped a lot of cash for all the greatest stuff. With no fodder or incentive for newbies to stick around and get good (or pay to get there) - the player pool dries up, and we're off to another game.
A free FPS which requires you to purchase eAmmo.
By this token, shouldn't Madden already be free? Isn't it just one large advertisement?
Seems they decided to go with characters that look like clear ripoffs of TF2's new look.... See the picture at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/technology/21game.html?ref=technology.
EA is taking 2 steps that I completely disagree with:
-Ripping off other games and making weaker versions of something that has already been successful for another company. Great, you go make a buck, let other companies steer the course of gaming and out(last/earn) you...
-Taking a problematic issue with current games such as MMORPGs, and making it a new feature. That is, if you aren't good enough you spend money and then you are at least a little better in some respects. (Gold farming in WoW etc..) Forget a game that pits raw skill vs skill, let people pay if they suck, no thank you... I prefer games where being good counts for something. Sure it will be fun to knock around the idiots who spent $100... It's not a true skill based competition, which is the fundamental root of any good multi-player game.
Get used to it. we are going to reach the point where we will wonder how game makers even made money before the advent of advertisement. Too few of us can look back on cable in the US as a promise of content that we paid for, and therefore didn't need to be sbujected to ads. That didn't last too long. First it was an ad after a movie, no big deal, right? then they would put an add before each hour long show. Now cable is basically broadcast TV you pay for. The same thing is happening in movies. Remember when paying money for a movie ticket meant you didn't have to watch ads for kraft macaroni and cheese?
:)
I won't go into movie sponsorship, because that has been around a long, long time, we are just seeing a naked resurgence of it. We are going to come to the point where games you pay for will have ads in them, along with games you download for free. Next generation FPS's will have ads, and frankly, they are likely to have MORE ads (and more successful ads) than the free version, basically because the people buying the games are not as cheap as the people downloading them for free.
Relish games the way they are now, because once the industry model sinks its fangs into those things, they won't ever look the same again. Ever.
I can't believe that the myth of "free" ad-backed games is still out there. It seems there are plenty of people who would be ok with having ads "If the game is price-reduced or free".
However, I think we, as gamers need to take a hard look at the reality of the situation and realize that there is no way on earth that any self-respecting game company is going to allow a revenue stream to pass them by. Yes, there will be ads in the games, but you will still pay full-price. Don't believe me?
Case in point, SOE's "Planetside":
SOE introduced ads into that game on special billboards that were posted around the game world inside buildings. Usually right near spawn-points so that every time you respawned, you saw the ads. They were inside every building, in multiple places. You could not miss them.
SOE's explanation was that the ads were a "Pilot program to find ways to offset the subscription costs so that subscriptions can be made cheaper." So, did the price for the game sub go down? NO. Did the price for the game sub go up? YES. So not only do the players have to pay MORE for the sub than they used to, but now they pay for the "privilege" of viewing ads!
Keep in mind that many of the ads were ANIMATED, WITH SOUND! Incredibly distracting, particularly for an MMOFPS. Even after a massive protest by the community and loss of a big chunk of the playerbase, SOE kept the ads in(although they did restrict the animated ads to only the "sanctuaries" where there was no PVP).
While SOE does get a well-deserved rap for being one of the worst gaming companies out there, I see them, not as an anomaly, but as the bellwether of the gaming world. What SOE has done, other companies will do. This is what EA is trying now, just in a less in-your-face manner. They are taking the "Incremental" approach, like the "frog in boiling water" analogy. They know if they slam us with ads in every game, gamers will revolt. but if they slowly introduce us to the concept of ads in games, ANY game, They believe that we will become desensitized to it. Then before you know it you will be seeing billboards with animated ads in every game. Then it will be too late.
The time to stand up against this is now. Don't buy games with ads, and don't play supposed "free" games that are ad-supported. Make game ads and non-starter and a money loser, and we will be able to keep our ad-free experience. But if you let the in-game-ad camel's nose under the tent, don't complain when your end up stepping in Camel Dung down the line.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
Free ad-laden games in the future? No. Expensive ad-laden games more likely. Macropayments divy the game into 20 $5 chunks instead of a single $60 buy.
Imagine: "Level complete! Use 500 points for level 2?" "This level brought to you by Mountain Dew"
When you think about it, it worked for Starcraft. If people had to pay for that, it'd be way less popular. It doesn't take superservers to run an 8 or so year old game so apparently one banner ad in the main lobby is enough to fund the whole operation. Otherwise they would have shut down by now since $15 for the game and expansion probably isn't doing it for them. I wouldn't mind that. But if they go crazy with it like some games, it would just piss everyone off. I still think it would be hilarious if they made the World of Warcraft potions into Pepsi products for a week. Plus people are such big fans, if they had a WOW gaming party, obviously someone would bring some Pepsi as a gag so it'd be pretty effective
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
A good example of this practice done right is Funcom. Anarchy Online (which was created in 2001) still has a large and active player base thanks in part to Funcom partnering with Massive to supply free ad sponsored accounts. These free accounts have limited access to expansion content and have in game ads to sponsor the free play. A large number of free accounts end up converting to pay accounts after playing for a while. This model has managed to keep this game viable for 7 years well past the point many MMO's peter out. I think we will be seeing a lot more of this but just like with product placement in movies it can be done well or it can be done poorly. Fight Night 3 was done very poorly...
A company called Bezerk had a bunch of ad-supported games about 8 - 10 years ago, I believe they did You Don't Know Jack. My favourite was called Acrophobia.
The games took over the entire screen (as usual) and in between every other round (rounds lasted several minutes) you'd get an ad for a minute. It was really well done and fitted into the whole "game show" type feel to the games. The ads were reasonably enjoyable although there were only a few in rotation so it got boring once you'd seen them all a few times.
I'm convinced this is a long-term workable model, however, because advertising really isn't that bad. People rant and rave about it for some reason, but it helps keep the things we like going (TV shows, movie theaters, etc) and if it's well produced it isn't that bad to watch. Ultimately, ideally targeted advertising is just useful information.
Does that mean they'll be removing the (usually unskippable) ads from pay games?
No, of course not.
Aside from the idiocy of thinking that ad revenue will mean cheaper games and cheaper subscriptions fees - as has been noted, it's not going to happen - aside from that, there is an unavoidable consequence?
If the ads interrupt or distract from the game, the whole idea will fail. A fantasy game where your sword is sponsored by Ford or IBM will crash and burn, very quickly. The ads have to look and act like they're part of the game world. And that seriously limits the kinds of games these companies will be willing to create. If this works at all (and I don't think it will), virtually every game will be set in a contemporary, every day world, or a near future science fiction setting, where Coke and Pepsi and McDonald's ads will fit right in. Fantasy games? Not so much so.
First we'll just have a few ads at the beginning and the end. Then they'll sneak one in the middle as part of a video clip. Next thing we know they'll have them spaced throughout the game at save points every ten minutes. In the worst case scenario they'll start deleting content from old games to insert more ads in its place, the way reruns of old shows are trimmed to fit the shorter time slot. I honestly wouldn't object to a few-second ad right up front if that was it, but I don't believe for a second they'll be able to resist the temptation for advertising creep. I'd rather pay once and be done with it than deal with annoyances for eternity.
The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
How long is it gonna take for us to strip them out of the game, seriously. TexMod?
Option 1: You pay a certain price for the game (say, £40) and then, you get a full, ad-free version. Option 2: You pay much less (say, £10-£15) and it's heavily advertised. Ads in the front-end, and loading screens, etc. Obviously, this model could be tweaked. Pay more for less adverts, kinda thing. This would let the player choose what level of advertising they're willing to [not] pay for.
SQL programmer goes to a bar. Walks up to two tables and says 'Excuse me, may I join you?'.
People are over reacting to advertisements in game. I recently picked up Crackdown and only noticed the adverts were real things once I had been playing a good 10 hours. I didn't think "oh wow I need to see that movie" I just kept playing as if they were fictional. They didn't ruin my game or do any harm what so ever, the worst that can be said is they wasted space of something comedic like GTA has.
I like muppets.
I work in interactive in advertising in New York and have spent many years in meetings with clients who ask about advergaming. Advergaming is DOA.
First, it costs far too much to produce a branded game anyone would actually play, even if you try to license an engine of some kind. Clients won't spend that kind of money (the benchmark is approx. $25K--if it costs more than that, it's too expensive).
Second, writing products into games in development doesn't work from a production standpoint. It's difficult, still, to successfully launch an "integrated" campaign (TV/radio/print/Out-of-home/internet) because the TV teams drive the show and rarely give you more than two weeks to execute even complex rich media sites, during which time they continue to "tweek" everything in post-production. That's a production process that doesn't mesh well with game development.
Third, writing products into a game storyline introduces additional risk for the publisher, and also for the client. What if the product sucks? Will that come to be what people associate your game with? What if the game sucks? Will that reflect poorly on your product? Picture paying to have the Edsel be the gang car in the next GTA and you get an idea of the possible levels of WTF?
Product placements are the only place where it might work because as we know it's easy enough to slap a Coke sign up on a virtual billboard. But given the game genres that are out there, you'd be hard-pressed to insert an ad for Maybelline into WoW without breaking the experience and causing a backlash.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
I think this sums up micro payments nicely: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/05/11
Super Blow ads are fun we need to have more like them.
Also don't show the same ad over and over again
Now presenting the wonderfully wonderous world of World of Warcraft 2, the next-generation, mind-blowing (M)MMORPG. Lucious green rolling hills and sharp cliffs of frozen mountains covered in realistic trees with fully DirectX 12 rendered foilage. Oh and the deserts, you've never seen such sand, just looking at it makes your teeth crunch!
Odd villages and cities sprinkle the landscape, otherwise inhabited by vicious monstrosities that spawn gracefully out of quasi-natural burrows instead of simply popping up. Their superior AIX-powered artificial intelligence makes them, above any other natural inclination such as sustenance or reproduction, chase you in order to devour you alive or simply kill you for sports!
The user experience and immersion is supplemented by holographic avatars, representatives of fine eating houses such as Starbucks, Domino's or even Wal-Mart who stand ready anywhere and everywhere to take delivery orders for your every wish, with direct access to your credit card and well-kept preference databases for every individual, even night-elves. Beautifully rendered billboards dot the environments offering useful consumer advice streamlined to your preference profile and long-range travel is spiced up with streamed full-motion video of the latest and greatest emanations of the marketing departments of your favourite companies straight to the saddle mounted 42" plasma screen on your personal mount. (griffons are limited to 24" for safety reasons)
(comes free with a month's supply of mountain dew or cocaine)
Order now!
No, really.
Actually, 300/day is on the very conservative side of the estimate. The lower end of the upper range is about 3000/day, counting all media. I tried counting ads a couple weeks ago and before lunch and I had lost count at somewhere around *5000* (carried a clicker with me, but misplaced it). And I have adblock+filterset.g installed....
...I was instantly skeptical of this offering from EA, on a number of issues. 1) Viable game experience? Despite a massive userbase for BF2142, three major patches and the Northern Strike addon, there are still some major play issues with the game. One of the more irritating heavy handed (and incorrect) solutions for people abusing the game is podsurfing. For the unitiated, you can launch out of several vehicles in a drop pod that has limited maneuverability but that can, with some alterations of game settings, have massively increased range (in both distance and movement). Players complained. EA scratched their balls a bit and said "Brilliant! We'll handicap the one droppod that actually has very little podsurfing abuse!" Such is life. This and other things regarding BF2142 and its buggy gameplay means my faith in EA and its production of BF is permanently shot; let alone a Toy-Story looking game with in game ads, leading on to... 2) In game ads. Already in BF2142 but is understated at least on the servers I play on. There are screenshots of various ad boards on maps that I play regularly, but havent seen them. Maybe they're more prolific on US servers instead of UK ones. However the ones that are around are generally barely noticeable at a glance since theyre done to subtly blend with the surroundings in muted tones. Maybe subliminal messaging is the answer?
A duck was found murdered in a chicken coop last night. Police suspect foul play.
"start to generate revenue increases that enable publishers to substantially reduce the price of their games?"
This statement is SO 20th century....in the 21st increased revenue means increased profit and larger exec bonuses....not lower consumer prices!