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APB To Use In-Game Audio Advertisements
Rock, Paper, Shotgun reports that upcoming action MMOG APB: All Points Bulletin will use in-game audio advertisements as part of its business model. The number of ads you hear will be limited: "you'll only hear an ad when you go into a new zone, and that's only once every three hours." Nevertheless, some gamers are upset that these ads will be included on top of APB's already unusual payment plans. The game is set for release next Tuesday. Producer Jesse Knapp says of Realtime Worlds' goals for APB, "We looked at other online action games, and we saw things we felt could be better. Only 12 to 32 players in a match, bad connection due to peer-to-peer, dead cities, way too much time in lobbies, things like that. So what we set out to do was to make a game that has that online player vs. player action game experience in a large city with other players around, no lobbies, dynamic matchmaking, dedicated servers, great experience, and that's been one of the driving factors of APB from the very beginning." CVG recently previewed the game.
So I get to pay full game price for the game, then get to pay for hours (or a normal subscription) to play it... AND I get annoying ads on top of that?
Gee, these guys sure know how to get me excited about playing a game!
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
As far as I'm concerned, ads have no place in something you're already paying for. This applies to television, radio, newspapers, phone applications, and websites. Advertisements have been creeping in to paid services more and more recently. I'm fine with ads in free things; I accept that's part of why they are free. But it pains me when I buy something that forces me to see any ads.
Now, the question is, how many of these things could be supported without any ads?
Have you heard of Guild Wars?