Ways to Improve In-Game Advertising 86
ches_grin writes "At a recent conference, Microsoft's Kevin Browne discussed the 5 most important ways to improve in-game advertising, contrasting the ideal with the current state-of-affairs in the industry." From the article: "Estimations of the growth of the in-game ad market have been varied. Microsoft's internal estimates put in-game advertising at about $1 billion per year by 2010. The Yankee group recently pegged revenues at $732 million in the same timeframe. Microsoft estimates that 2005 brought in $56 million in in-game ad revenue."
Ah! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm pretty much done with DVDs -- when every dvd you buy now has advertisements on it. Even BBC box sets!
So in short, thanks for pointint out how to ruin another avenue of entertainment for consumers.
Re:Ah! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ah! (Score:2)
You're on crack.
I download movies. I also buy them.
And, incidentally, I have never copied a movie and deliberately removed the copyright notice, even back in the days when everything was on VHS. Typically I copy full DVDs, not just the movie, because I want menus. (On some discs, the menus are the only way to enable multiple subtitle overlays, e.g. white rabbit mode in the matrix plus subtitles.) Many others have done the same t
Re:Ah! (Score:2)
Fascinating.
One of the arguments used those who support piracy is that it encourages people to buy movies they've downloaded. Yet, here - you proclaim the opposite. (And in fact, this matches my personal experience.)
Re:Ah! (Score:2)
Re:Ah! (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at it like this-- If having contemporary setting games can generate revenue on billboards, vending machines, etc, then what motivation is it for a company (from financial standpoint) to make a game in an alien or 'old' setting?
If a company can make another FPS set in LA to sell add space, or a fantasy setting game for whatever reason... the dollar is going to pick the first.
I'm rather distraught with what is about to come.
Re:Ah! (Score:1)
Games such as Mafia (set 50 years ago) can still advertise products such as coke etc. the advertisers just have to be a little creative in chasing down the logo's that were used back then.
Then you get the classic games 'Cool Spot' and another I think was called 'Zool' that werent 'reality' type games, but were FULL of advertising propaganda (7-Up and Chuppa Chupps respectively)
And if there isn't a way to directly advertise, they can always have indirect advertising floati
Re:Ah! (Score:2)
But even if fantasy genre games were kept "clean"
Hang on for a while (Score:2)
1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:5, Insightful)
'nuff said
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:5, Insightful)
DON'T PUT ADVERTISING IN ANY GAMES. PERIOD.
That is the most effective way to deal with in-game advertising. You want to target my demographic? Then learn that my demographic DOESN'T WANT intrusive (or even non-intrusive) advertising in our ENTERTAINMENT. That is my down-time away from all the crap of the world. Why would I want to be subjected to the shit called advertising that spews forth from Madison Avenue, LA, or anywhere else in the world during that time?
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:2)
My first, second, and twentieth reactions to the article all consisted of "DON'T!" when it comes to in-game ads.
The only in-game advertising I would enjoy is the same style as used in Wayne's World. Sarcastic shilling is ok in my book. And I have to admit, I really loved capturing and dismantling the Energizer Bunny in Space Quest 4 (I think it was 4...was a long time ago). But those are the exceptions that prove the rule, which is that immersive ads in our entertainment are a bad thing.
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:2)
Actually.
I don't mind non-intrusive advertising in games at all. In some cases it can even improve the gaming experience.
The most recent example of this is the PGR3 Cadillac car pack. What a perfect way to advertise in a game. Free additional content that just happens to be in the form of Cadillac cars. The other example in PGR3 was the Lamborghini sponsored worldwide tournament. That thing was o
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:2)
You're assuming two things:
1. That there is only one demographic which plays games.
2. That you speak for them.
People don't want adverts on TV, or in magazines or on the radio.
But they still work.
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:2)
The problem is, at least to some extent, we'll put up with it, even in our games. Super Monkey Ball is so much fun that I forgive its blazen Dole endorsements. Maybe I'm selling out, or maybe I don't want to miss out on genuinely tasty gameplay just because
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Picture this: A company releases a statement that they will not advertise in video games. The statement is so weird to the mainstream media that they pick up on it and advertise the company for them, especially the company's new posture.
Such promotions can backfire, but that usually happens to companies that pick broad/vague mottos (such as the Google example). The move would restrict the company from a very specific cha
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:1)
However, playing games like Rainbow 6 wouldn't be bad if there were subtle ads in the environment. Pepsi or Coke machines modeled in an FPS environment is ok. Or a billboard advertising something in a level. A video that plays everytime I want to play my game isn't. Neon flashing lights are not ac
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:2)
In some games you can shoot the wall and leave holes and scars. So just allow shooting up the advertisement, or drawing funny pictures on it with bullit holes, or even taking down a whole billboard ad with your rocket launcher.
Now that's the way to remove advertising. Tell the advertisers how you really feel about their ads.
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:4, Insightful)
On another note: I hope that when (PC's) first-person shooter ads are really setting off, that server-owners would -also- see a small compensation for their servers acting as a platform to serve those ads: Once again my hopes here are also not likely to become true.
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:1)
Re:1 Way to improve in game advertisements.... (Score:2)
Tips and tricks (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tips and tricks (Score:1)
A fresh twist to an old classic... (Score:3, Funny)
http://joystiq.com/2006/01/11/in-game-ads-infiltr
Re:A fresh twist to an old classic... (Score:2)
=tkk
Get rid of it (Score:3, Insightful)
Like Broadcast TV versus HBO back in the day (Score:4, Interesting)
This, however, is not going to happen. A good, and maybe very slightly possible, way to let the market decide would be to label any games with ads, so I can avoid them.
Re:Like Broadcast TV versus HBO back in the day (Score:2)
Re:Like Broadcast TV versus HBO back in the day (Score:2)
We don't need no stinking ads. (Score:2)
But please don't place interrupting or out-of-place adds in the games we buy. Those companies who do this are warned
Re:We don't need no stinking ads. (Score:2)
Re:We don't need no stinking ads. (Score:2)
Re:We don't need no stinking ads. (Score:2)
Most of the TV I watch is either premere channels (no commercials) or video on demand. I drive to work and listen to CDs. The only magazines I read are home improvement mags on the john. So I don't really see a whole lot of those advertisements.
"I'm playing a game to slip into my little fantasy world, not be
Re:We don't need no stinking ads. (Score:1)
Key word: could be. Unfortunately, the advertisers would ruin it.
How? By destroying immersion.
How? By insisting that the advertised product has a monopoly in the virtual world.
Imagine a world where every soft drink was Coca-Cola. Where every drinks machine was a Coca-Cola machine. Where every billboard was an advert for Coca-Cola. Think that sounds realistic? Nope, me neither. Think Coca-Cola would let you sell advertising spac
Re:We don't need no stinking ads. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:We don't need no stinking ads. (Score:2)
Here to stay (Score:1)
Scrabble helper with little in-game advertising :) [wineverygame.com]
Re:Here to stay (Score:2)
Yes it's hard work but we can't sit on our fat asses and get shit thrown at us. If you buy a game and
5 perfect ways? (Score:2)
2. Broad Reach : Requires unique integration title by title
3. Accountable : Effectiveness is only measured by sell-thru
4. Easy to Integrate : Game teams pushing back, resisting due to it being a lot of work to integrate
5. Agencies Drive Value : Agencies have a very limited role
1) This would make sense at the system level, not the advertising level. I don't want to hav
The only good kind... (Score:3, Interesting)
=tkk
Re:The only good kind... (Score:1)
Fernando hasn't paid the bill from the phone company, either.
Game Commercials (Score:3, Funny)
Dear advertisers / game creators (Score:3, Insightful)
Put ads in games and I will not buy them. I'll do my best to convince all my friends who also BUY (not copy) games to do the same.
And while I have your attention:
Get rid of the cd-check. They are only a annoyance to legitimate customers and it just feels wrong that I have to download a patch from a third party to be able to enjoy a game without having to eject whatever music cd (that I bought) I'm listening to.
Last game bought: Hitman: Blood Money
Last music bought: Global Chillout Lounge
Re:Now now.. (Score:2)
He may have nailed it - (Score:3, Insightful)
Destructable advertisements. You take out your favorite franchises (DIE Walmart!!), they get name recognition. I could deal with this.
Imagine you're playing BF 2, and wham, right in the middle of the map is a McDonalds. Bleh, wonder how much money EA got for that? Then you find you can blow the golden arches off with a tank round.
What if your playing City Life, and actually get to BUY McDonalds? Not some cheap lookalike company conjured up to avoid copyright infringements. You get the burgers, the clown, the tube playgrounds out back - the whole nine yards.
Companies play their cards right in the video game market, and it could work for everyone. If they treat video games like TV shows (stale static pictures on boxes) - they will do more to turn kids away from video games than a whole congress of Jack Thompsons.
Product placement and realistic ad placement. (Score:2)
Remember all those drink cans in Half-Life 2? Would you have cared if half of them were Coca-Cola?
Wouldn't it just add to the surreal atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic game if you were to see a dusty billboard advertising something common today?
Re:Product placement and realistic ad placement. (Score:2)
Ways to Improve In-Game Advertising: (Score:2)
The stated 5 ways and comments (Score:3, Insightful)
The whole thing completly bypasses the issue of what will consumers (you know, those people that actually buy - or not - the games) accept or not as advertising in a game. The stated 5 Ways to Improve In-Game Advertising all have to do with how game makers can make it easier for ad-agencies to sell adverts in games - all the while ignoring the important side-effect that adverts in a game have in the profitability of that game: how much will sales of a game decrease because of the quantity/type of adverts in that game.
Here's a couple of points coming from a gamer:
- If your game is situated in a present time scenario, adverts are actually a good thing as long as they are present in the same places and forms as they would be in comparable real life situations. Thus, for example, a football (soccer for you americans) simulator should have adverts around the playing fields, just like they have in real life - in this situation adverts give depth and realism to the game.
- If your game is not situatied in a present-time/real-life-like scenario don't do in-game adverts. If you really, really want to make money from adverts, get companies to sponsor official mods and extensions for the game and make those available for free from a website while avertising (in that website) for the company that sponsored the mod/extension.
- Just follow the example of TV - in pay-TV, at most you'll see some product placement in those movies/series whose story takes place in a real-life-like present-day environment, never, for example, in science fiction movies. Free TV goes a step further an has adverts before and after each block of free content. Notice how pay-TV is way lighter on adverts than free TV - that's because most people are not willing to pay for seing adverts (at least not where i live): keep that in mind.
Re:The stated 5 ways and comments (Score:2)
Re:The stated 5 ways and comments (Score:2)
Dude, that's an awesome idea! Collect pepsi twist off caps to unlock a limited run item in game.
-Rick
Be careful what you wish for. (Score:3, Insightful)
Since game development companies want to maximize cash flow, and advertising is a way for them to increase their cash flow (especially if they have dynamic ads that can be updated after the game is initially launched) I believe you'll see a move away from games where ads aren't easily insertable into the game - in other words, a reduction in the number of fantasy, apocolyptic, and otherwise "non-advertising friendly" games with good production values.
I hate the idea of in-game advertising as much as anybody else. I also hate what I fear this trend will do to the games I enjoy...
What's with all the 'in game advert' stories? (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I love in game advertising. The more the better. And it doesn't have to make sense in context. Just throw in product placement anywhere. Level 45 Druids drinking Coca Cola, love it! Barbarians in Hummers, oooh! Scary! Moto Razr communicators in Star Trek, Ginsu brand light sabers, Met Life insurance policies on your characters, bring it on! Right everybody?
Re:What's with all the 'in game advert' stories? (Score:1)
I was thinking the same thing.
Don't tell 'em squat, people. Or lie.
Or, since these firms are trolling for ideas, provide them with the type that advocate shunning [slashdot.org] in-game advertising.
Appealing to someone else's greater goal is the first step to having them adopt yours over the short term.
This is a very bad list (Score:1)
1 very intrusive: subtle
2 stick them anywere: but some effort into placing them at logical points.
3 invade your privacy: measure ROI without destroying privacy.
4 dup. of point 2.
5 marketing executives place ads (seemingly at random to us lesser mortals): games developers carefully integrate adverts into the games environment without destroying
Some games are improved because of ads (Score:1)
I agree that WoW would be ruined by a quest to return the Flame Grilled Whopper Recipe, and that BF1942 can do without the latest Nissan Micra advert, but some games are improved by the added realism. If these ads generate revenue to continue to develop quality games then that'll be a good thing too. Just don't make them intrusive or a
5 ways? (Score:2)
1. Get rid of them
2. Remove them
3. Disable them
4. Block them
5. ???
There are very few games where in-game ads are appropriate and don't distract from the game itself. Some sports games might qualify, but only if your goal is to simulate not only the game but the entire stadion atmosphere as well. The only genre I can really think of where ads are part of the game are Cyberpunk games where the theme practically requires every available surface to be covered in ads, so there could ju
Re:5 ways? (Score:2)
Looked at your cable bill lately?
Re:5 ways? (Score:1)
This is what drove me away from "professional" sports in the first place.
My personal solutions to improving ingame ads (Score:1)
Take for one example one of the small scale MMORPG's I used to play the game is set some several hundred years in the future after a couple of nuclear wars. So what do you expect to see on the billboards inside the main cities but Alienware adverts!
Advertizing on TV. . . (Score:1)
Re:Advertizing on TV. . . (Score:2)
How can that possibly work? (Score:2)
Article (Score:2)
Someone in here posted a suggestion of
Re:Article (Score:2)
Unless we stop buying them. Seriously, why is it acceptable to expect people to pay to watch advertising? Sure, I'll play free games with advertising, like candystand.com games, but I am NOT paying $50 or $60 for the latest RPG just to see "Cournel" the NPC selling "K'ntuckee Fried Gryphon wings". I don't think it's funny, I don't think it's cute; I want my games to be as immersive as possible
Re:Article (Score:2)
Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that while you will stop buying them, enough of the market will not and will thus perpetuate the status quo. And as for not liking my suggestion for integrating it less intrusively into the game, well, lets see you do better!
Re:Article (Score:2)
It's not your fault I think your suggestion sucks; I'm pretty sure any advertising in fantasy games would suck because it will break the atmosphere. You made a good go of it though, but where you went wrong was in assuming ads are needed
Re:Article (Score:2)
Delete "on Slashdot" and replace "slashbots" with "family-values groups" and "advertising" with "sex and nudity", and it'd be just as true, that is, sure, its part of our world and culture, and, sure, people want to put it in games, but, you know what, p
Re:Article (Score:2)
Well lets see, part of our world? your right! But of course so is cancer, AIDS, Polution, WAR, Famine, the disparity between the rich and poor, dictators, terrorism, pattent trolls, etc... BUT funnily enough, people still try and fix those PROBLEMS. I keep telling them "well tough shit, its part of our world and always will be so you better bloody well get used to it!"
For some
Re:Article (Score:2)
Because believe it or not a large number of people are perfectly fine in advertising and realize the necessity for it in the business world. And BTW, most of the examples you give are things that people pretty much unanimously agree are bad. Good luck finding someone who thinks AIDS is a good thing. Adve
Re:Article (Score:3, Insightful)
Because (obviously from user comments) the majority of us DON'T WANT ADS!!!!!
I personally think (not you, maybe) that the pro-ad posters are actually industry shills ("oh in game ads are great, i love how you can order a pizza in game, now if only I could order from HOME DEPOT life would be perfect"... oh please).
We have all seen how pervasive ads are nowadays, when TV first started there were like 5 minutes of commercials
Re:Article - 3 ways to avoid ads.... :) (Score:2)
There are 3 ways to avoid advertising. Here they are:
1) Die. Seriously. Then your problems with advertising will be all over for good. The drawback is that it is permanent [depending on your beliefs in an afterlife....
2) Live 'off the grid' on publ
Adverts for Patches? (Score:2)
Chaos Theory (Score:2)
Now, it would be good if in-game advertising lowered game prices. But i guess they are using it to "recover from piracy loses"
I Got It! Call on me! (Score:2)
Advertising ideas (Score:1)