In-game advertising

“Do you think that in-game advertising is going to be important to the video game industry in the future? What business models and placement tactics for in-game ads make the most sense to you?”

-Gamasutra, Question of the Week

Swat 4

At the same time, we are seeing brands that are finally starting to realize that the best way to reach consumers is to create advertainment that people actually want to see and interact with. The best examples of this cause consumers to actively discuss, promote and spread the message to their friends.

-Brian Robbins, Fuel Industries, Inc

The real question for the future is what role Madison Avenue will play: will traditional ad agencies wake up and get up to speed on the medium before new game-specific marketing ventures such as Massive Incorporated leave them with nothing but table scraps?

-Clark Stacey, Smart Bomb Interactive

I think that what most gamers are concerned about, though, is the potential for games to become so bogged down with advertising that they feel more like content delivery tools than games.

-Damon Tabb, ALFY Inc.

The ability to target advertisers along with putting your own ads on things within the game is a good thing, and although it will never fully mitigate our costs of development, it will provide a nice bit of extra cash flow to those that implement it correctly.

-Mark Warner, Nexus Entertainment

Nobody is going to accept the characters in Final Fantasy XII running around in Timberlands

-Eric Braxton

The model I find myself disagreeing with most is where publishers install spyware or adware under the guise of back-end game software. While it does allow the player to download additional assets during gameplay, any software that installs without my knowledge, that is unable to be uninstalled, or that sends information that I don't approve of is extremely offensive to me.

-Coray Seifert, Large Animal Games

Advertising in games is huge; my head is just spinning with ideas and ramifications.

-Kent Simon, Novalogic

Anarchy Online

in-game advertising will be important to the game industry in the future (as it is now, in my opinion), but that does not mean it will be important to gamers.

-Douglas Boze, Kemco

But if Master Chief defeats a level boss and is rewarded with a bag of Doritos so as to inflict insatiable fits of snack-o-rama upon unsuspecting hordes of Covenant, then players will tune out in droves.

-Ryan FitzGerald, Nihilonaut Productions

As developers grow more comfortable with an industry that is always connected, the advertisers will follow.

-Ben Serviss, Creo Ludus Entertainment

I think it will be especially important for independent developers - just as it is for websites - where selling advertising space may well be their ONLY source of funding.

-Daniel Drew, Microsoft

Current business models used by film and radio will, I expect, be the initial push for in game advertising. However, most gamers, including myself, would find these blatant advertising attempts in a game offensive and pretty cheesy.

-Jonathan Hicks, Novalogic

Counter-Strike

A much larger problem is that developers could become very susceptible to changes that are requested by advertisers, or that encourage advertising, as has happened with TV and newspapers. For example, it wouldn't be in the interests of advertisers to place their ads in a game where the player can go on a shooting rampage in a shopping mall because that is ideologically opposed to consumerism.

-Ryan Bailey, Entelepon

It could also add some realism to games, increasing immersion. Say the player is pursuing the bad guy through an apartment building. Upon breaking into an elderly woman's apartment, she screams in fear, pausing her television viewing for a moment. On the television, the player can see and hear a fraction of that annoying Juicy Fruit commercial, or perhaps even an actual show, like CSI or Matlock.

-Kim Jolicoeur

Do I think that in-game advertising is going to be important to the video game industry in the future? No. Controversial? Yes. Keep advertising out of video games. What business models and placement tactics for in-game ads make the most sense to me? None.

-Paul Garceau, New Dawn Productions

Gamasutra - Question of the Week