Video Game Ads: A Growing Business

August 11, 2007 · Filed Under General, Infotech, Musings, Online, Gaming 

What began as a small, experimental avenue for advertising as an alternative medium, ads and ad placements in video games are slowly going into mainstream.

With the fusion of games and the Internet, the potential of “reach” makes advertisers’ eyes sparkle. And companies such as Massive Inc. are slowly carving a name for itself by being one of the pioneers of the game ad agency cum broker. Founded in 2003 and purchased by Microsoft last year, Massive has steadily grown into the industry leader in dynamic in-video game advertising, a technology that allows marketers to stream current and constantly updated ads directly into video games played online, either on a console or a PC.

More after the jump

Accroding to reportonbusiness.com; “Placing ads in games is not new but because newer game consoles can connect to the Internet the ads can be updated on the fly, turning what was a niche market into a staple of new ad campaigns. In the past, ads had to be hard-coded into a game, often months in advance. That meant short-term advertisers, like movie studios and television networks looking to promote coming attractions, didn’t see the medium as an option.”

But of course, the ads must be relevant. A Toyota ad is acceptable for a racing game or sports game. But you probably won’t see the same ad in games such as Neverwinter Nights, right?

“It first and foremost has to fit within the context of the game, if it doesn’t, it just sticks out like a sore thumb and the gaming community just rakes you over the coals for being a bunch of idiots,” said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive. “If you’re enhancing the user’s environment, you’re enhancing the value of the medium in terms of reaching that user.”

Massive is currently working with 50 game titles that will receive dynamic game content with more titles to be added soon.

Expect the number of ads to slowly ballon as you play an online game or plug your console into the web.

What I’d like to hear are your thoughts as a gamer. Will this “invasion” of commerce be good or bad to our hobby?

Sound off below. Thanks.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Comments

10 Responses to “Video Game Ads: A Growing Business”

  1. Blackwolf on August 11th, 2007 3:28 pm

    I wonder how you can put ads in games of distant genres such as fantasy or sci-fi. With sci-fi, I guess it would be a bit easier; you just ‘futurize’ the ad to fit the milieu of the game world. Eve Online and freeze-dried Coke capsules or McnukeNuggets from everyone’s favorite corporate clown make sense. It was the same marketing strategy for Back to the Future II and it oohed and ahhed audiences.

    Fantasy is a bit more challenging. The Shrek approach to satirizing the fantasy world might actually hold water in a game like World of Warcraft. Other game worlds take their content a bit more seriously. I can’t picture watching a hobbit in Nike Running Feet shouting, “Impossible is Nothing” while tossing a certain sentient ring into a certain mountain of Doom in Lord of the Rings Online. It just doesn’t work…

    How would you approach this, GM T? :)

  2. GM T on August 11th, 2007 3:33 pm

    It really is up to creativity of the marketer. Your ideas and inputs are great. Perhaps those from the brick-and-mortar companies reading this comment will take off from your suggestions.

    But yes, there are ways to customize products and the message so that they “meld into” the game. According to research and stats, gamers hate the “hard sell”. Subliminal might work in the long run. But that’s up to the companies buying the ad space to determine if their money’s worth it.

    GM T

  3. levin3d on August 11th, 2007 8:31 pm

    why stop there? well brands could fund a game centered on their product or service.
    it could bode well for the local game development industry, because right now i think the main problem is money, and if games could tap the resources of big companies. it could be a good start for local game dev autonomy, i mean games that really begin here, not imported from korea.

    well the game could get lame, as blackwolf’s point. but that’s where creativity takes over. ;-)

    btw GMT, i’ve heard you’ve had a deal with flipside games… is it local Ip, or an existing franchise and you just need the local dev’s for tweaking? just curious.

  4. GM T on August 11th, 2007 10:07 pm

    Thanks, Levin. Re the deal with flipside, I will be announcing that when the info is available for public consumption. You know naman that secrets are part of business…

    Time to don on my 007 tux!

    Licensed to kill (via PVP lang) :)

    GM T

  5. levin3d on August 11th, 2007 11:41 pm

    er sorry. i thought it WAS out because i read a bit about it from hackenslash.

  6. GM T on August 12th, 2007 1:06 am

    that’s ok. No hard done, my friend :)

  7. levin3d on August 12th, 2007 2:54 am

    hat’s ok. No hard done, my friend :)

    thank god. that would be creepy if you had a hard done. i’m straight you know.

    =P hehe

  8. fatman on August 12th, 2007 4:55 pm

    Coke is it! in pRO? I still have a 6-pack in my Kafra as souvenier. Or Aling Razon’s Halo-halo? I have that too. :)

    It’s a good thing that hyper-dimensional storage facility provided by Kafra Corp. also doubles as a freezer. I want, no, I NEED more space! :D

    Just FYI, I drink Pepsi. :P

  9. GM T on August 12th, 2007 9:28 pm

    I meant “harm”. LOLZ

    Now, it’s time to clean this friggin’ keyboard.

    :P

  10. Brands Now Keen On Online Game Ads | gmtristan.com on September 30th, 2007 7:02 pm

    […] already expounded about how big this market is likely to be and JC said that he and his team (New Media) are working on building awareness so […]

Leave a Reply