Microsoft is Okay with In-game Advertising, Says it Will Continue to Thrive
Posted 10/06/09 at 02:45:54 PM by Bart Salisbury
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They’re there. You know they’re there. And they aren’t going away. Certainly not if Microsoft has a say. “They” are in-game advertisements, which have been steadily creeping into the on-line gaming experience. And right now they are generate buckets of cash for Microsoft, and show the potential of generating buckets more.
Massive, the on-line gaming advertising arm of Microsoft, uses a dynamic process to inject ads that “enhance” the online gaming experience. According to JJ Richards, at the Microsoft Advertising Blog, “Our research indicates that most gamers like advertising in the game because it adds to the realism. Imagine playing a Major League Baseball game with no ads behind home plate, next to the scoreboard or on the outfield wall - not very realistic. Now imagine the outfield with up-to-the-minute ads you just saw on television or read in a newspaper - the latest movie release, television show, or a new car model. That is much more realistic.” Massive’s objective is to place ads where you would expect to see them in everyday life, while taking care not to degrade the game-playing experience.
On-line gaming is a logical step for advertising because of the audience: 18-34 year old males, who spend a lot of time gaming (and have become harder to reach by traditional means). Richards claims that Massive is able to reach “40 million Xbox and PC gamers in 31 countries worldwide.” And apparently in-game advertising works. Microsoft reports that 72% of gamers recall seeing the ads, and 65% say that such ads standout more than traditional advertising. Whether this translates into actual sales Richards doesn’t say.
Bucking overall Internet advertising revenue trends, Microsoft reports that its revenues are up, with first quarter sales targets exceeded by 100% just a month into the fiscal year. Screen Digest expects in-gaming advertising revenues to reach $1 billion by 2014.
MS Games not an escape anymore
Submitted by r3dd4wg on Wed, 10/07/2009 - 9:57am
Well, I play games to escape the real world so to see advertisements that I can see on TV is just going to ruin the experience. Way to go Microsoft.
Bring back Bill Gates and get rid of that goon Ballmer.
Microsoft is 1/10th the company since Baldmer took over.
OMG
Submitted by Xylogeist on Wed, 10/07/2009 - 7:06am
I have no problem with ingame advertising as long as it isnt that lying sham Obama >_> Damn you max pc! You just HAD to put that lying, theiving, socialist POS in your magazine...
I really don't mind in game
Submitted by vistageek on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 5:23pm
I really don't mind in game advertising, however, the amount in burnout paradise was just a little over the top. Just a little less and it is ok. And only put it where it is really realistic.
Submitted by Morete on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 5:13pm
The cost to pay salaries for more coders to put advertisements in the game, extra server space and cost to constantly maintain and change the advertisements are actually going to drive up costs. Investors of game developers and publishers are not going to cut their throats by taking the gamble of increased revenue with adding adverts to their source code and then give the paying customers a discount. Corporations and investors are in business to make money, and drive up profits as quickly as possible. As long as there are the masses of sheeple to continue patronizing their products, they will buy low and sell high.
If your preferred FPS game has adverts and it is upsetting enough that you don't want to play it, then what is the alternative? There is none. Play a second-rate game or not play at all. They have us over a barrel. Boycotting a game is the only option, but in mass, that will never happen.
Submitted by Vegan on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 3:31pm
“Imagine playing a Major League Baseball
game with no ads behind home plate, next to the scoreboard or on the
outfield wall"Wait, that actually sounds pretty awesome. I want THAT reality.
Saying it adds to the realism is a cop-out. This was our one chance at experiencing sports, racing, etc. WITHOUT all that crap.
agreed
Submitted by mps725 on Wed, 10/07/2009 - 4:11am
Behold an imaginary world!! where you get to see all the advertisements you hate to see in real life that clog our streets, litter our sports stadiums, and degrade the pleasure of TV and other media outlets. Now imagine that world with UP TO DATE ADS THAT FLASH IN YOUR FACE!!!! This is truly a blessing folks, NOW we can see ads for toothpaste and tampons WHILE we play video games. You can all thank me later! No really, it's no trouble at all.
The ads ok with me, if the price comes down
Submitted by zeringue on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 1:14pm
If they lower the price of the game why not a few in game ads that appear real and dont stop the game play.
Yea... it'll lower the cost
Submitted by chaosdsm on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 5:00pm
Yea... it'll lower the cost of games the same exact way that the switch to the mini-box reduced the cost of games thanks to the reduction in packaging costs... oh wait... they lied to us about that too...
Submitted by Vegan on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 3:32pm
You think you're gonna get a price cut, that's cute. Your cable bill says hi.
Submitted by rjzdanis on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 1:44pm
So far most of those posting comments seem to be in favor of the ads. I'd like to understand why. When I'm watching a show on TV I rarely favor the commercials over the show. Sure, any given Super Bowl might be an exception but for the most part I'd much rather skip the commercials and get back to the story. It's one of the reasons TiVo is popular. It's one of the reasons cable is popular. It's one of the reasons renting an entire series from Netflix or Blockbuster is popular.
If you're gaming, are you really going to stop what you're doing to watch the ad? It it's a FPS game, you're not. And even if you're not fragging, what is it you find appealing about the ad? Believe me, it's unlikely that these will be Super Bowl type ads. A couple of you mentioned that it may help defer costs. If that's true, I can't argue with that. But I wonder about this. Will producers take the ad revenue and help subsidize the gaming costs and lower the selling price? Or will they adopt the business model that most movie theatres employ? Think about what a movie ticket used to cost 5-10 years ago and how many non-trailer ads they showed. They're definitely showing more ads now (at least in my town) and guess what, a movie ticket costs much more than what is warranted by the effects of inflation.
contex
Submitted by nekollx on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 4:04pm
check the contex
flyingthrough Paragon City and see a add for BugerKing= good
Slaying the Pizza Hut dragon in Norath with the Pepsi Sword = bad
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Submitted by Vegan on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 4:39pm
"flyingthrough Paragon City and see a add for BugerKing= good"
No, it does not equal good. They're welcome to make fake billboards, that's fine.
Submitted by Rob86 on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 1:51pm
well one way to look at it is an ad during a tv show means a break in the show an in game ad wouldn't (shouldn't) interrupt the flow of the game, if they made me take a break to watch an ad i would delete it but as long as its non intrusive to the game play then it wouldn't bother me any.
Submitted by Rob86 on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 1:00pm
i see no reason why this is a bad thing as long as it doesn't affect game performance in any way, including my ping times :)
Submitted by Balgaroo on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 12:43pm
Its funny because I've always hated anything that deals with adds because they have always been a distraction. Such as popups, new pages opening, really loud voices yelling at you, but if they can intertwine the commercials into the background and make them look like part of the game then I'm fine with it and yes I do believe it enhances the realism of some game.
They could even take it one step further and put local commercials in the fake radio stations such as GTA. You know "come on down to Tobey's bar after your drive around the city and check out the ass here". They would have to have a lot of control on what would be allowed to be in the game, again not to distract from the world but I think it would be awesome.
Yeah, I'm not too sure I
Submitted by I Jedi on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 12:19pm
Yeah, I'm not too sure I want to cough up the extra bandwidth required to load each individual ad in game. It adds to the realism, I agree, but if I'm running on a cap per month limit, then I don't want to give the extra packets away to advertisements. I would only be comfortable with in-game ads if the servers I were playing on didn't cost me any money to play on. Hopefully, the servers I play on aren't feeding the ads directly, and instead the ads are directed through some site that my host file blocks...
Submitted by rjzdanis on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 12:09pm
Don't tell me that most gamers like advertising because it enhances realism in their games. Seriously. I can understand an Epic, AMD or Nvidia logo here and there but not because it enhances my gaming experience. I accept it because I've rationalized that these three and a few others have either directly or indirectly made playing possible and in fact enhanced my gaming experience.
Advertising of anything unrelated to the game, however, has nothing to do with improving the game or making it more realistic. In my opinion it does exactly the opposite and detracts from enjoyable game play. Simply put, I don't want advertising in my games. If I want advertising, I'll turn on the TV, read a magazine or ride the bus.
Tell me you're inserting advertising in the game I've purchased because it's an additional revenue source and it adds to Microsoft's bottom line. I may not like it and if so, I'll vote with my wallet. But don't tell me it enhances my gaming experience.
Hey JJ - if you truly believe your research, here's a challenge for you...get Microsoft to sell two versions of the same game; one with and one without advertising. Sell them for the same price and label the game's packaging so the buyer knows what he/she is buying. Let's see which sells better and holler back clown.
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Submitted by nekollx on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 12:18pm
so your playing Need For Speed 4,234,232, and 8. Your cruising down the city. Would you prefer no billboards, fake billboards (and the resources the company has to divert to make fake ads) or real ones (that give revenu tothe company?)
Option 2 and 3 are fine by me.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Right on. Who cares if you
Submitted by lunchbox73 on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 2:06pm
Right on. Who cares if you drive past a real ad? It's not a bad thing. Now, if the game paused for 30 seconds to show a commercial with no way to skip then yeah - bad thing.
Submitted by powerman123 on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 12:59pm
exactly, i'm like playing need for speed most wanted and i see a burger king, it does realism
maybe instead of ads, they
Submitted by bingojubes on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 3:54pm
maybe instead of ads, they can add pedestrians to the NFS series. racing on empty streets is boring. i don't mind the ads - i don't usually look around much, and focus too much on the game to notice. at least they are not wanting to advertise on a ad ticker at the bottom of cutscenes...then they would have gone too far.
Submitted by chaosdsm on Tue, 10/06/2009 - 5:02pm
Oh sure, just give them ideas why don't you...
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