Advertisers are expected to quintuple the amount spent placing ads in video games over the next five years. Beyond mere brand placement, consoles with an internet connection are capable of displaying dynamic billboards that can advertise The Simpsons Movie today, and The Simpsons Movie Sequel: The Return Of Spider Pig, in two years. From the LA Times:
The player’s ability to don, kick, toss or use products is part of the appeal. In “Super Monkey Ball,” players try to get their monkey characters to collect Dole-branded bananas. And in “Tony Hawk’s Project 8,” players use Nokia phones.
After the jump, tell us whether you greet ads in video games with skepticism and disdain, or appreciate them as a dose of reality in an otherwise virtual world.
For advertisers, they’re not just games [LA Times]
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If, instead of paying for the game, I can see ads instead, I’d go for that.
If I’ve paid for the game, the ads had better be really really good. But the vast majority of the time, ads suck.
So I’ll play my games, sniff my network connections, and make some new firewall rules to block some more gawddamned advertising.
I wonder if anyone will figure out how to replace the vendor intended ads with graphcs from the users system (the internet is for p0rn!) Maybe we could go for a few ads after all.
As other posters have said, if the ads bring down the price of the game in a meaningful way (IE its free or we get some kind of credit ect ect) then great. But watch what happens, the price of the games goes up, and then they shove a bunch of ads in your face.
Kinda makes ya wanna pirate some games, huh?
Spider-pig, Spider-pig..does whatever a spider-pig does…Oh, and no, I’ve had enough of seeing ads everywhere, especially if it’s in something I’ve bought. I don’t want to pay good money for something only to find out I have to watch an annoying barrage of ads/previews/whatever. If it was free or ad-supported, that’s different..but otherwise forget it.
I don’t mind brand placement being used in games as long as it makes sense. In Crazy Taxi, the fares might ask you to take them to KFC or Taco Bell or other real-life businesses. Okay, fine, that makes sense. As long as they appear where one would expect to see them (billboards, sports fields, ect) I’m fine with that.
Most games branded with actual products usually aren’t very good, so that takes care of itself.
But COMMERCIALS being put into games? That dog won’t hunt.
I like Fight Night on PS3, but the sheer amount of shameless advertising bothers the hell outta me! I mean this is a $60 freaking dollar game we’re talking about here, not some discounted $14.99 game! It is freaking annoying to have to hear “This knockout brought to you by Burger King” every time I knock out someone (which is a lot). I can knock someone out 5 times in one fight and I’m playing career mode of for the second time now (add that up in your head and tell me if you wouldn’t be annoyed as hell after hearing that that many times disrupting your gameplay). They also have the BK guy as a trainer (WTF?), ads placed EVERYWHERE (boxing ring floor, light shows in audience, banners every which way), and did I mention some of the REQUIRED fights are sponsered fights where they have digital representations of a stupid Chevy car or some EA Sports crap?
What has all this made me decide? I’m not buying the next game of Fight Night even though I love the game. The advertising is just BEYOND intrusive. It disrupts my gameplay, takes away from my enjoyment of the game, and it’s just flat out annoying. Fight Night Round 3 will be the last Fight Night I buy unless they get their act together. If other games do similar things to this game, I’m just not going to buy them, plain and simple. I don’t care how good the game is, especially if they think they can get away with selling it to me full price. A-holes.
Something tells me that the ads won’t make the video games cheaper. So no, I don’t like the idea at all.
I think Ad’s are a eventual happening to video games and pc games, but personally i dont support them nor care to think what some company spews out during a ingame session to some lame product, i may be above the much “valued” age range demographic (just turned 32 today), but i know how much an annoyance inbased web ads become with ones that follow you when you scroll a screen or launch audio the minute you on accident scroll a tenth of a pixel of the banner etc, i just know they are an intrusion and just a lamer way of companies jumping on the bandwagon of video games and youth when they had their chance years and decades ago to do something, and i know for a fact that free games or free download stuff that are sponsered by an ad does not translate into better quality games or applications etc, because most companies have that mentality that if they do the project half or quarter assed for the free stuff that they dont “Really” have to give the customer squat for what they get, i could name tons of apps and games that really are trash bin material when they are ported to the free realm with those 30 minute uninterruptable non scroll the message ad for something i dont intend to buy or even remotely care about ever.
dont mind my rant about this from a old man but ive played video games since atari 2600 and ive seen alot in my years haha, but i guess its the truth that even when you get to the next generation of gaming that will be online for even the single player, that to sadly expect that advertisement for wal-mart, lets just hope to any god out there that they dont by accident advertise those nazi t-shirts that they were “supposed” to ban.
In a sports game, ads are okay. Any other game, probably not. If companies are going to be making a lot of money off of thee ads though, I don’t want to keep paying $60 for a new 360 or PS3 game.
Heh, all this talking reminds me of a rumor i heard about the Duff beer (i know, it’s from the Simpsons cartoon, but it’s fictional, and it has fictional advertising). Well apparently, Mr. Groening didn’t copyright the beer, so someone in Jalisco (México), actually made the real life version of the Duff, freaking genius, it’s still selling or so i heard, the guy is gonna get rich with the freaking free advertising of the simpsons MOVIE.
Ok confirmed, just google for it, it will appear on spanish tho.
@SurrenderMonkey: Agreed. =)
What about Sneak King and Pocket Bike Racer?