Commercials in games

[renegade7]

This is just an idea I'm playing with. Basically I am sick and fucking tired of all this god damn anti-piracy law stuff that means that corporation can basically do anything to make you pay except provide an experience good enough to pay for.

So I had an idea, instead of paying for the game up front, maybe use product placement or advertisements. Instead of loading screens, maybe they could sneak in a 20 second advertisement or something. Or just replace in-game items with real world products. Yes, commercials are annoying on TV but they must be better than the current system of "You pay or we sue you for more money than you'll likely ever see in your whole life and throw your entire family in jail and eat your pets". The players get the games for free and the developers still get their cut.

Would that work?

 

[Dimitriov]

I have thought of this before. Thing is for some games it would be fine: for example in a modern FPS I would have no problem seeing Coke ads... but in a lot of games it would completely ruin the experience.

What would they advertise during Skyrim for example?

 

[emeraldrafael]

I think some games actually do something liek this (with subtle product placement) but then you have the issue of do you want your product associated with that type of game.

Lets look at grand theft auto for example. Lets say RC Cola (lets see who actually knows what this is) decides to sponsor it. Now everytime GTA gets dragged through the mud, they get thier name dragged to, cause they sponsor the game.

EDIT:

I have thought of this before. Thing is for some games it would be fine: for example in a modern FPS I would have no problem seeing Coke ads... but in a lot of games it would completely ruin the experience.

What would they advertise during Skyrim for example?

maybe some sorta leather working group?

 

[Hal10k]

It would be a fantastic idea in games that are ostensibly set in the real world. The advertisements would have to be carefully selected to fit the region that the game was set in, but otherwise, as long as they stay in the background they might actually increase immersion, seeing as we're constanty bombraded with advertisements anyway.

Then again, it wouldn't be such a good idea in non-real world settings. It might seem a tad incongrous to see Commander Shepard break away from a firefight to enjoy a refreshing Coca-Cola.

 

[Epona]

This is just an idea I'm playing with. Basically I am sick and fucking tired of all this god damn anti-piracy law stuff that means that corporation can basically do anything to make you pay except provide an experience good enough to pay for.

So I had an idea, instead of paying for the game up front, maybe use product placement or advertisements. Instead of loading screens, maybe they could sneak in a 20 second advertisement or something. Or just replace in-game items with real world products. Yes, commercials are annoying on TV but they must be better than the current system of "You pay or we sue you for more money than you'll likely ever see in your whole life and throw your entire family in jail and eat your pets". The players get the games for free and the developers still get their cut.

Would that work?

A little behind aren't you? The problem is that ads will creep into games that you paid full price for, they already have.

 

[Racecarlock]

If they use this idea I will internet punch you in the face. I am not going to pay sixty fucking dollars for a package of advertisements. You'd have to be out of your mind. I'm not going to pay for adware. And you know they would take it too far. The game industry has so far had no problem taking money and then taking away games, making commercials that label us all as fat basement loners with no girlfriends, making games that have female characters whose only role is to serve as an in game version of playboy, making digital distribution services that scan your whole computer, and withholding content that comes with a game until you pay an extra 10 dollars to unlock it. Mark my words, if they start doing this, there is NO length to where they won't go to earn even more money. Soon, you'd be getting unskippable advertisements on every loading screen that wouldn't even stop when the loading was finished, and also you'd get an unskippable advertisement every 5 minutes even without a loading sequence there. They'd put them there just because they could.

 

[Zaltias]

I think there is potential for ads in the background to work in games. As long as it doesn't bombard you while you're playing.

Then again, it wouldn't be such a good idea in non-real world settings. It might seem a tad incongrous to see Commander Shepard break away from a firefight to enjoy a refreshing Coca-Cola.

I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favourite Soft Drink on the Citadel

 

[renegade7]

If they use this idea I will internet punch you in the face. I am not going to pay sixty fucking dollars for a package of advertisements. You'd have to be out of your mind. I'm not going to pay for adware. And you know they would take it too far. The game industry has so far had no problem taking money and then taking away games, making commercials that label us all as fat basement loners with no girlfriends, making games that have female characters whose only role is to serve as an in game version of playboy, making digital distribution services that scan your whole computer, and withholding content that comes with a game until you pay an extra 10 dollars to unlock it. Mark my words, if they start doing this, there is NO length to where they won't go to earn even more money. Soon, you'd be getting unskippable advertisements on every loading screen that wouldn't even stop when the loading was finished, and also you'd get an unskippable advertisement every 5 minutes even without a loading sequence there. They'd put them there just because they could.

The exact opposite. I mean the games would be free, if downloaded, or if purchased in physical medium cost only enough to manufacture the CD and ship it to the store. Plus, it gets rid of all the trouble companies go to to prevent piracy, which granted IS wrong but the methods to prevent it are not well implemented. After all, if the money comes from ads, then there is no need to sell it. And of course they'd try to take it too far, and you know what? People wouldn't buy the game if they did. And I mean like small things, like maybe replacing a loading screen with an ad flyer, for instance. I'm not saying devs SHOULD do it all the time, I'm just considering the possibility, and it does have pros and cons, just like the current system. I'm not saying they should use ads as a way to get MORE money, I'm saying they could consider using games to generate advertisement revenue rather than sales revenue. Plus, don't you pay for internet service? There are ads all over the place on the internet, and you don't seem to mind, because you're here posting.

 

[Weaver]

Games already do all of those things.

Ragnarok Online, which came out in 2002 was an MMO that put in advertisements between loading maps.

I've seen numerous games use real world brands in their games. The earliest recollection was probably Crazy Taxi in 1999. For instance, you would have to drop someone off at a Pizza Hut. Hell, play any of the new need for speed games; they're basically just a collection of advertisements with a driving mechanic.

I remember playing Battlefield 2142 (yes, the one set in the future) and there were advertisements for the new Ghost Rider Movie at the time. Also, one day a bunch of shipping containers were one day branded with the Intel logo.

For games that are revenue supported; battlefield heroes was one of those.

 

[dimensional]

didnt they do this with pepsi man a while ago sort of like a joke game that was free but obviously is just plugging their product? apparently it wasnt completely awful either obviously very tongue in cheek and not great but if its free who cares.

I wouldnt like to see it get into (proper) games though at least not obtrusively as one of the main reasons I stopped watching tv was because the annoyance of adverts outweighed the pleasure of watching shows.

 

[dickywebster]

Maybe not a bad idea, depends how its done, but theres some games that you would be hard pressed to find anything to advertise in that doesnt just ruin the game, like fantasy games for example.

 

[Jamash]

The only games you'd get for free because of advertising revenues would be like Doritos Crash Course, not AAA titles.

A major problem with this proposed scheme is that the average gamer isn't in a position of buying power to make free-to-play, advertising funded AAA titles worthwhile.

Also the amount of adverts you'd need to be subjected to in order to get a free AAA title would be ludicrous, each gamer would probably need to be subjected to 4 hours of uninterrupted adverts a day in order to cover the development costs of good game.

Games wouldn't be games any more, they'd be barely interactive advertising bombardments that most people wouldn't want to "play" even if they were free.

Besides, this practice already happens, but the advertising revenue goes towards offsetting the cost of development, not bribing gamers into considering a product... a product that they probably couldn't afford anyway, or wouldn't buy because it's not worth their dollars at full price... but they might consider buying it pre-owned or in a sale.

 

[teqrevisited]

Billboards: fine. Short clips running on monitors in the background somewhere: fine. Radio adverts going on in the background: fine.

As soon as they start taking time out of the game to shove adverts down their consumers' throats they've gone too far (If an advert takes place on a loading screen, it's a reasonable compromise). I could see that if they did that then piracy would go up because people would have another excuse, or they would find people to mod the adverts out of their game.

I mean seriously, if I'm ever playing a game and suddenly a ridiculous looking man jumps out from a bush and starts yelling GO COMPARE at me... someone will get hurt.