In-Game Ads Are Effective, So Get Ready For More

[Generic_Dave]

Yeah, I remember going out after playing GTA IV and drinking Pißwasser for months afterwards. I dunno, I think in games like EA Sports titles it okay , I mean as a Sports Sim they want to replicate the "experience". But if I start seeing ads for coke on Pandora in Boarderlands 2, or for McDonald's in Dragon Age...I'm not convinced that this is a good idea...besides the fact that I'm almost okay with in game promotion done in the product placement way, putting actual ads in a game is just not on. I mean, what we get to watch the same (probably innane) 30second ads every time we hit a loading screen?

Ad's are supposed to pay for the purchase of shows and air time that are generally free to air (or based on a fairly low monthly subscription). We don't get ads on DVD's and movies anymore, for precisely this reason. I might draw a line at advertising other games or putting them in a specific area where you choose to watch them, but lets be honest, that's not what we are talking about here.

 

[Traun]

Fuck that shit. I bet in-game ads are only possible in games that deal with the present. Our time. I can't imagine an epic Sci-fi franchise like Mass Effect to incorperate real ads anytime soon. It wouldn't add up and ruin leh immersion.

You don't think Coca-Cola would be successful in the 22 century? You don't think Shepard can't use the latest Apple product? You think IBM is not manufacturing Geths(of the highest quality)?

Think again.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

If In-Game Advertising permeates other games set in fantastical locales (IE: Reach, The Capital Wasteland, etc.), I will fucking lose it.

 

[JIst00]

This has been going on for a loooong time, I remember ad's in C.S games, from Alienware Laptops to the lastest James Bond film. These we're just posters on a wall, didnt detract from the game, were easily ignored, but I'm sure they did their job.

I dont have a problem with it tbh, product placement is everywhere n the media, so why should games be any different. As long as it doesnt detract from the game, then far enough.

 

[Jared]

Well, its like advertising anywhere, always work to some extent - Helps gamers already like the product though...

 

[Pist0l 07]

Skate 2 does this well with the Dr. Pepper vending machines. However, the moment games make them invincible ads, like Pepsi in Bionic Commando or that Dodge car in Rainbow Six: Vegas, it becomes terrible. I understand they doen't want their product associated with guns and violence but the moment it breaks the immersion I hate it more for that.

 

[Traun]

You should.

Who needs Coca-Cola? We got amazing Krogan drinks. Why use Apple? They have Omni-tools, we all know the best Omni-tools are produced by the Asari.

Geth aren't manufactured by humanoids, but by Quarians. As an AI, they evolved and create their own weaponary and units. I don't see your point even still because adding present day companies into some epic sci-fi universe doesn't compute. It would be a horrible mistake to include anything from real companies in such games like Mass Effect. It detracts from the realism and the universe I am soaked in.

You don't see a joke when it's in front of you, do you? Also, Mass Effect already have in-game advertisement - http://www.gamingbits.com/general-gaming-news-bits/mass-effect-2-enhancements-prescribed-by-dr-pepper/

And anyway, we all KNOW that Geth run on IBM chips, smarter minds for smarter race.

 

[pneuma08]

I remain a bit dubious. Ads and sports have co-existed for a long time now, and - as was pointed out by several above me - taking out the ads (or the Gatorade) from sports games actually makes the experiences less akin to real life, Gatorade especially. That said, secondhand evidence along the order of Modern Warfare and obscure guns seems to jive well with this evidence. Maybe adverts in games work best when people don't realize that they're adverts, or when they add to the experience (or both).

Anyway, I don't have any real problem with in-game adverts, but that's largely due to my stance on out-of-game adverts. I just don't really care about their existence, as they're easily ignorable at worst and largely informative at best. (Well, they can be pandering at worst, see: BP, but I'm not sure that was really an advert and not just PR, but I digress.) They aren't "cramming" anything "down our throats" because we still have to make a decision, and then go and execute that decision.

Besides, anything that lessens publishers' financial investment in a title is probably a good thing for the industry.

Eh. I'm fine with it in Alan Wake. What I don't like is the stuff like is stuff the giant billboard ads all over Prototype. Hell, some of them were just painted on walls.

Alan Wake has giant billboard ads all over the place. I haven't played Prototype, but I don't understand your distinction.

Fuck that shit. I bet in-game ads are only possible in games that deal with the present. Our time. I can't imagine an epic Sci-fi franchise like Mass Effect to incorperate real ads anytime soon. It wouldn't add up and ruin leh immersion.

I could imagine Apple branded Omni-tools (an iTool? hah, that's probably too much, although it would make a good joke) and something like a "Colt Excalibur A2, the latest in compact military assault technology", to cut from whole cloth. The fact is that they make up a dozen companies to brand their things anyway, mixing one or two real, current companies wouldn't be too far-fetched. (Honestly, it would be the harder to fit ads into a historical setting, unless they were vintage time-period ads.) Although to be fair, none of those are "real" ads, as you so put it.

Granted, it might ruin the immersion for some folks, but then again it might ruin the immersion for some folks even tastefully done in a modern setting.

Also: the Krogan drink things that can kill a man. I'd prefer a Coke for my delicate human sensibilities, thanks.

I guess we can thank gamestop for this. Horray for customers being punished because retailers are sucking up oceans of income that should go directly to people who matter.

I fail to follow your logic. If a publisher had a magic wand to make Gamestop and all other secondhand retailers not exist and they would use it to get more money, there would be no reason for them to stop in-game adverts because they would make even more money.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Eh. I'm fine with it in Alan Wake. What I don't like is the stuff like is stuff the giant billboard ads all over Prototype. Hell, some of them were just painted on walls.

Alan Wake has giant billboard ads all over the place. I haven't played Prototype, but I don't understand your distinction.

It's more because Prototype is open world. So, you see a shit ton more of them. Alan Wake had a few, but literally every single block was littered with ads. From "Hollywood Video" stores on the side of the street, to wall mural or whatever Gamestop ads, to the actual billboards.

Probably left more of an impression on me.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

I fail to follow your logic. If a publisher had a magic wand to make Gamestop and all other secondhand retailers not exist and they would use it to get more money, there would be no reason for them to stop in-game adverts because they would make even more money.

Yea yea yea, all capitalistic entities are inherantly evil and only want your monies!!

But the choice to include ingame advertisements was a judgement call between pissing people off and getting even pennies indirectly from the sale of used games.

Its a concept similar to how car manufacturers work. They know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that cars that are driven will need maintenance/repair. So whether they're being sold new or not, they're still getting a steady stream of income the very fact their cars exist.

Publishers know games will be played. Copies that transfer ownership will be played more than ones that aren't. Thus, ingame ads.

On the other hand, if they weren't being raped by used sales, with retailers pocketing all the proceeds from selling other people's ideas, the "pissing people off" factor of the choice would hold more weight. Because, right now, if people like you (the publisher), they buy used thinking they're supporting the industry. If they don't like you, they pirate, knowing they aren't supporting the industry.

 

[AngryMongoose]

I'm up for it. Cheaper or higher budget games right? Right?


Fuck these guys!

 

[thedoclc]

I'm oddly for it. Inflation has been higher than the price of games so games now are cheaper than back in the Atari days (accounting for inflation). Yet development times and budgets are massive. Charging $60 USD or [[insert local currency here]] year after year is great for the consumer, as inflation lowers the -real- price as the nominal price stays the same, year after year. If publishers can have another revenue stream, it'll put off the day they raise prices again.

 

[pneuma08]

-snip-

Your argument linking retail and in-game adverts is spurious and speculative, not to mention oversimplified. I have no desire to continue this line of discussion. Good day.

 

[civver]

I wonder if it works for other products. What may work for sports drinks may not necessarily work for sports shoes, to take one example.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

-snip-

Your argument linking retail and in-game adverts is spurious and speculative, not to mention oversimplified. I have no desire to continue this line of discussion. Good day.

... Yes, because "games will be played, therefor we can charge decent amounts for advertising" isn't exactly how advertising works.

Excise thine head from thine anus.

 

[Queen Michael]

I want in-game ads where they make sense. If my character is drinking soda, I want it to be real-life soda. If they're driving a car, I want it to be a real-life car.
And so on.

 

[Zenn3k]

Really??

I can't say I've ever honestly purchased anything I saw from an in-game ad, or ever had an in-game ad make me think "wow, I think I want that product". I have pretty much trained my brain to ignore 99% of the advertising I see on a daily basis, the other 1% I get annoyed with and vow to never purchase.

 

[Racecarlock]

Frankly as long as they don't put pop up video ads in games i'll be fine. Or loading screen ads. Besides, I can see how gatorade would work in mass effect. "Try new gatorade proton charge! Also new laser blast. Warning: May cause head melting syndrome in humans.". As long as they fit in with the environment, it wouldn't be horrible. Besides, no in game ad is worse than "Marcus PSP" on TV. Just let the damn people play games on their phone, asshole.