News Microsoft makes move towards in-game advertising

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/05/05/microsoft_buys_massive_-_in_game_adverts/

 

I knew it was comming en-mass but this is horrible horrible news. I really dont want to see bill-boards in my games with adverts on (Planetside already does this and its irritating).

I guess though say interting a can of Coke into the game would be so bad so long as it suits the game. I could see something like that sitting quite well in the Office map on CS: S for example.

 

I think as long as its done tactfully and fits in with the game environment then in game advertising will only add to the experience. I mean, in GRAW there are at least a few Nokia adverts placed around - I didn't think it detracted from the experience at all, maybe even enhanced it! Adverts are a regular part of our experiences after all.

 

can only make the games more realistic surely.. especially if they can change!
does this mean in c/s we likely to see lots of monitors with blue screens of death?

lol

 

Much respect to Robbie if he pulls that off sucessfully, unlike Unisoft with Splinter Cell 3

 

yeah that was so humorous but sad at the same time.

 

I would want games to cost a hell of a lot less if they've got adverts in them, I really don't like being the target of subliminal advertising. Hopefully some enterprising people will crack the games.

 

Say the generic drinks cans in a shooter like HL being replaced with pepsi or coca cola or whatever, wouldn't bother me at all, on the other hand billboards all over the place showing ads unrelated to the game would probably be a good reason not to buy the game in question.

Worst case is probably this ?

 

If I buy a game and find that the advertising in it bothers me then I uninstall it straight away for a refund. I refuse to pay to for adverts... If they wanna advertise, fine as long as the game is FREE.

 

What about when you buy a magazine, newspaper or even go to watch a film? What about product placement in TV series (it's another form of advertising)?

 

So they will update them when they feel like it at any time. Are they going to pay me for the bandwidth they are using that I pay for to send me ads I dont want???

Regardless how little bandwidth it will use, it all mounts up and I dont want my game flashing up connection error while its downloading new ads while im playing. Especially if microsoft have anything to do with it, my game will just lagg like hell.

This has a name........er whats it called again??......ah yes, spyware and spam.

 

FWIW, I'm all for this if Robbie Bach's team sticks to his intentions - more funds for game developers should ultimately mean better, more immersive games.

 

they'll always be patches to remove ads, just as there r to remove intro ads from virtually every game under the sun, i dont see it being a problem.

 

So long as it's done in game ala product placement and done with taste then I don't mind. But if it's gonna be flying around the screen like some kinda pop up add then it could mean the end of tasteful gaming if their was ever any.
The big issue is how much will developers count on this revenue, very much like product placement in films the more you begin to rely on that as a source of revenue the more rediculous it becomes. It's like Hollywood films vs HK films, hollywood has product placement just like HK but since box office comes before advertising revenue it's always done in a very subtle manner, while HK has virtually no box office and has become almost entirely ad placement driven you get 1 minute watch inserts and other disgustingly obviouse product placement. So at the end of the it all depends on how well you place the ads, who can argue that Ridley Scott's Geisha Coke billboard in Blade Runner was not the most artistically done product placement in the history of cinema.
Lets hope the in game ads are given to the games creators and not the suits.

 

I avoid any product or company that features or uses tasteless advertising. If it's fitting, I can deal with it, but I tend to only buy products that sell themselves. A couple of henchmen in SC:CT talking about how good the new Prince of Persia game is plus the screensavers advertising upcoming games and movies was so completely out of place, and was the only thing that I really hated about the gameplay.

Knowing how Microsoft's advertising methods work, I'd say this won't work out favorably for anyone, lest of all anyone who thinks along my lines of "good ads are neutral, bad ads work against you".

 

I know a guy who operates just like that, only without the money. Quite simply, he views any game that has adverts as "ad-supported" and gets it for free. So GRAW, he'll happily download and enjoy, knowing that its paid for by his eyes on those nokia and GM adverts.

It's a thing I quite agree with. While theres a dubious moral arguement for downloading games without adverts, I don't any moral reason for not downloading games with adverts. I guess the game devs should decide, do they want ad money, or punters money. In a world where the consumers have all the power(through the ability to not pay for anything they don't think is deserving of money) they're going to have to pick one, or suffer.

It'll be against the EULA though won't it? That's the thing, if you're going to break the law like that, why not just get it for free? It seems to me that all they're going to do here is piss off more and more people.

 

yea, that would be cool, you can put ads in my games IF i can get them for free or realy cheap.

 

i will happily support them if they are well placed and the games only cost a small price to get the cd and are downloadable for free. Advertisising will bring in more then enough profit to compensate. Also, more people will be able to get the games which will further increase advertising revenue. However, charging normal price for a game that has advertising is both absurd and greedy.

For MMORPGs, such as cov and coh, i would highly suppport advertising if it made the monthly fees substantually lower

 

Is it just me that suspects the result of advertising in game won't be lower priced games or increased investment, but higher profits for the companies?

 

Specof is there any moment when you're not shamelessly pimping piracy, it's almost like it's your full time job. Specof the piracy pimper.
On a side note,when you download a game like GRAW you're only enjoying half of it, cause you still can't play ONLINE. Unless you can magically make genuine online keys pop outta thin air some games still require monehhh for online fun. So you're buddy will only be enjoying his free ad supported game by himself so sad.