Midway jumps on the in-game ad bandwagon

Game shopping is becoming really easy.

walk in
walk past anything with EA on
walk past anything with Midway on
walk past anything with Shiny on
walk past anything with Take2 on
walk past anything at the front of the shop

ummmm...

Thanks greedy game companies but I think I'll take my games Steam(ed) from now on.

While I am against the idea of in game ads, I do the like the idea of games being cheaper.

Please make it tasteful and minimal... if you go all crazy and ruin games so we are overwhelmed with your ads, not only will I boycott the product being advertised but I will also stop buying the developers' games.

"I have a bad feeling about this"

Eh, as long as it's small. As in, seeing a Starbucks on the corner of the street in GTA or something.

"Theoretically, these developments should also lead to price drops in the retail market—theoretically."

BS! Never gonna happen. They are just finding newer ways of ripping us off, pure and smiple.

"1. While I am against the idea of in game ads, I do the like the idea of games being cheaper."


At what "price"? How long before your online game stops and video ads start streaming?

I too have a bad feeling about this, first Valve sells out now Midway...

Advertising has reached every part of our society today. Gaming is one of the few places where you can disconnect from the real world, and now they're trying to capitalize every part of it.

Pathetic. This is the kind of s**t that could make me quit games for ever.

It didn't make the price of movie tickets go down when they started putting all those crappy car and soft drink commercials before the previews.

I don't know about it changing the street value of the games, but it will help developers pay for making their games, which, in theory, means that a better game can be produced with the said extra revenues. I mean, how many games start off amazing, then seem to just drop after the half way point? It's entirely feasible that these problems are caused by the production of the game being to costly and eating up their profits, thus they have to drop a couple people from the team or they have to find a way to make up for it so that the game can at least be completed.

I'm not 100% full on board for in-game advertising, but if someone is there to make the ads look organic, like on a billboard or a cornerstore, hell, even in loading screens, maybe there's a newspaper on a desk that overviews a story fomr the mission you just completed before and there's a starbucks cup or a subway sammich or something, as long as it's not obtrusive to my gaming experience and it betters the games, I'm down. If I do see a price cut on the games then hell yeah I'll be happy, if not, then I'll just hope that that money is being put back into creating the games and making sure the said games are more complete and, well, fun.

I am not going to buy or play anything with ads in it, period. As Jaemz and Armin said, I too have a bad feeling about this.

Also, this won't cut costs of games down, they will make up some BS about how the ad money helped support rising development costs, that is why games are still the same price. At best, they might lower the price down just enough to say that the ads did lower the price of video games.

If this does go mainstream and I have no option to not have ads, the gaming industry will have lost yet another 'gamer'.

Hopefully, one of the console developers, probably Nintendo since they CAN make their OWN games w/o Ads, will stand up against BS like this and keep gaming to gaming only w/o all the BS marketing.

I like going to the Movies, and I end up sitting through 10 minutes of commericals, so far ticket prices haven't gotten any cheaper. Your game isn't going to get any cheaper. It just another method for them to generate more revenue. Trust me they want the max price the public is willing to pay...

"Theoretically, these developments should also lead to price drops in the retail market—theoretically."

Nice sugar coating BS... There's no way that it would happen...

I want ads that make the game more realistic. I have no issue with someone drinking a Pepsi vs drinking a cola.

I do not like dodge lights flying around my ALi vs Frazier fight...or having the BK king as my trainer.

Done right this enhances realism and improves games, while reducing out of pocket dev costs....but WOW talk about a potential disaster area. I see things going for the worse.

I agree with a few people up there. If it remains in the background, i think it can actually add to the game experince. I remember when Crazy Taxi came out 6 years ago, and how cool it was to pick someone up at a KFC. Or how Goofy Ridge City (Ridge Racer) looks where all the bilboards they have are for Soul Calibur. WHen you are populating a world to be more faux real, advertisments and tie-ins exsist. But with fictional companies made to mimmic real companies. Why not be able to have the real company in the game.

As long as there is Creative use of the product, like they do in movies. I mean, every time you see a character drink a pepsi, that's advertising. If it get's as far as the loading screens, it's too far.

If I see a McDonalds logo in a Mortal Kombat game.. that's too far. But if it's a gritty urban game, and theres a bilboard or poster on the wall for BK or something.. that's coo..

I wish it were true but I really don't think product placement is going to lead to price drops. If anything this will level the PAYing field for most game developers.

Game ads are not the end of the world. Not always.
I mean, I keep saying it, but some games do it well. Go play Def Jam FFNY. Lots of ads, but they're all subtle and tucked away. None take much screen real estate, and none are on the screen for much of the time. The subway level has room for three ads. The middle one, which is on the screen at all times, is blank. The two side ones, each on the screen maybe 20% of the time, have ads. It isn't obtrusive. In another area there's a Stuff magazine ad, with one of the characters on it, which you see only during a menu transition (it is there fore about two seconds befoe a menu covers it.)

These ads do not detract and actually ad to the game. They're smartly placed.


I'm thinking more companies won't be able to restrain themselves as well, but you never know, Def Jam was EA.

As for lower prices... never.
But hopefully increased quality.

its gonna be ok kids, a little ad here and there never hurt no body. Let the Devs make some money. I'm guess that nobody here knows 1/10th of what they are talking about, including me.

If tastefully implemented, i really have no problem with in-game ads. In fact, i think i actually like the idea in certain types of games (ad panels in sports stadiums, billboards in racing games, etc) it could actually make games more immersive, more lifelike.

if advertising brings the price of games down, that's doublely good.

but if Shadow of the Colossus 2 has Red Bull ads in it, i'm going to have to cry foul.

That Pic is Hilarious!

Expect ads to work their way into pretty much every game as this becomes popularized. Don't expect the prices to drop, as development costs go up, ads are just swooping in to help eat some of the costs. For those that say they wont buy games with ads in it Im assuming that means you havent watched a movie in the last 10 years. Ads are everywhere, and I'd say we are pretty much used to it, chances are your brain will just filter the ingame ads out like it does when you are walking up the street or picking up your luggage from the airport. Gamemakers that care for gamers will make sure the ads are subtle, Everyone else will soon realise that games overbloated with toothpaste ads aren't worth the effort.

Anyone who thinks this is going to lower the price of games is nuts. Or rather, dumb. The ticket price at the theatre didn't drop when they started showing ads.

And it probably won't just be more money in the hands of developers either (though that may happen), it'll be money in the hands of publishers, who are already taking a rather big piece of the pie.

It won't be the end of the gaming world, but it will be just one more thing (partially) spoiled by the ever growing number of ads we have to stomach these days.

#8, I agree completely.

I want something out of the deal and it had better be clearly tangible. "Well the game would cost $10 more and have worse graphics" isn't going to fly with me. I refuse to be pimped. I will not buy any adware games without concessions.

in a racing game like Gran Turismo, i wouldn't mind adds.

in a game like Grand Theft Auto, it would irritate me.

i think certain kinds of games (namely, "sim" games) could benefit from the potential realism added by in-game adds. most other games, however, create a fantasy world, which i don't feel should be intruded on by the likes of Starbucks and Subway.

this makes freekin sense. product placement has been in EVERY other facet of our media experience, so why not video games? seriously who cares if the next GTA game has REAL McDonald's resturants? it actually bothers me more when they have to spoof names and labels to avoid lawsuits. if they can use the actual products AND get paid to do so then more power to them. i totally agree that it ads to the realism of the game. i dont, however, expect game prices to drop. but i DO expect better quality of games if they have advertisements like that, otherwise whats the point? if you want more money you have to deliver a better product!

"this makes freekin sense. product placement has been in EVERY other facet of our media experience, so why not video games? seriously who cares if the next GTA game has REAL McDonald's resturants? it actually bothers me more when they have to spoof names and labels to avoid lawsuits."

who says it's to avoid lawsuits? why can't the existence of 'Cluckin Bell' instead of KFC in the Grand Theft Auto universe just be to further immerse players in the world the developers have created?

i'm certainly not convinced that the developers would have used the names of real restaurants/cars, etc. even if they wouldn't have gotten in any trouble. things such as the 'Stallion' instead of a Mustang or Los Santos instead of LA simply complete the fantasy that's been constructed for you.

Ehh, they've been doing this for years and are just trying to smooth out the transition to it now being a news item.

For example, "Wipeout XL" back in 1999 was a marketing tool for Red Bull, likewise "Run Like Hell", three years ago, was a marketing tool for Bawls.

Get over it, they've been feeding you advertising from the minute you were born, video games are no different.