Reuters is reporting that Electronic Arts has signed deals with Microsoft-owned Massive Inc. and IGA Worldwide to put in-game advertising in up to seven games, including Need for Speed: Carbon and Battlefield: 2142. EA Vice President for Online Commerce Chip Lange promised that this is just the beginning, saying that EA is negotiating with other providers to put ads in many future titles.While sideline billboards in Madden or racing games won't look out of place, it might be a little jarring to see an ad in the middle of Battlefield's battlefields. It might be worth it if the ads lead to lower prices for games, but we're not holding our breath on that count. How do you feel about ads in your games?
[Update: the AP is reporting that the ads will be automatically updated over broadband connections on the PC and Xbox Live]



















(Page 1) Reader Comments
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He says that like it's a good thing.
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But, they minute they start putting ads in loading screens, or it disrupts the game in any way, I will cease to support that developer/publisher/game...
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They could have replaced all the HL2 signs with advertising and I wouldn't have noticed...
I won't care either if my character wears Nike clothes and RayBan sunglasses... usually these brands are somewhat copied into the game anyway...
The thing is that'll be seeing these ads, the developer will be stuffing their pockets and I'll still pay the same amount of money.
And also, if in-game advertising really takes off, all the fun mocking-ads will be gone from games...
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Billboards, ok. Spoken ads are pushing it.
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I'll sum up my opinion quickly, so as not to annoy people who ironically find people disappointed by in-game advertising more upsetting than the in-game advertising itself (GSI, I'm looking at you ;) ):
I understand it's purpose, I know it's pervasive all through television, movies, and yes, gaming, but it's not lowering prices in any way, nor seeming to aloow for 'more' for the same price... So it's annoying to me. I like the weird fake ads from the past.
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"Buy Pepsi, it's great!" * glug glug glug *
Oh the horror!
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?help offset higher dev cost,like those of the ps3 maybe...
4 sure on games that got out of hand ie: unreal 2007
lower price for us, no...
lets say most games come out @ 59.99, would unreal come out @64.99 to offset cost? ,nooo... they would take the loss and make millions in the long run
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I still think it is a bad idea for gamers, and a great idea for game makers who want just want to make tons of cash.
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Or, we could take the stand, and tell them now that we do not want ads in the games. If they must put the ads in, then create a micropayment system - every time I see a real-world product in my virtual world, you drop a penny in my pocket...or, give away the games for free.
I play to escape reality, I do not want to be seeing things that remind me of the outside world in my gaming sphere. And advertising in the real world is already too prevalent; I happily admit to destroying ads that I feel have no place in the world. I have adblock plus installed for my Firefox. I change the channel when a commercial comes on. I will pirate a divx copy of a DVD I own already simply because I don't want to deal with the 'do not pirate' and 'this is copywritten work' crap that they have before the unskippable previews that come before the menu before the movie. I DON'T LIKE ADVERTISING. And I'm gonna be telling that to the game companies.
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On the flip side, it will take only one publisher to start selling games on the cheap and using the in game ads to bolster revenue, and be a rousing success, for most other publishers to follow suit.
And one publisher will refuse to run in-game ads and charge more because of it and no one will buy their pricey game and they will go bankrupt and fall by the wayside.
You heard it here first.
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Where is the money going towards? and
Will the ads be appropriate to the game and not become a problem as I'm looking at how stupid it is while a sniper is getting better aim?
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- Cans of soda are brand names, rather than the ambiguous "Soda"
- Weaponry is specifically labeled by real manufacturers, instead of the generic "gun"
- People running around wearing clothing have logos, insignias, branding, etc. Same goes for hats.
- Cabs and buses driving by have advertisements on the sides, as they typically do in today's society
- Turning on a TV, an interactive object in the game world, results in an advertisement flashing on the screen for a few moments
- Subways have advertisement posters strewn all over, as they typically would
Anyways, you get the idea. I don't mind THOSE obvious forms of advertisement as I think they tend to give the gaming world more realism. Face it, those forms of advertisement exist already. I'm more worried about having the average NPC suddenly turn to me and say, "I heard the new Grand Theft Auto 10 is a great game. Sells for $50. Why not go to your local Target and pick up a copy?"
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-"superfan" tactics.
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If this happens I bet developers will be that this is ultimate AI, incredible immersion and innovative gameplay reality or something...
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GTA's billboards are jokes. Make them real ads and you immediately detract from the game. Many of the billboards tie in to the radio ads also. How can you forget the Degenatron? "I'll never go to school again!"
As far as I'm concerned, if a game has cheesy fake ads, then they're just not trying hard enough.
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ads on videogames is another step gone too far from the advertising/marketing people. part of the reason people play videogames in the first place is to get away (at least for a little bit) from that world saturated with advertising messages, not to go right back into it!
man, f*ck EA. they're already huge with their overhyped sports titles, i don't see why they really need to take money from private companies to dish us out commercialized version of Battlefield.
big MEH on this one.
next thing u know, your favorite rockstar will be taking money to drop the name of some shitty brand. or ur favorite graphic artist will be forced to include company logos in his/her works. oh, wait..! that's already happenin'. =/
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Since the publisher can move more "eyeballs" through those huge games, they can make more money from that ad space and possibly hand down that income to make better, smaller games. Or, just give themselves pay-raises and screw their emp's and us.
Even the first scenario makes me uneasy, really. If I see a Coke ad in Beyond Good and Evil 2, b*tches will die.
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-"superfan" tactics.
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This is all one sided. I will support companies that do not do this as a matter of policy. I'm hoping Nintendo does not go there because at the moment, they seem to me to be the only company with a friendly attitude towards it's customers.
Yeah, I got a 360, but I REALLY REALLY resent that I need to "subscribe" for on-line play, while at the same time the ads get fed to the console for free by MS.
Maybe I can figure out some way of blocking this traffic...whether with DNS black listing or a filter of certain ad sites. Anybody know?
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even *i* have played a game, sat back, and thought, "those billboards are cheezy... it would actually be *better* if they were real ads." for example, in a racing game's billboards or car decals, or in a gta/saints row game's billboards. a hockey game's paneling. shit like that. that makes plenty of sense.
even a little "smith&wesson" logo on the side of my pistol in a first person shooter... or obviously discernable car/shoe/building designs: "oh, look! that guy's wearing adidas shelltops!" or, somebody driving an old school cadillac, or "dude, that looks exACTLY like the transamerica building!"
these are examples where advertisement, (or product recognition) actually contributes to the experience and increases the realism of the game, and if they stick to this formula - not only do i NOT have a problem with it, i actually encourage it.
-"superfan" tactics.
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