You have to hand it to Microsoft, when life hands them delicious cake, they sure know how to turn it into delicious cake-o-nade. When they gobbled up in-game advertising firm Massive, we all thought it was just to make lots of money. Now that the company has inked a deal to handle advertising in EA Sports games like Madden, NASCAR, Tiger Woods, NHL and Skate, we learn that it was actually to make lots of money and hurt Sony and Nintendo in the process. With Microsoft making cash off of every ad in Madden and the other games, we imagine Sony and Nintendo are left with a difficult choice. Do they allow the ads on their console and put a bunch of cash in Microsoft's already considerable war chest? Or do they not allow the ads and walk away with nothing?
If you're a conspiracy theorist, now would be a wonderful time to point out that the news comes almost exactly one week after Microsoft's Peter Moore moved to EA Sports, just in time for their companies to make sweet love and sweeter cash while Sony and Nintendo walk around the field stapling classified ads that they cut out of the newspaper to stadium walls. You know, just saying.
Reader Comments (25)
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 11:48AM hvnlysoldr said
That's not irony. It's just a coincidence. The hypnotoad told me so.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 4:31PM (Unverified) said
I hear Microsoft payed 100 million for "Exclusive Dog fighting" content
W00f
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W00f
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 11:55AM (Unverified) said
Wow that's a great strategy...and will probably get them a antitrust suit of some sort.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 11:57AM (Unverified) said
Maybe I missed something, but I really don't see where Sony or Nintendo have a decision to make here. EA's including Massive dynamic ads in their games. Unless Nintendo or Sony refuse to license EA to put Madden on their systems, the ads are in.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:01PM chrisgrant said
Massive's Cory Van Arsdale: "We would love to do Nintendo and PlayStation, but they control the platform, they control the ecosystem and they have to decide what to allow or not. It's not something that's in our control."
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:27PM hvnlysoldr said
Yes because Sony owns ads in the European soccer league so they are contractually obligated to represent them in their games.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:56PM (Unverified) said
(ignoring the fact he's on a different team now)
This game has no flaws, he's playing against the Jets :P
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This game has no flaws, he's playing against the Jets :P
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:10PM Neon Jebus said
OMG M$ is todly bi EA!!!!11!
Sorry about that, can I get another glass of that German Chocolate cake-o-nade? That there is a tasty beverage!
Reply
Sorry about that, can I get another glass of that German Chocolate cake-o-nade? That there is a tasty beverage!
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:19PM (Unverified) said
Next step for MS. Buy EA! HAHAHAHAHA! I can hear Peter Moore laugh as we speak.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 8:26PM Evan Tribley said
I thought Activision just beat out EA for top 3rd party developer.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:28PM (Unverified) said
who ever pays attention to ads anyway? if i was sony or nintendo, i wouldnt care too much that the ads were in
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:34PM (Unverified) said
Well, if they give themselves free ad's, competitors can scream foul play. All they are doing is trying to find more revenue since their investors are mad at how much money they have lost in the Console Gaming arena. Good move for them but I don't see them getting some tactical edge unless they play dirty, which in the end will get them in trouble.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 12:48PM (Unverified) said
So does that mean Madden on PS3 and Wii will have the microsoft ads? Big deal. Now if it was a Xbox 360 ad that would be totally different.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:33PM processfive said
Gosh, it sure would be sad if PS3 and Wii owners couldn't play all of the trite, rehashed, designed-by-committee crap that EA craps out every week and tries to pass off as "video games".
Oh, wait...
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Oh, wait...
Posted: Jul 26th 2007 3:19PM (Unverified) said
Just being sarcastic...sorry if that didn't come across.
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Posted: Jul 26th 2007 4:40PM enbadesign said
Well its not like anyone actually pays attention to ads in video games anyway.
This wouldn't be Microsoft putting ads for th e360 in PS3 Madden games. Massive is owned by Microsoft but they still use the same business model. They solicit companies into paying them money for putting ads in games. Massive then gives EA a portion of this to help subsidize development cost.
If Sony wanted to they could buy ads from Massive to put into Madden and advertise the PS3 on the 360 while giving money to Microsft to do so.
There would be a problem if Microsoft placed ads through massive without paying for them. Buying a company and then using it for an advantage you don't grant to other parties ws at the core of Antitrust laws but those have all been thrown out the window a long time ago.
If I was running massive I'd be celebrating every day since I was able to get Microsoft to buy my company with a dubious and unproven business model and make myself a lot of money, same goes for Youtube.
Reply
This wouldn't be Microsoft putting ads for th e360 in PS3 Madden games. Massive is owned by Microsoft but they still use the same business model. They solicit companies into paying them money for putting ads in games. Massive then gives EA a portion of this to help subsidize development cost.
If Sony wanted to they could buy ads from Massive to put into Madden and advertise the PS3 on the 360 while giving money to Microsft to do so.
There would be a problem if Microsoft placed ads through massive without paying for them. Buying a company and then using it for an advantage you don't grant to other parties ws at the core of Antitrust laws but those have all been thrown out the window a long time ago.
If I was running massive I'd be celebrating every day since I was able to get Microsoft to buy my company with a dubious and unproven business model and make myself a lot of money, same goes for Youtube.
Posted: Jul 28th 2007 3:37AM (Unverified) said
Let's not forget http://www.joystiq.com/2007/01/31/ps3-ads-turn-up-in-xbox-360-game-inadvertently/ before we start talking here..
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