End Summary

During the months that we were posting I was able to see in-game advertising really evolve and come into its own as a viable medium for advertising. The in-game advertising audience is also very special because they really a captive audience. On television the channel can be changed, the programs can be recorded, and the viewer can leave the room. Ads can usually be avoided whether they are on TV or on the internet, but the for in-game ads the ad can be either part of the game or a product placement. When playing a game with ads in it, the gamer will not turn off the game just because he sees several ads, while he has the option of looking away and not coming back the audience has already been exposed to the ad. For other advertising mediums the ads can be ignored and the message lost, in-game advertising at least will get the impression from the gamer before he looks away where as in the other mediums the ads were never seen. The reason the impression is counted is because during the game the audience is paying direct attention to what they are doing and that is where the ad becomes effective. The in-game audience is just more captive then any of the other mediums giving it the potential to be very effective per viewing. However with new mediums to advertise in comes the potential to abuse and overexpose the audience with large numbers of ads at one time or constantly. The internet is an example of this, ads are so frequent on the internet the viewers don’t even see the ads anymore and have learned how to ignore them. It may be harder to ignore ads in-game because they can happen to be on a wall you are looking at or appear in front of you with game information on them liked a sponsored half time report. While the ads are harder to overlook it is not impossible for gamers learn or adapt to ignoring them completely. The key is not forcing gamers to do that because of overexposure or abuse of placements in games.

The main difference between in-game adverting and all of the other mediums is that ads featured in games are actually part of the game, the gamer does not stop playing when they are looking at an ad in-game. They could be shooting someone standing in front of a coke machine, get hit in the face with a boxing glove that says Everlast on it, or see an Under Armor banner hanging from the ceiling in the background of a gym; they are exposed to the brand name leaving an impression without leaving the game or taking the attention off of the media. This is the only medium where that is possible for a traditional advertising. It is possible to do to an extent with sponsored information for sporting events and with product placement. When the audiences of the other mediums view featured ads they are being interrupted. When a commercial comes on TV the audience is no longer watching the game, when readers turn the magazine page to a full page ad they are no longer reading the article, when the audience hears an ad on the radio they are not playing music, when web surfers get a popup they are no longer on the site page they were viewing. All of the mediums except games interrupt the audience the ads, while in games the ads are part of the game.

The advertisements can provide a unique effect for the games they are featured in that no other type of medium’s ads can provide for the media they are placed in. The effect is that the advertisements if designed properly, and put in the proper context, can add to the game’s realism positively enhancing the audience’s experience in the game and with the ad. This means the players will have a positive view of the brand instead of just general awareness. The results of ads having a positive impact on the games they are featured in means it is good advertising that is effective while not being hated by the players. Another thing in-game advertising has going for it is that the gamers lack a negative opinion for it that most of the other mediums have a problem with, especially TV. The audience for in-game advertising is not opposed to the idea in fact they support it in some cases. The majority of gamers are in favor of in-game advertising if it means cheaper games while around a third of them would like it if the ads were in context with the game and realistically placed in the setting.

The months that we posted during saw in-game advertising come into its own as a medium. Large companies start to get in on the newest way to advertise. Also critical technology was being developed and released during the period that revolutionizes the way that the ads are placed. The new technology allows in-game advertising to begin to reach its full potential. The technology that I watched be developed and released was called fusion.runtime. The program was a big step forward for the industry now that it is commercially available. It has the ability to place and change ads in games even after they have been coded and released, this includes previously released titles. With this technology there is a new flexibility for the industry that was not previously available. Having the advertising placement and development separate from the design and coding of the games allows ads to be placed and changed at anytime including over the internet making changing in-game ads after an advertising campaign is over easy and simple. Before the development of this program there was no way to change the ads in a game after the release. Fusion.runtime, which was created by Double Fusion an in-game advertising company, is unique because of its ability to place ads in places in game that there were no ads previously. This program really did revolutionize the industry giving it near the same flexibility of television advertising, having the ability to change, add, and remove ads whenever it is necessary. With the release of the program commercially many large companies began to purchase or sign with in-game advertising companies sparking growth in the industry that is projected to continue.

Evil French Moderators

Again the French are trying to ruin it for us all. Despite the fact that they have never won a single war and are dependent on the United States for ALL military support, they now believe they have the right to dictate terms for the online gaming world.

The French lobbying group called the Internet Rights Forum issued guidelines to publishers and legislators about the online gaming world that include their suggestions for moderation on things like the online content of games which includes everything that happens online in games, which is not coved by Europe's version of an ESRB rating. This does including their recommendations for in-game advertising restrictions.

While most of the Forum's concern is that all of the content that is mostly player to player communication in online games goes outside of the rating system. Publisher do not cover online content in their ratings and that is what the Forum believes they are responsible for.

The Forum also wants the rating to apply to in-game advertisements and for the game to have warnings on the package if the game contains ads. Not that ads are anything new in games but with the ability now to change the ads over the internet the Forum in concerned about poorly targeted ads ruining a games atmosphere and that children could be exposed to ad content that is to mature for their age. I fully support the need for context only ads in-games but that is up to the publishers as long as the ads aren't out of place I don't care what they promote.

The Forum's restrictions would be on mostly player chat and forums. This would ruin online games. It is no ones business what I say to who every I am talking to in game. Report me if you want but don't restrict me. I hope everyone who reads this will be with me in telling the French to go stuff it and hopefully soon before and US conservatives get the same idea. Here for more details about the beginning of the end.

Double Fusion launches new technology

Double Fusion a leading independent in-game advertising provider has made its in-game advertising software commercially available. The technology, called fusion.runtime, allows publishers and developers to add advertising support to their titles after the code development has been finished. This new technology makes ad placement possible where it could not be done before. This also includes back titles and titles that are late in the development process. This technology also represents compelling advertising solutions for the casual gaming industry. "The large volume of titles launched each year requires an easy to implement solution reach the market's full potential."

Publishers can now incorporate new ad placements into their titles whether they are new or old. Also after release they can "create additional revenue potential through the development of specialized programs." This new technology allows publishers and developers a new level of flexibility for in-game ad placements that they did not have before. The development of special programs that Double Fusion refers to is also called "just-in-time advertising." According to Double Fusion they can create an in-game object for advertising even if there was previously nothing there.

One example they gave is that if an advertiser wanted to put a 3D branded blimp in the sky across multiple titles for a Fourth of July promotion they could place the blimps in the games even if a blimp was not already in the game. The technology also allows the advertisements disappear after the campaign is over. The reason this technology is so revolutionary is because in the past once a title shipped the ad placements were already locked and could not be altered. This is a huge improvement over the code based solutions. Fusion.runtime opens the door to a much broader, real-time development of custom, dynamically-served game advertising programs."

Popcap tests ads

Popcap which is a leader in casual gaming recently released their results for the research that they did on one of their flagship titles, Zuma. According to Shankar Gupta, of Gaming Insider, one thing in particular stood out about the test results. Popcap tested different setups for their game ads. One setup allowed the users to download the game and play for as long as they wanted for free but they had to view video ads during the natural breaks in the gameplay. Another way the users could buy the game to make the ads go away. The last setup allowed the users to play the first three levels for free with ads but then locked them out until they actually purchased the game.

Popcap is not your usual in-game advertiser. They specialize in online games and are not a developer or in-game advertising company.

Popcap is in two businesses, they are trying to sell their games, and now they are also considering selling these in-game ads, which have very competitive clickthrough rates. The tests showed that the two configurations work in different ways. The best configuration to sell games is the one where the game locks up after you play the first three levels.

"Once the player’s got through the first three levels, they don’t want to stop. But then they buy, and the ads stop showing, so there’s no inventory for the advertiser. Conversely, the configuration where users could play as long as they wanted with ads showing the whole time served the most impressions, and delivered the highest number of clickthroughs, but didn’t drive conversions"

For now Popcap is going with the setup that will allow them to sell more game and get less clickthroughs. They believe this is the best way because they are not confident in their ability to sell all of the advertising inventory that they would have if they chose to use the other setup method.

Britain's newest recruitment method

According to Massive Inc. "the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) launched the UK and World's first in-game recruitment advertising campaign." This campaign was launched with TMP Worldwide, who is GCHQ's recruitment advertising partner. TMP apparently led the strategy and partnered with Massive, which happens to be owned by Microsoft. This campaign is supposed to "promote career opportunities in the British Intelligence services via online in-game ads on selected games in the UK."

It is debatable whether this is the first usage of in-game ads as a recruitment tool. The United States Army developed not a campaign but an entire game geared towards promoting the Army and encouraging recruitment.

The one month campaign began at the end of October. According to Massive's press release they will give GCHQ a "highly effective and relevant means of promoting exciting career opportunities to the online gaming audience, through real-world scenarios and realistic street and billboard advertising placements in selected PC and console games in the Massive Network."

In-game advertising has been used successfully to promote companies and some global brands and increase sales and awareness. However, a one month campaign will not be very effective given the shortness of its duration. Also there could be complications with integration because game titles can take years to develop.

Sega GET's in on the game

Sega's American division partners with GET Interactive another in-game advertisement provider. Sega is now the latest publisher that has signed with a in-game advertising company. Sega is partnering with the ad company for a new that they are developing. Sega would not release the name of the title that is in development.

According to Gamespot.com now that gamers have resigned themselves to the "unstoppable force" that is in-game advertising the revenue stream is increasing. With publishers like Eidos signing with ad companies like Codemasters and Sony going as far as buying an external company to be their in-house in-game ad division other companies cannot afford to be left out anymore.

According to GETs their advertising system will be different from all of the other because instead of a static ads impression the gamers will be able to order the product through the game via in-game commands. The company claims that their methods are opt-only but they did not elaborate as to how the process would work. Everquest did the same think with Pizzia Hut, being able to order pizzia without leaving the game.

IGA Worldwide enters relationship with NBC Universal

On October 30, 2007 IGA Worldwide one of the premier in-game advertising companies that has been flying under the radar in the industry entered a strategic relationship with NBC Universal. IGA Worldwide is the largest independent in-game advertising network. IGA signed the deal with NBC Universal's Digital Media division. The companies announced that they had entered into a multi faceted agreement. With this new relationship NBC Universal's Digital Media Advertising Sales team can now sell a part of IGA’s "premium in-game advertising inventory, as well as create customized packages for marketing clients on the IGA network."

“We couldn’t be more proud to partner with NBC Universal Digital Media, the leading advertising sales force in the industry, to offer strategic, innovative placements for both their current and future clients, said Justin Townsend, CEO, IGA Worldwide. “The partnership is validation that in-game advertising is an important part of the media mix for advertisers of all sizes as well as the publishers in our network.”

According to IGA the spending on in-game advertising is expected to grow 33% over the next five years. Also the industry is growing faster then the online advertising. IGA claims to be at the forefront of the in-game advertising industry offering 360 degree advertising solutions "that help brands to understand and exploit the rich and diverse opportunities available now and in the future." It will be interesting to watch this company and the in-game advertising industry over the next few years

IGA Worldwide

Growth still strong

According to Reuters growth for in-game advertisements is still growing. The video game sector is supposed to have above average growth through 2011. Video games are supposed to make up part of the growth of the global entertainment industry. In the United States the video game industry is supposed to top the music industry. The growth that is supposed to happen will be in key areas like online and wireless gaming as well as the new generation of console and the in-game advertising business.

"By 2011, the worldwide gaming market will be worth $48.9 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 9.1% during the five-year period, with gains slowing every year because of the maturation of the current generation of consoles, according to the report. The compound gains handily exceed the 6.4% advance that PwC eyes for the overall entertainment economy during the period."

The growth of the video game industry continues to grow with sales going steady and increasing. In-game advertising is only part of this huge growth spurt that is supposed to bring the video game industry to the forefront of business and technology today. With video games becoming like the new movie industry the growth that it is experiencing isn't expected to end anytime soon.

Eidos with Double Fusion

One of the top game publishers in North America and Europe, Eidos Interactive, announced that they have signed a three year deal with Double Fusion the in-game advertising company that is growing and having great success in the in-game ads industry. Eidos will be featuring Double Fusion created and bought ads in ten of their titles over the next three years. The titles are in development as of now.

The advertising will be displayed in several different formats. There will be ads as well as product placements that follow the games plot line and be "in character" for the surroundings. The in-game ads will be made so they can be rotated or changed after the game's release. This will keep the advertising fresh and effective. The ads will be able to be changed over the internet for different marketing campaigns.

Double Fusion is one of the up and coming in-game advertising companies that are able to offer companies the ability to reach the gamer demographic with targeted ads. Double Fusion is doing very well signing deals with several major companies as well as large game developing companies. According to Digital Battle the executives at Eidos are thrilled to be partnered with this innovative and creative firm.

Halo 3

The launch of the long anticipated game Halo 3 was a huge marketed event and still has events that will revolve around the massive success of the final chapter in the Halo series. While this is not in-game advertising directly is it still game marketing and advertising with the potential to be in-game advertsing. The launch of Halo 3 drew sponsors like Mountain Dew, Microsoft, and Comcast cable to help promote the launch. In the first week there were $300 million in sales and 40 million hours spent on Xbox Live in just the first week. In-game advertising could be tied into Xbox Live even though it is a subscription service ads could reduce their cost. Massive game launches like this one usually draw sponsors for events as well as the potential for in-game ads. Bungie included the ability to record videos during game play according to Shankar Gupta says that this is a huge opportunity for Machinima creators. Machinima is when videos or movies are created in games. This creates many marketing possibilities because of how easy it is to create and distribute movies especially online. Machinima movies also have the potential to draw corporate sponsorship in order to facilitate a better movie. The Red vs Blue series from Halo 2 was very popular with online viewers. Advertisers could get ads in these movies or sponsor them as a guerilla marketing tactic that would be actually rather cost effective.

Sony catches up

Now after Double Fusion, Adscape, and Massive, meaning Microsoft, are ahead in the market of in-game advertising Sony U.S. which has their own in-game division has decided to create an advertising team that will promote and focus on brands and other products in games. According to Reuters Sony will be promoting in it soon to come "Home" Virtual world.

Sony will be following in the footsteps for a change. They are going to do what the other companies are doing which is focusing on getting more revenue from sponsors to offset higher production cost of better more advanced games. These games will have better graphics and high definition capabilities as well as better voice acting and more dialogue than some movies out today.

The head of Sony's new division is Darlene Kindler who was recently the head of publishing for Adscape, the company that was bought by Google in March. Sony is supposed to place ads in "Home" their online virtual world that is supposed to debut on PS3 early next year. Sony says that "will depict brands in various forms within the game, where users would expect to see them in real life on billboards and posters, on shopping bags and soda cans and on images of TV screens." However who believes Sony when they says something will work properly.

Microsoft signs with EA

According to Reuters in San Fransisco Microsoft will be pumping lots of ads into EA's popular sports games. This deal including the popular title Madden which is the best selling football franchise. Also NASCAR, NHL, Tiger Woods Golf, and upcoming skateboarding games are included in the agreement. This deal is a big win for Microsoft as it tries to out do its rivals like Google at putting ads in games.

Cory Van Arsdale the Chief Executive of Massive said that "we're making a network play" which means if they just advertised i Madden and nothing else the ads might not have an impact on the viewers but if they hit all of EA's sports games then the number of impressions and views goes way up and so does the number of repeat views. Massive is the company that Microsoft bought for $200 million to do in game advertising.

Massive has to compete with Google's Adscape which is the game ad service that they bought for $23 million they also have to compete with private companies like Double Fusion. Massive's job is to act as a broker between companies that want their ads to be in games. Game developers are eager to tap into a new resource of revenue so that they can spend more on development to make better games.

BMW

Why put advertising in games when you can make the game the advertisement. The idea is great and it does not annoy hardcore games because there is nothing to complain about. Europe's largest independent game developer teamed up with BMW to create a preview game. 10tacle created a free ware game for BMW to showcase the new BMW M3. The game allows players to test drive the new car before buying it and before its release to the public. According to Digital Battle The game can be downloaded free of charge and is being called the "BMW M3 Challenge."

The game was developed by 10tacle for a mid six figure budget which was supplied by BMW and other sponsor which were displayed in the game by other in game advertising besides the car itself. This type of innovation projects good things for in game advertising especially if they can come up with something like this. Creating a game from scratch to be an advertisement by itself is brilliant. However there must be results, if the game does not influence anyone to buy the car then it is a compete waste of money. If BMW continues to do this in the future then the concept would be working for them and green light other companies projects. 10tacle has said that they are working with a "world renowned firm" on a huge campaign that will be coming out at the end of this year. If they are successful then the future holds promise for in game advertising.

Double Fusion

According to Reuters Double Fusion a company that helps advertisers and game makers get together. They are coming out with a new piece of technology that will allow advertisers to do last minute ad campaigns in games like the way commercials are put on TV.

Game designers can now make and code specific locations for in-game ads during the development process. After the coding is done the content of the ads can be changed over the internet however the in-game locations cannot be changed and more cannot be added.

The program is called fusion.runtime. It is Double Fusion's new program that separates the in-game advertising from the development process. This will allow the game designers to make the game placements for the games and not worry about the ads themselves. Also the designers can put new ads in old completed games including old titles.

"With the fusion.runtime, you can get the code in the game, and figure out the ad-spaces later," Jonathan Epstein, Double Fusion's president and chief executive, told Reuters.

The new program adds almost unlimited flexibility to what was once a fixed constellation of advertising slots within a game, Epstein said.

"This allows advertisers to dynamically run campaigns," he said.

This could increase the growth of in-game advertising. I do not like the prospect of advertising in old titles though. Some games are classics and do not need anything else in them. It is better to just move forward and try and incorporate advertising into future gaming not past.

Not Microsoft

Microsoft is now getting involved with in-game advertising. Microsoft bought Massive a leader in gaming advertising in May 2006. They showed off their platform in Time Square in New York on the 25th of September. Microsoft put up the display for the annual Advertising Week conference. Microsoft showed off their dynamic in-game ads high above 43rd street. They showed clips of avatars stopping to look at in-game ads, like an avatar watching a trailer for the movie 300 and also Toyota ads on the outfield walls of a baseball field. The new technology for in-game ads is the whole dynamic thing because it can be changed by the advertiser at anytime. Now Microsoft the huge tech company is moving in for the lead in the industry according to Marguerite Reardon.

The industry as a whole is now estimated to be worth $514 million. The growth projections put it at $675 million by 2012. I personally believe that it will grow faster then this just because gaming both computer and console is evolving and becoming bigger then ever before. More and more people are playing games today. I also do not like that Microsoft is already on top of this because if I see Microsoft ads in games I will explode just like your computer when it blue screens.

Dont Mind In Game Advertising?

In game ads should not take away from the realism of the game. Other then that they are fine. They help companies lower costs or pay for maintenance and update fees for online playing. If the ads are appropriate to the time period then it ads to the realism. However if the ads interrupt game play and ruin the realism then they should not be in the game. A good example is a game like BioShock. Ads from today should not be allowed in the game because they would detract from the realism of the game, the game takes place in the 60's so ads for products that were around in the 60's would be fine, like a Coke ad. Under Armor ads in Fight Night Round 3 are great though because it looks like sponsoring and it ads to the realism.

Gamespot UK did a survey about whether or not gamers mind in game advertising. Apparently 73% of gamers in the UK do not have a negative opinion of in game advertising. Also 40% of gamers thought that in game ads added to the realism. Another 30% said that they don't notice the ads and 14% said that it ruin the game experience. More and more companies now are signing up for in game advertising, Eidos and Codemasters are on board with the idea. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars recently announced plans to use in game ads to offset costs of maintaining online play. 86% of people said that they would welcome the ads if it meant cheaper games but 33% said that they would like it if it was contextual and realistic.

Money for Casual Gaming

A study done by Macrovision said that 83% of gamers would be willing to watch a 30 second spot in exchange for free gameplay. This does give new life to the span of 30 second spots, with the continuing advancement of DVR technology 30 second spots are losing their ability to be counted as persuasive. Also according to Shankar Gupta online advertisers are switching to shorter commercial attempting to not lose consumers attention.

More Problems? Maybe, Maybe Not

According to Shankar Gupta one of the main strengths of television as a medium for advertising is that people get emotionally invested in what happens to certain characters in shows and how well different sports teams perform and play. People get involved in it and become attached especially the more and more you watch. A consumers guard goes down while watching something they are emotionally invested in and they become easier to sell to.

Now Gupta believes that people who play video and computer games just play for thrills and like addicts, they do not get involved in the characters or the story. They just play for the rush and do not take anything back from the game.

From person experience I do not believe that this is true at all. People who play games and put the hours in to the game get very emotionally attached to their character because they put in the effort, it is almost a matter of pride how their character does in game. Now while it depends on the game, people do get into storyline and want to know what happens next. This would make gamers and game a great new place for marketers to tap into. There are some issues but most can be solved with some effort and a little bit of technology.

Problems

There are problems with Advertising in video games. Investors cannot be guaranteed a return in their investment also it is a hard thing to assess how many people actually were affected by the ads in the game. Games also take a long time to develop, some take years and that is a long time for investors to wait for a return on investments especially when most advertising campaigns are targeted for certain markets and short periods of time before they are changed. However according to this blog there is an answer. New console games will be attached to the internet and be able to update things like ads while in game and connected to internet. This could solve some problems and let advertisers buy media for a certain amount of time. The technology to track the ads and the view is already being developed and together it could be very effective.

new technology to track when gamers look at in game ads

With advertising in video games being a new place for advertisers to exploit they also now are trying to find a way to track how many gross impression they can get from each ad in game. According to Tom Loftus of MSNBC Nielsen Entertainment Media is working with the game developing company Activision Inc to develop technology to record how many times gamers run into a certain add while playing. Nielsen is the company that tries to track people television watching habits but are not really effective at it. While real world advertisements are fine for gaming I don't particularly want updates being send to how much I do something in a game back to a company for analysis. I bought the game and I want to play it but it is not your business how, when, and why I play. There had better be a DO NOT send information check mark I can click on for the game upon installation.

Podcasts as an industry resource

After listening to a podcast from both Across The Sound and the Marketer's Edge i found that I liked the podcast from Across The Sound more then the Marketer's Edge. However I do feel that podcasts are an ineffective way to get industry related information. They are first all audio and not visual making them lacking in stimuli. They also are hard to get access to not because it is difficult to find but you need to be in front of a computer to listen to one. If you are in front of a computer you might as well be watching something as well. Radio is effective because when you are in a car you have no other choice but when you are in front of a computer your media choices are limitless. Personally with having all those options I would not choose to listen to something when I could watch something. For me visual stimuli have a greater chance of being remember by me then any auditory stimuli would. The only way I could see these podcast being effective is they are used in passing and listened to while you are doing something else. I just don't find it to be an effective method of transferring information let alone industry related information.

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