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.