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Businesses Entertainment Games

Videogame or Ad? Hard to Tell 54

Posted by Zonk from the harsh-light-of-advertising dept.
Business Week Online looks at the increasing appeal of videogames to advertisers. Specifically, as has been noted in the past, the ease with which product placement can slip into a game. From the article: "The Sims 2 Open for Business, the expansion pack in the popular Sims franchise that hits stores in March, allows players to launch virtual restaurants, stores, and other entrepreneurial ventures. But, oddly enough, they won't be able to interact with true-to-life financial services companies, or see any on-screen versions of objects, food, or clothing representing recognizable brands. Although the game's publisher, Electronic Arts, considered product placements and even wrote some into early storylines, the game's ad and design staffs decided against it."
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Videogame or Ad? Hard to Tell More

Videogame or Ad? Hard to Tell

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  • Depends on the implementation. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by FireballX301 ( 766274 ) on Wednesday January 25, 2006 @06:03PM (#14562882) Journal
    If the game is supposed to be 'realistic' and set in a contemporary period, and the ads are where you expect them (i.e. they dont show up during loading periods, but on bus stops and billboards), they can positively contribute to the game experience.

    If you're fragging and you see an ad for Preparation H right after you get a headshot, it's obviously a negative experience.

    But considering the rising cost of video games I'm wondering whether they're just milking as much cash out of the game as possible. I mean, for $60 I shouldn't expect to see ads in my games.

    • Re:Depends on the implementation. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by jtorkbob ( 885054 ) on Wednesday January 25, 2006 @06:11PM (#14562937) Homepage
      But considering the rising cost of video games I'm wondering whether they're just milking as much cash out of the game as possible. I mean, for $60 I shouldn't expect to see ads in my games.

      Okay, but what about ads in lieu of subscriptions? I'm okay with paying $60 for a game that I'll get a few hundred hours or more from, but I can't bring myself to pay $$ monthly on top of that. For a MMPOG I'd be happy to see an ad on my load screen if it reduced my subscription.
    • At least they looked it over, and decided it wasnt worthwhile persuing that avenue for whatever reason.

      But yeah, i'll "Me too" on the adverts on billboards on "virtual bus stop's" or random billboards as an interative part of the game for the same reasons.

      I could imagine people quite rapidly making "patches" to the game if adverts were splattered around a game between scenes.
    • The one that annoys me is having to buy a program and then pay monthly subscription fees. I'm cool with paying a subscription fee but not if I have to buy the program first. Likewise if I pay for a program or pay monthly subscription fees then I don't want to see ads.
      • Well, I agree with you, but I could see paying like $10 for the game, to cover packaging and shipping and all the distribution stuff, but if you're going to hit me for $10-15/month just to play the game, don't charge $50-60 for it. That's ludicrous.
    • But The Sims is different. This is a game where people have pixelated parts when they're naked, swoosh around to get dressed, talk in something that kind of, sort of, sounds like a language and have speach bubbles that are just symbols. It would have been out of character, in this particular game, to have very distinct, recognizable brands.

      In some other games I agree with you. Not haveing billboards in a driving game set in San Francisco would almost be creepy. The city is chock full o' ads, so why shoul
    • Any racing game with licensed cars automatically has product placement in the literal sense -- proudly featuring real-world vehicles. More than that, the manufacturers often demand that their cars not be shown heavily damaged or working poorly, so games with licensed cars often have only superficial damage that doesn't affect handling, and the damage is usually limited to smashed windshields and scratched paint.

      This form of product placement is considered a good thing, just because people want those cars

  • Previous Placement within The Sims. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Avillia ( 871800 ) on Wednesday January 25, 2006 @06:14PM (#14562965)
    Thrice before there has been product placement within the Sims (Dont have Sims 2); None of the instances were bundled with the game, but were available as downloadable content which had desirable stastics.

    The first was the Pepsi Vending Machine, the second the McDonald's Food Kiosk, and the third a Intel-branded computer.

    They were fairly well accepted and it was quite a good tradeoff: Receiving new content or a way to modify previous content in exchange for corporate branding. Better than pre-packaging the branding, placing a price-tag on the tools, etc.
    • They were fairly well accepted and it was quite a good tradeoff: Receiving new content or a way to modify previous content in exchange for corporate branding.

      Good practice: Trade Off. Allow the user to decide if he wants something extra at the expense of getting an ad.

      Bad practice: Being forced to click "no" on the ad for the European expansion pack for Battlefield 2 before I can play the game online. I have no way to avoid the ad other than to give up the most important functionality of the game.

      Worse pr
    • Well, I too play BF2. Admittedly, it isnt something I would do if I were a developer (Im not.) However, Special Forces, European Forces, etc, dont have much press, as they are just booster packs. They're a small additional drop of content for a small price, and not that many people check BF2s webpage or such often. At least the ads are directly related to the game, instead of advertising other non-related products.

  • Yay (Score:3, Interesting)

    by the-amazing-blob ( 917722 ) on Wednesday January 25, 2006 @06:15PM (#14562972) Journal
    Nice to see EA ignoring possible revenue in favor of the consumer.
    • Yeah, that's what I thought. The first think I thought when I saw the article was "No way, EA would never pass down something like that. They must have meant some other company." Though I wouldn't doubt that Maxis is the reason behind this.

    • Re:Yay (Score:2)

      by pla ( 258480 )
      Nice to see EA ignoring possible revenue in favor of the consumer.

      Don't worry, they'll just make up for it by banning all that frivolous "sleep" by their developers, when the could spend the same time helping the CEO get his 14th solid gold Lexus.


      As much as I hate in-your-face ads, unobtrusive advertising (ie, "product placement") doesn't really bother me. Working "exempt" salaried slaves literally to the detriment of their health and family life does bother me.

  • Ad supported gaming? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by brian.glanz ( 849625 ) on Wednesday January 25, 2006 @06:22PM (#14563032) Homepage Journal
    In exchange for a free gaming experience I am willing to suffer the Coke, Pepsi, and other ads, much like I do in "the real world," or in exchange for television programming free of additional charge. I would play more games if they didn't each cost so much. In fact, I suppose all of us (and many others) might play more by a margin large enough ... for advertising to be valuable enough ... for an ad supported gaming market, and an emergent Google of games?
    • TV in "the real world" isn't free, with the exception of the five channels you get broadcast. Most people, I believe, pay a fair amount a month for cable or satellite in order to watch ads 20min out of every hour, and I suspect that if ads actually became a significant suplement to the purchase price as opposed basically free money for companies, we would probably start seeing alot of "watch 5 minutes of ads to get to the next level!" kinds of things.
    • Being single and employed full time, for me the initial price tag and any subsequent subscription fees are more or less a non issue. However, finding time to play the games can be more problematic. I have no real problem with adverting in games, so long as it doesn't detract from the game play. On the other had I would hate to see revenue from add placement become major focus for game manufacturer. In my opinion that could lead to less investment in creative game design, and more interest in recreating
    • I still like the idea of the thirst bar [penny-arcade.com] in battlefield 1942.
  • I think Crazy Taxi (late 90's) already had product placement, where one had to drive to the KFC (or other fast food) or go to the GAP, among other things.
    • Indeed, Crazy Taxi had both those destinations, as well as Levi's, FINA and Pizza Hut. I can understand they could be excused by arguing realism, but even so they were annoying. (And I'm saying that as a great admirer of the game.)

      Interestingly, all the product placement locations were in the "early" portions of the city, the zones you could still concievably get to without knowing the advanced "Limit Cut" skill that made respectable-length games possible. The "later" areas, after the highway but before
      • The "later" areas, after the highway but before laping back around to start, were entirely free of product placement.

        This is most likely because Sega charged per game location. That's certainly how I'd handle it, though I would charge more for the early locations and less for the ones late in the game (I'm sure many, many people never got past the early areas in that game).
    • I'm not trying to be racist, funny, or both, but I noticed that the only people that asked to be driven to KFC were the black guys in the game. Am I the only one that noticed this?

  • LOGICAL FALLACY (Score:4, Interesting)

    by voice_of_all_reason ( 926702 ) on Wednesday January 25, 2006 @06:36PM (#14563139)
    Advertising will never, ever remain a substitution for cost for long. Companies eventually see it as an opportunity for more income and -- up until the point where customers being leaving -- will steadily increase its presence. This helpful chart explains how every single "content"-based product has and will develop:

    1) Product is conceived in some form, for free
    2) Product gets commercialized, arrives on market for a high initial price
    3) Product is offered with advertisements for a lessened price
    4) Once people are used to #3, product is simply made to be ad-only and safe for future price increases

    See also: cable tv, internet, dvd movies, software

  • Scum of the Earth is what they are! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by catahoula10 ( 944094 ) on Wednesday January 25, 2006 @06:38PM (#14563149)
    "Electronic Arts, considered product placements and even wrote some into early storylines, the game's ad and design staffs decided against it."

    Sim City has to be one of the most outstanding games ever made. Electronic Arts has to be one of the most outsanding game makers ever organized.

    AND i knew
    that it would be-a matter of time- before the slim-ball--bottom-feeding--pond-scum--scurage-of-t he-earth advertisers tried to make their way into games and other software that people use for profit. They want people to pay money for a product to view their advertising! What utter GREED! IMHO

    I will continue to support Electronic Arts by buying their products. Why? Because they make a good product and they make good business decisions.

    • I hope you aren't being serious. You clearly haven't played the mess that is Battlefield 2 [battlefield2.com]. To summarize:

      They release the game in an extremely buggy state. They then release a patch, announce an expansion, release a patch for the patch (it had a colossal memory leak bug), not release another patch until they release BF2: Special Forces; then the patch they release is simply to make Vanilla BF2 compatible with BF2:SF, to give those taht bought SF a chance to use their toys on the people playing BF2! To
    • SimCity is cool. The Sims is cool. Electronic Arts, well...

      Sure, they used to be cool. In the old days, Electronic Arts was remarkably enlighened as publishers go. They presented to us, direct from the original developers (who EA typically didn't own) the original computer versions of Marble Madness, five great construction set programs (Music-, Adventure-, Bard's Tale- and Bill Budge's Pinball-, as well as Racing Destruction Set), all of Interplay's classic early work including the three Bard's Tale ga
    • Since when does EA make games?? they don't, they publish them. Last I recall Maxis made Sim City. . . "the slim-ball--bottom-feeding--pond-scum--scurage-of-t he-earth" is actually EA, because that's what publishers do! Don't support Electronic Arts by buying "their" products, support the developers who make the games you enjoy.
  • Why would you want to slip in product placement, when you can build a whole original game around your product? http://www.classicgaming.cc/classics/tapper/ [classicgaming.cc] Subliminal messages are so passé.

    I'd probably drink Budweiser today if I drank anything with less than 7% alcohol.
    • There was also the noid game, the California Raisins game, the 7up Spot game, and I'm sure there are lot more back in the 80s.
      • Darkened Skye. That was the "Skittles" game, and although the gameplay was pretty unremarkable (3D plataformer with mild combat, nothing to write home about), it's one of the funniest games I've ever played. No, not fun, funny. It was cheap as dirt too (5 bucks), so all in all I enjoyed the one big ad quite a bit.
  • What I liked about Anarchy Online was the ads. They made the game feel alot more realistic, and I actually wished that they had a better variety. The thing that made these ads acceptable, though, was that they were absolutely as unobtrusive as it gets. They were just billboard throughout the world. Maybe if they did this in other games that were a big, modern world (Planetscape) or a TV Show tye of thing (Unreal Tournament), I'd be happy.
    • The Matrix Online also did this, usually for advertising Warner Bros. movies, but I think they had a PowerAde ad for a little while too. Other times it was for in-game things (new condos and such). It was neat to see at first, but definitely got old quickly.
  • EA? Turning down an opportunity to sell-out and stick ads into a game and make more money? I'm...shocked.
  • Well, I personally cannot stand advertisements.
    There are more and more of them around, all of them trying to get your attention.

    To most people I know, this is irritating but not particularly terrible. One gets used to it and filters them out.
    Well, I don't have a TV. Don't want one. Thus perhaps I'm not so used to adverts. And can't filter them out so easily.

    The idea of letting me pay for a game (typically 45 Euro: ca $55) and then putting adverts into it? Ugh. They tried that in "Driver 3", and it immediate
  • EA's Need for Speed has lots of product placement.
    Stuff like one car considered to be better than another (and drives better), or "better" cars are unlocked as the player progresses through the game (although a "better" car is actually the same as the player's previous car).
    And there are lots of ads in NFS Underground 2 and NFS Most Wanted. Like Cingular, Burger King, Axe, Old Spice, AutoZone etc.

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