PouncingKitten Games

mairsil · Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

Advertising is everywhere. It seems that the bleak future portrayed in "Minority Report," where advertising actually harasses people as they walk by stores or displays, will slowly come to pass. Forced advertising (i.e. commercial breaks and sponsorships) in television programs has been around for years. With the advent of Tivo and other DVR's, along with the backlash from viewers towards the increasing amount of advertising and the decreasing length of shows, the current advertising model for television is beginning to collapse. Methods have been tried to eliminate commercial skipping and overlay ads during programs, but it appears that advertisers are looking for other venues to introduce their ads into.

For the longest time, video games were left largely untouched by the advertisers. However, things are changing. Mostly innocuous advertising, such as product placement and branding or realistic billboards as seen in NFS:MW, have been creeping into games over the past couple of years. But now with the proliferation of online services like Xbox Live and the always connected nature of the next-gen consoles, advertisers are prepping to constantly serve intrusive ads to players.

More than just placement or static billboards, these new ads will not be ignored. Many games have splash/loading screens between levels or major areas which will be ripe to be replaced with commercial style ads. It would not be a major leap to see game developers add in extra loading screens just to serve more ads if they are tempted by lucrative contracts. I shudder to think how many ads you would have to sit through while playing KOTOR II.

A lot of damage has been done to television. Programs are getting shorter to allow for more advertisements. Syndicated shows actually have some scenes shortened or cut out of the show to fit the current amount of advertising in a block. Most primetime programming has direct sponsorship which is emphasized serveral times, either by intro/exit announcements or ever enlarging logo overlays. If a program fails to receive enough advertising revenue, it is at risk of being cancelled regardless of ratings or popularity.

Are video games at risk of being ruined by advertising? Will we be forced to watch unskippable, unrelated ads in games just to continue to the next level? Will we be forced to pay more for games without advertising (because we know the price of games will not decrease just because they have advertisements)? Do I belong in a padded room?

PhantasyStar · Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 10 Location: United States

Interesting read...I never thought about the advertising going berserk until now.

I hope we don't see advertising like we do television. I really don't think we will, but who knows? Times change. I have noticed a lot of the billboards like you said, but mainly in car racing games.

mairsil · Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

Yeah, so far most of the "blatent" advertising has been in places where you would commonly see it in real life like billboards in racing games and all over the place in sports games. I am just afraid that ads are going to ruin games, namely because advertisers (like the MPAA and RIAA) don't have a clue about what they are doing and refuse to listen to the public about what they do and don't want.

KaL · Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 29

The difficulty with the computer media has always been the free will and alterablity of code. Forced advertising in purchased games (which would be shady legally anyway) may be worked around by a generation of anti-advertising hackers much like the current generation of anti-cd protection at this point in time.

I think it would be difficult to instigate larger loading times for games to allow for advertising - we may just simple miss enjoying a splash loading screen replaced with a "SPONSORED BY COCA COLA - GAMERS DRINK IT!" splash.
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liquitt · Joined: 05 Apr 2006 Posts: 29 Location: Germany

it's no surprise that EA were the first to professionally add adverts into a game...EA knows how to fuck up things

mairsil · Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

liquitt · Joined: 05 Apr 2006 Posts: 29 Location: Germany

Shadowlayer · Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 15

Man this is ironic: I remember back in the 90s (16bit gen) when a game had realistic bilboards (and not imaginary brands) people were all like "dude this is soooo realistic!"

Everything turns bad when it's used in excess...

Honestly I wouldn't mind if they put bilboards and stuff all over the game, but the loading screens are a nice target for ad companies out there, since you're in a queue were the only thing in front of you is the ad, and you can't go to another game as someone who's watching Tv changes the channel.

Anyway, companies dont care if the public is sick of this...
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Alc · Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 16

Shadowlayer · Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 15

You mean something like the gizmondo idea? you know, a cheaper console but with ads all the time?

BTW, I think unskipable ads may reassemble those of some DVDs...
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Alc · Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 16

Those are copyright notices. VHS tapes always used to have adverts, but of course they couldn't stop you skipping them.

I had kind of forgotten the Gizmondo thing, anyway. I suppose that's the middle ground. I'd pay the extra for the ad-free version myself.

Shadowlayer · Joined: 03 Jul 2006 Posts: 15

Alc · Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 16

mairsil · Site Admin Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 72

Yeah, Universal Studios' DVD's used to be horrible with their ads. They would include 5 or more previews for any part of their catalog which you could not skip, FF, pause, go to a menu or even turn the damn power off.