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Advertising: It's in the Game

by Chris Remo, Oct 05, 2005 10:20am PDT
Related Topics – Double Fusion

It looks like the budding in-game advertisement model is working well enough, so expect to start seeing more product placements in your video games in the near future. In-game ad agency Double Fusion and Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, a division of the major television market research firm, conducted a study guaging player response to ads in a game called "Metro3D." (Is anyone familiar with that game? Metro3D is also the name of a multiplatform console developer.) The research found that 50% of players found that the ads made the game world more realistic, with 21% in disagreement; 54% said it "catches your attention," with only 17% in disagreement.

"The difference rate in recall levels between the billboards that show animation and the billboards that are static aren't that great," Bendov said. "We thought 3D elements would be more memorable, and we would see a greater difference between (them). What people did remember were trucks that had things on their side, just like in real life."
The article mentions that in-game ad rates have yet to be standardized, but presumably it is a fairly lucrative enterprise. But hey, maybe the revenue generated by in-game ads will lower the retail price for gamers... Right?


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Comments

29 Threads | 100 Comments
  • #24
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    By: sithspawn x
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    For the most part I'm not going to buy a game that "features" in-game ads. However, there is always that one game you really want or is just too good to pass up. In those cases I'm going to buy the fucker USED. This means that I still get to play the game and the publisher doesn't get a fucking cent. Leave it to the publishers to ruin games with ads all the while grabbing the extra bucks and giving the developers and players nothing. The ONLY use of in-game ads I deal with are those in FREE games. Anarchy Online is a good example. If you choose to pay you can turn the ads off.

    Also, who the fuck are they testing these ads on? The article stays that 50% of "study participants" actually said that "in-game ads make the experience more realistic". Who the fuck ARE these people?!?
    Oct 05, 2005 11:47am PDT