Microsoft subsidiary Massive Inc extended a previously-inked deal to provide in-game advertising for Electronic Arts titles, the company announced today.

The two-year extension of the deal will expand the roster of titles set to feature in-game advertising for products in various EA titles. Massive's advertising technology allows for dynamic updates of in-game advertising by streaming ads from a server whenever a game is played.

"EA strongly believes that dynamic in-game advertising is an important growth area for our business," said EA Casual president Kathy Vrabeck. "We selected Massive because they are the industry leader in this space with a global sales footprint, solid brand recognition and in-depth experience in video game advertising."

Massive currently provides in-game advertisements for the PC and Xbox 360 versions of several titles in EA's Need for Speed series. As part of the extension, the company plans to add a number of EA Sports franchises to its in-game ad service including Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL and NASCAR.

Massive Inc, the same Microsoft advertising subsidiary now in charge of delivering ads to EA Sports titles, yesterday released the results of a Nielsen Company study that shows 64% of gamers are susceptible to in-game advertising.

The study claims that players of EA Black Box's Need for Speed: Carbon showed an increase in their purchase consideration of products advertised via in-game billboards by 41 percent over an ad-less control group. Brand familiarity rose 64% in the group of ad-viewers, while the average ad rating--described as those players who liked the advertisement--increased by 69%.

As in-game advertising ramps up, Nielsen has been rapidly... Read more

As gamers know, product placement and advertising in popular media and games isn't a really new idea--it started to garner some attention as far back as 2001, with large companies sponsoring mini-games and Quake levels promoting phones. Still, despite some fuss about the idea, it had yet to catch on in a truly significant way. Gamers were still desperate for marketers to push products on them, but it seemed that it was not quite ready to materialize. How would they know what to buy?

After the dotcom blowout, some people picked the idea back up and started to actually form companies dedicated to the concept--in-game ad firms Massive Incorporated and IGA Worldwide sprung up in 2002 and 2004, respectively, and major market research group Nielsen... Read more

Publisher THQ and in-game advertising firm Double Fusion today announced a multi-game deal that will see Double Fusion implement ads into several of THQ's franchises. Last year, THQ and Double Fusion announced a similar agreement, although at the time no specific brands were revealed. Today, THQ identified its Juiced, MX vs ATV, and Stuntman (preview) franchises as targets for advertising.

"Through the new console cycle, we see an increasing opportunity to incorporate both integrated and dynamic in-game advertising into many of THQ's owned franchises," said THQ sales and distribution senior VP Scott Guthrie. "We look forward to working with Double Fusion and their prominent group of advertisers to deliver programs that both drive awareness for our ad partners and serve to enhance players' overall gaming experience."

Double Fusion is one of the more prominent players in the in-game advertising market, having also signed agreements with major publishers such as 2K Games (Take-Two Interactive) and Midway. Its methods include the common billboard style of in-game ads as well as more involved 2D images and video and 3D objects.

In a relatively short period of time, in-game advertising has become a highly valued market, with most of the industry's major publishers having announced or begun plans to integrate ads into their games. Furthermore, last May, Microsoft acquired in-game ad firm Massive Inc., and last month Google acquired in-game ad provider Adscape Media.

Electronic Arts today issued two separate press releases, each announcing agreements that will provide in-game advertising for upcoming EA games. Today's first announcement describes an agreement with New York-based in-game advertising firm IGA Worldwide, which will see an unspecified number of EA franchises implement in-game advertising. The first game that will see ads from IGA is Digital Illusions CE's Battlefield 2142, which will be receiving dynamic ads tailored to players' physical locations. Interestingly, the press release also states that ads will be customized by platform, though the game has been announced only for PC, suggesting that the game may eventually be coming to other systems. "Consumers are increasingly gaming in deep, virtual worlds and advertisers need adapted ways to reach these audiences," said European VP for Online and Strategic Relationships Frank Sagnier. "The agreement with IGA is a first step in a detailed strategy to deliver advertising in a seamless format." It was not specified what type of real world brands will be used to seamlessly and realistically integrate modern advertising into the fictional setting of a war-themed game set in 2142.

The second announcement is regarding a deal with Massive Incorporated, an in-game advertising firm purchased by Microsoft earlier this year, and allows for up to four Xbox 360 and PC games from EA to be outfitted with in-game ads. EA Black Box's Need for Speed Carbon will be the first title affected by the deal. Though EA notes that the Need for Speed series has included static advertising in past games, Carbon will also include dynamic ads that are related to players' specific geographic locations and gaming platforms. "In places like a basketball court, football stadium or roadside in a racing game, advertising is not only nice to have, but it's an essential component to create the fiction of being there," said EA VP of Online Commerce Chip Lange. "This agreement with Massive allows us to vary what relevant ads are served to the game player." The announcement notes that Massive's technology allows for a variety of media types, including images, audio, video, and actual game objects, to be used in advertising.

Financial terms behind the deals announced today were not disclosed.

Update: Shacknews has received a response to various inquiries posed to EA regarding these deals. In regards to brands that will be used in Battlefield 2142, EA is not yet announcing specific companies. "We don't have any specific brands [to announce], but as we have said about any kind of ads in the past, they will be authentic and not distracting and in terms of being irrelevant of the time [period]," said an EA representative. "They will be contextually relevant." The company also clarified that the statement about multiple platforms in the Battlefield 2142 announcement is only a general statement about IGA's in-game advertising methods and does not indicate that 2142 will be a multiplatform game.

Guardian Unlimited's Guardian Gamesblog examines alternative distribution methods available to developers in a two-part (part 1, part 2) article weighing five routes that eschew traditional large-publisher retail shelf presence. Methods briefly considered are advertising-funded development--which coincidentally refers to in-game ad firm Massive Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft just days after this article was published--the Hollywood-esque contract approach, episodic delivery such as that being employed by Ritual with SiN Episodes, dealing with a smaller independent publisher less likely to demand ownership of IP, and the as yet untried publically funded model such as that used in televised public broadcasting.

[With the Hollywood model,] developers can get experience at a number of companies, which means that they'll have more games under their belts than with the traditional model. The constant flow of employees should also establish a cross-industry code of practice, thus increasing the quality of life in an environment which rapidly chews up and spits out its most able and experienced workers. Furthermore, contractors would be able to charge for overtime, unlike full-time employees.

Personally, I'd like to see the contract-based Hollywood model take off a bit more. There are certainly many tightly knit studios that work better under the currently prevalent model, keeping a large team together from project to project. However, it's worth noting that animation studio Pixar, which works in a similar way as game development firms, still cooexists perfectly well with other smaller Hollywood studios that operate more on a contractual basis. Much of the games industry seems to work under those terms now anyway, with publishers hiring for big projects then downsizing or relocating employees when a project changes in scope or comes to an end. Some developer are already moving towards this different model. Wideload Games, headed up by Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian, is a small studio that augmented its ranks on a contractual basis during the creation of its first title Stubbs the Zombie (Xbox, PC). It should be interesting to see how Wideload fares with those practices in an industry not currently set up to support that particular route.

The other four models offer interesting possibilities as well, with some--such as episodic gaming--already more heavily discussed than others. Particularly worrying is the notion of heavily advertising-supported games, which may have uncomfortable ramifications in an industry where developers sometimes end up at the creative whim of larger entities providing funding.

Many of these approaches may become possible as the games industry continues to grow and encompass wider audiences. Certainly, there are frustrations that sometimes occur in cases when games can feel dumbed down to the lowest common denominator in order to cater to as many different audiences as possible. However, slightly paradoxically, that expansion is crucial to ensure that games don't end up becoming focused too heavily on one specific group. As the audience grows, it will become more and more possible for games to diverge wildly in terms of gameplay, themes, and content, as more and more niches and markets must be addressed. This has happened both in Hollywood and the music industry, which--despite many, many, many less than desirable attributes for creative fields--both have strong and viable avenues for the creation and distribution of many different types of work.

To bring this around in a topical way, that's one reason I'm so excited about E3 this year. The range we'll be seeing is simply incredible: mind-blowingly open-ended extravanganzas of game design such as Spore on the PC, blockbuster action/adventure-ish games on systems like Xbox 360 and PS3, something totally different in the control/interface arena with Wii as well as the concerted attempt to branch out to non-traditional audiences, major handheld gaming systems pursuing almost opposing types of game experiences, efforts toward keeping gaming history accessible to the masses with Wii, the potential of independent game distribution through PC as well as all three major console platforms, massively multiplayer games that have lately been drawing in various new audiences, and so on. ...Five more days!

Confirming recent rumors, Microsoft today stated that it will indeed be purchasing major in-game advertising firm Massive Inc. The announcement was made at the MSN Strategic Action Summit. As well as ads existing within game worlds, Microsoft's major online gaming services, including Xbox Live and MSN Games, will be integrated with Massive's advertising network. In-game advertising has been a major topic of discussion in the marketing world recently, as game-playing audiences have moved away from traditional advertising venues such as television and are spending more time with video games.

Microsoft claims that the in-game advertising it develops with Massive will be carefully screened to maintain the immersiveness of games in which it is used, rather than detracting from gameplay. This purchase is the latest development in a working relationship the two companies have maintained for over a year.

The acquisition of Massive broadens Microsoft's commitment to providing advertisers with a highly effective means of reaching specific demographic groups of consumers in the rapidly growing and interactive medium of online gaming.

"Advertisers are having a tough time connecting with the elusive 18- to 34-year-old male demographic because this group continues to spend less time watching TV and more time playing video games," said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president of Global Sales and Marketing and chief media revenue officer at Microsoft. "Massive and Microsoft can help lead with our shared vision of delivering more targeted, measurable and effective opportunities for advertisers to reach today's youth audience in a largely untapped market."

Massive has also partnered with many other major game publishers, including Atari, Codemasters, Eidos, Funcom, Legacy Interactive, Majesco, Take-2, Ubisoft, and Vivendi Universal. Most of these publisher also release titles on non-Microsoft platforms. Comapany CEO Mitchell Davis stated that current business relationships will remain in place despite the acquisition.

This announcements comes in close proximity to the opening of adCenter, Microsoft's new service integrating advertising with MSN Search. The program is intended to compete with Google's successful advertising programs. It is unclear if Massive is directly related to adCenter, or if they are both simply part of a larger push from Microsoft to gain a foothold in advertising opportunities across various platforms.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is currently planning to buy in game advertising firm Massive. In game advertising has rapidly become a huge topic in the industry, with several firms popping up in the last few years, and many publishers signing long-term multi-game deals. As the owner of the Xbox platform as well as the de facto steward of PC gaming via Windows, and as a game developer and publisher, Microsoft has a lot of avenues by which to take advantage of this type of marketing. Its Xbox Live service in particular is well-suited to such methods, seeing frequent marketing tie-ins with non-gaming entertainment such as movies and music. Interestingly, as noted in this Shacknews interview, Massive has current contracts with many major publishers, most of whom release games on non-Microsoft platforms as well as Xbox and/or Windows: Atari, Codemasters, Eidos, Funcom, Legacy Interactive, Majesco, Take-2, Ubisoft, and Vivendi Universal, at time of writing. Advertising partners include Intel, Paramount, Universal, Coke brands, Comcast G4 Network, Nestle, Honda, T-Mobile, Verizon DSL and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) plans to pay $200 million to $400 million for Massive Inc., a privately held company that places ads in videogames, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

The deal to buy the two-year-old start-up highlights the increasing importance of advertising in nontraditional media, the report said. It noted Massive's clients include Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO - news), Honda Motor Co. (7267.T) and other advertisers that are boosting spending on ads in videogames.

Neither Microsoft nor Massive is currently commenting on the veracity of the Wall Street Journal's claim, but the news outlet has a strong track record for such stories.

The Wall Street Journal has a news story on Massive Inc's new game ads, which are going beyond static images. Anarchy Online is the first game to be updated with full motion and sound ads, which will run for about 15 seconds. Massive only charges advertisers if people actually watch the full ad, which are activated when a player comes close to an advertising spot in the game.

The introduction of full-motion ads on games gives advertisers more options. Massive's Mr. Davis says Hollywood movie studios have shown particular interest in running 15-second movie trailers in online games. Mr. Rich says Paramount may be interested in such ads, but emphasized that the content of any such ads shouldn't turn off gamers. [...] Massive says its technology works for both online games and consoles, but it hasn't yet negotiated a deal allowing for ad-insertion in console games. Mr. Davis says he hopes to strike a console game deal soon. Edward Williams, managing director at Harris Nesbitt Equity Research in New York, says the videogame ads won't take off until console games are included.

Computer Games Magazine is the latest site with a Massive Incorporated Q&A, talking to Nicholas Longano about the company and its technology providing in-game advertising.

While we were all up-in-arms over the /pizza command in EverQuest 2, Funcom signed a deal with Massive Incorported, an advertising agency, to place billboard-esque ads throughout the online world of Anarchy Online. Grimwell Online noticed that the ads kicked in just a few weeks ago and throughout the planet of Rubi-Ka, players will see ads for Sprite Zero, Motley Crue, and G4TV.

It's important to note that these ads are only displayed for those playing the game under the free subscription model; if you're a paying customer, you won't see these ads. But it does give us a glimpse into the possible future of advertising in gaming. Do we really want to see a poster for a Motley Crue concert when we're running around a futuristic city built on another planet? We may know about the future next week after the Advertising in Games Forum takes place in NYC.