by Chris Remo, Apr 27, 2007 3:03pm PDT
by Chris Remo, Jan 02, 2007 1:53pm PST
Ed Bartlett, founder of in-game product placement firm Hive Partners and now European VP at Hive's parent company IGA Worldwide, spoke with GamesIndustry.biz in an interview publised today about IGA's current in-game ad initiaves, including the company's multi-game deal announced last year with Electronic Arts. IGA has found publishers and developers receptive to advertising propositions, Bartlett said, though interestingly he also noted that "we've seen some resistance from the smaller independent studios." One of the commonly reiterated benefits of in-game advertising and product placement has been its potential to allow smaller studios to remain independent by taking advantage of the model's alternative revenue stream. For example, by signing a sponsorship deal with the Electronic Sports World Cup, Nadeo was able to release its Trackmania Nations for free. "They've gone from the retail copy of the game having only sold tens of thousands to the free download having over 2 million players. By having a bigger audience you bring in more ad revenues which means you can offset the costs even further," said Bartlett. He added, "When you look at a big triple-A console release you're never going to be able to offset the entire cost of the release through advertising." Today's interview comes in the wake of an independent report issued by behavioral research firm Bunnyfoot last month, concluding that in-game ads are currently having little effect on gamers. Bunnyfoot's research focused on sports games, the genre with the longest history of product placement and advertising, and included titles such as NBA Live, SmackDown vs. RAW, Project Gotham 3, and others. "Highest [Sponsor Fixation Index] scores were found with NBA Live and Smackdown Vs Raw; however, recall and recognition figures were surprisingly low; a pattern evident across all titles. Moreover, PGR3 elicited no consumer engagement at all, resulting in 0% on all scores," reads the report.
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by Chris Remo, Feb 26, 2006 3:00pm PST
Games!
Additional Database Entries
Featured ShackReviews:
I've been playing some Zuma (X360) and some Wind Waker (GCN), and I swear I am finally going to beat Wind Waker. THIS IS THE WEEK.
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by Steve Gibson, Feb 18, 2006 6:00pm PST
by Chris Remo, Aug 21, 2005 2:00pm PDT
Well, you guys seemed to like the new release schedule last week, but I realized it's kind of redundant with the ShackReviews database update, so I've combined them. Hopefully this works for you. I'm keeping the same visual format, and just linking to the newly released games that have been added to the database. PC is now included as well, and I've also appended a list of games that have been added to the database but are not new releases. You know how those games get in there? You request them!
EDIT: WordPad, of all things, just crashed and I lost this whole update and had to redo it all. I did not have it saved because I am an idiot. Learn from my mistakes: save your work every two seconds.
EDIT 2: Woooo, I've got the only update for Sunday! Eat that, Steve and Maarten!
Other Database Updates:
Featured ShackReviews:
I didn't have time for too many video games last week, but I did manage to sneak in some four-player Mario Power Tennis (GCN), and holy crap is it fun. I also went back to Ico (PS2) because, really, you can't really play that game enough. Mainly I'm just trying to keep my head from exploding in anticipation of Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS). It's almost here!
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