adverts ingame? why not sooner

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

Soldato
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12 Feb 2006
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i have been thinking that this is a really good idea for a very long time now, and after playing raindbow six vegas im finally seeing it, but not a fraction of what it could be at all.

im wondering why don't games have paid for adverts in them to cover part of the costs and to maybye even make a slight profit. for instance, when the game first loads the developers videos such as EA, i tihnk that there should be a quick one there that would be paid for for say like a week, then someone elses goes there. games like rainbow six, GTA, all have billboards, spaces on side of buildings, you could easily put a space here for adverts to go which IMO would make them game even better if its for something i know.

what im wondering is why hasn't this taken off yet as surely it would make a lot of money, imagine WOW having a just one simple advert for a fast food snack, it would be seen by a lot of people so surely would cost the advertiser a lot of money?

what do you think of this idea? woud you hate seeing small adverts in game if it means cheaper costs for use, and could even mean a much better game as the budget would be higher. would be nice imo to see something real like macondals/BK whilst playing GTA

Discuss
 
LOL you don’t think games are profitable, The games industry makes more money than the movie industry, so why do they need to put adverts in game to cover the costs ?????

I dont want to see adverts in a game i have to pay for.
 
XPE said:
so why do they need to put adverts in game to cover the costs ?????

I dont want to see adverts in a game i have to pay for.
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well i was thinking more along the lines of cheaper budget games could do this. but also woudn't it mean that they have a much higher budget for the game meaning ti would be better, and would cost us less so more would buy, more adverts sold etc.

the adverts im thinking of woudn't need ot be in your face, very subtle. im pretty sure on BF2124 on the wall of a building there was a sign that said happy new year on new years day, could be sometihng like that that is updated each new game or somthing and isn't in the way. my only concern would be that the game would be full of the same ads if this happened. i wouould like it to be like real life in that there is many many ads every, not just one for lynx or something
 
addy_010 said:
well i was thinking more along the lines of cheaper budget games could do this. but also woudn't it mean that they have a much higher budget for the game meaning ti would be better, and would cost us less so more would buy, more adverts sold etc.
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Not really, why would some one want to advertise something in a budget game, and the chances are advertiser wouldn’t sign on until after the game was complete, why would advertisers want to put money into something that isn’t going to be ready for 2 years at lest and could potentially be a flop.

So the money will not go in the budget of a game only into the developers pockets, and seeing as successful games make a lot of money and the games advertiser will only want to advertise in successful games this means the devs have already made their money back.


I wouldnt even mind if because of the adds the game was cheaper but this doesnt happen and will never happen.
 
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I'm against advertising in games. For certain games it works ok, for example racing sims, if I'm playing GTR2 and drive past a billboard at the side of a track advertising cars then thats fine, this happens in real life so doesn't ruin the immersion. I'm completely against any ingame advertising in games like WoW though as it wouldn't fit in. Maybe I could live with an advert everytime I started WoW up as long as it didn't make it into the game itself and as long as I could skip it.

I also think there is a danger that adverts in games could potentially impact future game development if it became hugely profitable for the games companies. For example, lets say EA have a choice of making a generic shooter crammed full of dynamic loading ads that they can change each week and charge a fortune for, or another game which is a medieval RPG game along the lines of oblivion. Potentially there is less advertising revenue to be made from the RPG game as adverts don't really fit that genre of game, so we end up with less games being made that cannot easily fit the advertsing in.

Advertising in games has already been done, take BF2142 for example, it worries me when it is not just simply an advert in game, apparantly they're using some form of tracking technology to report back on what adverts you've looked at. This is a slippery slope imho. I just don't really like the idea at all. I've also yet to really see any evidence of any form of benefit being passsed onto the customers from advertising in games whether that be in the form of a reduced game cost or additional content. So basically if it is used to make money with no benefit to me then why should I put up with it ? If it started happening I would just not buy the games from companies that implemented it.
 
XPE said:
I wouldnt even mind if because of the adds the game was cheaper but this doesnt happen and will never happen.
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Exactly how i feel.
I am also concerned about the hit on performance and bandwidth. If animated and constantly updated or gleamed for viewing figures i cannot see this not having a detrimental effect on your gaming experience.
 
Yeah, look at all the free content and extra maps and expansions we've gotten in BF2142 because of all the extra revenue from the ingame advertising!

Oh, wait.. :rolleyes:

In game advertising = more revenue for EA and the like shareholders. You'll never see it reflected a game's price or quality. Don't mean to be rude but to think otherwise is a bit niave.
 
I can see it now

Commander: "Private, get over here... I need backup!" *SPLAT*
Private: "Hmmm... horny teens to my inbox... oh **** sorry!"

:D
 
The only way i would like to see it being used ingame is if it is used to fund/support free new content for games for PC or even xbox live in the form of new maps/weapons/vehicles/ingame area's etc.. etc..

Or if the advertising money was spent to improve the game overall while in development such as games released faster as more people can be hired or games released with less bugs in them.

I dont want to see games exploited in the way advertisements are put in simple to make money and not contribute to the games/gamers as its only going to hinder things if done this way.
 
I don't have a problem with in-game adverts when they fit the context of the game. As someone said, you expect to see adverts on a race track so it's fine in racing sims. But I'd be outraged if they had real ads in GTA. Part of the fun of GTA is that they parody things. If they had real ads instead of joke ones it would be detrimental to the gaming experience.

Of course the problem with in-game ads becoming too widespread is that if developers get too dependent on them, they will only make games that they can put ads in, ie. games set in the real world (which most of the time bore the hell out of me).
 
I think its a good idea. How much does it cost to create a game like oblivion or bf2142? Millions? 10+ million? and once the game is released the community expect regular patches and updates which no one really wants to pay for. I think that ads will help pay for continued support from game developers and also helps keep them in jobs writing new games for us.
 
What a horrible and likely intrusive idea, it would get abused eventually and become like tv where you get interrupted to watch some crappy advert while in the middle of a game or lots of distracting in game advertisements, and other on screen graphics, ughh no thanks! :rolleyes:
 
hah u imagen that. u have to have an ad break after every 15mins of gameplay.. dear me how shocking.. yet in EAs world :P possible?
 
i dont believe in advertisements but i believe in branding, which is abit of an indirect form of advertisement i suppose...
for example, all the burger restaurants in GTA would be McDonalds or BK.
this creates a more immersive feel I reckon... games have done it in the past though, Crazy Taxi and The Getaway spring to mind(anyone remember the BT man)
 
The movie industry has done this for god knows how long, whats wrong with the game industry doing it too? :confused:

Not saying they should all start doing it though!
 
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