In-Game Advertisement $1bn industry

Have you noticed them? Have you seen at least one? Most likely you have you just don’t care too much about them. In-game advertising has been on the rise since early 2000 and is trending to be a $1 billion industry by 2014 according to JJ Richards – general manager of Microsoft’s in-game ad subsidiary Massive.

If you haven’t noticed an in-game ad, you’re just not looking hard enough (or at all) or perhaps you’re just playing Uno on Xbox Live (in which case you are being advertised to go buy a physical Uno deck). The reason you have not noticed an in-game ad is simple. Ad agencies and game developers know that having an ad thrown into jarringly would ruin the experience of most games. Such is the case below.

I guess Ubisoft thought their fans were fat and smelly nerds who needed help with the ladies

Above you see a scene from 2005’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, in the scene you see Sam Fisher doing one of his signature moves in front of a huge Axe neon sign. If you played this game, you might have thought it was weird for a deodorant company to advertise in a spy-action game. However, Axe’s target audience is males 18-35 making this in-game ad prime real estate for their advertising efforts.

Sam Fisher must be on the Diet Dr. Pepper to keep that body at his age

Five years later Ubisoft got a bit more authentic with their in-game advertisements. Showcasing a less obtrusive, but still noticeable, advertisement is Splinter Cell: Conviction’s Dr. Pepper advertisement. This advertisement; however, is a bit more dynamic for the gamer. It lets the gamer know of various downloadable content available through Xbox Live and most likely sponsored by Dr. Pepper.

Not all in-game advertisement is bad though. Some advertisements in games help the world of the game feel more authentic and real. Such is the case with most sports games. Could you imagine a pro sports game such as Madden, NBA Live, or FIFA without in-game advertisements from Nike. Sports games do go overboard sometimes as is the case of Old Spice’s Redzone on football games, McDonald’s ads in the background, and of course the global giant Coca-Cola seems to be in every game now.

Nothing says non-conformity like skateboarding and national corporations

Advertising in fast an immerging area such as gaming is nothing new for mega corporations; however, ads coming from private investors are a new trend; one that was started by the president himself. In October of 2008, president elect at the time Barack Obama paid Microsoft’s in-game ad agency Massive $44,465.78 to do a massive (pun intended) in-game advertisement campaign. The campaign ran from October 6^th, 2008 until November 3^rd and spanned 18 games. The most unique part of this though was that the ads were specifically tailored to only the 10 battleground states at the time.

Yes We Can! – persuade young Americans through advertisements

I could go on forever about in-game advertisements and the way games such as Angry Birds has changed the idea of pricing for games. I didn’t even get to touch on the many ways games such as Second Life have used advertisement to inspired gamers to become consumers based solely on virtual items. One thing is for sure though: in-game advertisements are here to stay and someone is making money while games are being played – it just might not be you.