Advertisements in Video Games
- on 03.19.08
- 360 News
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Are you aware that in many of the Xbox 360 games you play that you are being served advertisements? You may be playing the latest version of Need For Speed and you drive by a huge Castrol logo. Do you think EA just put that in the game because they thought it looked good? Nope, Castrol paid for that advertising spot.
The Canadian Press recently published an article about this very thing. Here’s an excerpt:
Massive says video games are the medium of choice for young men. The gamers could see ads for upcoming movies, or a Coke machine, or a billboard for Castrol motor oil, all blending in with the scenery as part of the gaming experience. They could also see ads in a football stadium or on a racing track in video games.
“It’s a lean-forward experience,” Van Arsdale said from Seattle. “Users don’t pause or fast forward or go get a snack or go to the restroom during the ads.”
Van Arsdale said that when a user connects to the XBox Live online platform, Massive can download ads to be inserted into a game, and can change those ads often.
I’m not too worried about ads that blend into the game like in Madden or something. I’m just worried about advertisers being more aggressive in the future. What about popup ads in a game? What about huge Pepsi ads during your load screen? What if you’re running along in The Spiderwick Chronicles and the game interupts to show you a movie preview? All of these ads would be considered intrusive to me.
What do you think?
[…] Xav de Matos wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAre you aware that in many of the Xbox 360 games you play that you are being served advertisements? You may be playing the latest version of Need For Speed and you drive by a huge Castrol logo. Do you think EA just put that in the game … […]
[…] Stinger wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptMassive says video games are the medium of choice for young men. The gamers could see ads for upcoming movies, or a Coke machine, or a billboard for Castrol motor oil, all blending in with the scenery as part of the gaming experience. … […]