Following hot on the heals of the rumours of TV advertising through Adwords, it is reported that Google may introduce the ability to buy in game advertising through their online portal.  Dubbed Adsense for games, it is reported that Google “has developed an in-game advertising technology that allows it to insert video ads into games.”  Whilst there are a large number of other providers offering in game advertising, most notably Microsoft through the acquisition of Massive Incorporated, this would make Google the first to simplify the process and increase its viability for inclusion in a standard media plan and their purchase of Adscape in February of 2007 certainly gives them the expertise.

If all the rumours and news stories are true about Google’s plans, coupled with the recently launched Adplanner tool, Adwords could be on its way to becoming the holy grail of advertising platforms, incorporating online offline and in game into one web based portal.  Whether they can pull it off or not remains to be seen but they seem to be putting a lot of effort into achieving the same dominance in other media that they have in search.

EA have announced that they are going to release a free web only version of its Battlefield title (marketing, 22nd Jan). The version, to be known as Battlefield Heroes will only be available online and will not be sold in stores and will be supported online by advertising within the game and its interface. This is the first major launch in the western market of such a model and the title will spearhead EA’s “play 4 free” model as it moves away from the traditional retail environment.

This could be the first in a long line of initiatives by the big gaming manufacturers to produce ad supported gaming environments and reduce the cost of video games. In game advertising is already heavily behind the rise in online gaming through the games consoles markets but this is the first attempt to launch a web based system. It is going to be interesting how they include the ads into the environment as it will be difficult to keep them in the context of the game, as this is key to its success. But the fact that it is a web interface gives it an advantage over the console based online games. Firstly I would imagine there is a page display which uses a border for elements of the game controls, this provides some space, outside of the game environment which they can sell to advertisers without spoiling the experience too much. Also, there will be log in screens and menu’s they can use for advertising partners.

It will be interesting to see how this works and from a marketers perspective, what response is generating from the ads and whether users pay them any attention at all.

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Two contrasting articles have been released today regarding the issues online gamers have been experiencing with th Xbox live platform over the Christmas period.

On the bbc dot life blog the article Xbox live goes limp the focus is very much on the apparent failings of microsoft to produce a good platform for online gaming and on the way they have let down their user base. The writer seems to have an issue with Microsoft and describes this incident as following a pattern set by Microsoft and Xbox for making a mistake and then trying to make amends, in this case by offering a free game download for Xbox live users.

Yahoo News’ article reports the same story but backed up by some more statistics which paints a slightly different picture of the situation when viewed in line with the article from the BBC. In this article the writer explains that Xbox live has at present 8 million registered users and it was purely the size of the take up and usage over the holiday period which caused the outages. The success of the games Halo 3 and Mass Effect had simply pushed the Xbox Live system to its limits and slowed the system down.

These two scenarios present the situation in a completely different light from a microsoft point of view. On the one hand the first article was suggesting that maybe the Xbox live system was not all it was made out to be and that Microsoft were not as advanced as they may claim. While the second few articles show the future as being very bright for the microsoft boys and that it is simply a case of things taking off quicker than expected.

As a digital marketer I was looking at these articles and considering what they meant to in game advertising on the platform. The first one made me think, maybe it is too soon to be getting into? is the platform stable enough yet? and then after reading the next two I was in awe at the scale of the opportunity and the reachable user base. Yes, Microsoft will need to sure up their system but they should have no problems in doing that, and once they do, they can sit back and watch the user base grow and grow based on the current take up figures.

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this subject interests me greatly. with the knowledge the big computer games suppliers are gethering about users through the online gamng networks ads have the potential to be highly targetted to the user. they also have a much higher visibility than other forms of advertising and a higher engagement time. with the right platform this is a massive industry and one which will take off even more in the next 12 months.

Let the Games Begin Advertising! APRIL 6, 2007

Video games are getting down to business.
The practice of using video games as an advertising vehicle is as old as the games industry itself. Early Sega racing games for the Atari 2600 console featured Marlboro display ads on the raceway, and high-profile early-’90s titles such as Zool and the FIFA International series contained ads for Chupa Chups and Adidas, respectively.
But the games are changing.

“In-game advertising will evolve in scope and sophistication, offering new platforms for marketers, new business opportunities for technology providers and vital revenue for game developers, who have struggled with the escalating production costs of increasingly complex games,” says eMarketer Senior Analyst Paul Verna. “eMarketer estimates that over the next five years video game advertising will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 23%, reaching nearly $2 billion by 2011.”

Looking at the US market alone, eMarketer predicts that in-game advertising will reach $969 million in the same time period.

Of this total, a significant percentage will come from “advergames,” video games created as marketing tools, usually with brand awareness as the central objective. In 2006, US advergaming spending is estimated at $164 million, and this figure is expected to rise to $344 million by 2011.

The factors driving the growth of video game advertising include:
Growth of the video game industry overall
Increasing realization among advertisers that games are a viable way to reach their targets
Broadening of the gaming demographic to include older gamers and women
More games that favor online advertising, such as casual games, online games, massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) and third-generation console games with an online connectivity
Proven success of the advergaming model
“As the in-game advertising industry evolves,” says Mr. Verna, “game developers, console manufacturers, advertisers and technology providers are experimenting with new approaches that leverage the shifting demographics of the gaming population.”