Ad's infiltrating a new game

It might be hard to swallow, but its hard to imagine a media in the future that will lack the presence of advertising. This trend can be seen in the infiltration and proliferation of ads in the mobile phone industry becoming a reality. But Google has entered another market. It's no secret that video games has been a burgeoning industry in the past decade, and its seeing some of its most impressive growth recently. So its only a matter of time until in game advertising becomes a norm in the industry an d infiltrates our day to day gaming.

In the past couple days, the speculation about Google purchasing Adscape have become a reality. The specific details of the acquisition have not been revealed but some "estimate it at 23 million." Adscape specializes in in-game advertising and is driven by the mantra, that in-game advertising aids in making games that were otherwise not possible to make. The extra ad revenue that game developers receive from the advertising enables them to make better games apparently.

In-game advertising has been around for a bit. I know in sports games and even in RPG games, i have seen ads before and it hasn't really bothered me. Sadly it brings a sense of realism to the game, giving a more real world feel. I mean if the goal is for games to be as realistic as possible, when was the last time you were driving in car and didn't see a bunch of ads on the side of the road.

To a certain extent, I think in-game advertising is a great thing, as long as its not intrusive to the gaming experience, and does not become the focal point at any time. The advertising has to be ancillary to the gaming experience.

The next generation consoles have created this virtual marketplaces to accompany the gamer's experience, which provides a whole new world for advertisers to make their presence known. Playstation 3 has their recently announced Playstation Home. Its like second life specifically talilored to PS3 users. Gamer's create their own avatars and homes, and interact with other gamers, giving them the opportunity to purchase content, or just find a friend to play a game with. I think this is where advertisers will see the most effective arena for the advertising.

the marriage between gaming systems, the internet, and dynamic advertising creates new possibilities for advertisers to more effectively deliver relevant advertising to a ever expanding universe of gamers. As long as these advertisements remain secondary to the gaming experience and are done in good taste, I can see this as a great new market for advertisers to enter.