Remember when you heard that Xbox 360 and PS3 games were going to cost 60 dollars, up from 50 dollars in the previous generation. A 20% increase is a lot and I’m sure, just like me, you were unhappy.
The only saving grace was all the talk of in-game advertising. The idea being if publishers could sell enough advertising it would cost gamers less. Well where the hell is our cut?
I first really noticed in-game adverts while playing Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. There were these giant billboards that said "Viva Dodge!" or had the Dodge Ram logo on it. I’ll bet Dodge paid quite a bit for having the exclusive advertising on the billboards in virtual Mexico. So with all that advertising, which I clearly noticed if I’m writing about it years later, why did the game still cost 60 dollars?
Now EA has just extended their deal with Massive Inc, the company that has done the adverts for the EA sports games in the past (you’ve probably heard of Madden) will now continue to provide their service through the 2010 seasons. Massive already does the advertising for the Tom Clancy games, including Ghost Recon, and will also be providing the advertising for many other EA games, like Need for Speed.
The NFS games are reported to bring EA close to 5 million dollars in advertising according to this report by the Wall Street Journal (subscribers only, but you can probably get the gist from the first couple of paragraphs).
Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive said, "This multiyear partnership reflects both the maturity of the dynamic in-game advertising medium and the benefits that our network continues to deliver for both publishers and advertisers."
So publishers are making money hand over fist for in-game advertising. Massive is making money, having secured the advertising rights for industry heavyweights EA. And consumers? We still pay 60 dollars a game.
I’m all for in-game ads. I don’t mind seeing "Viva Dodge!" while I sneak around a building in Mexico, but I want my cut. If you’re going to shove advertising in my face I should at least be benefiting from it. I’m not saying the games should be free, but even dropping 10 dollars would be nice. It would make us feel less exploited knowing how much money publishers are making and I think most would agree.
[via Gameasutura]
