Whether you like in-game advertising or not, it’s only going to be a matter of time till it becomes a huge business. So to prepare itself for the onslaught, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced the formation of a new in-game advertising company and it’ll be headed by Darlene Kindler, who has previously worked for Nintendo and Google’s Adscape Media.
This push towards in-game advertising is on the heels of a partnership back in July between television research firm The Nielsen Company and Sony to track and measure the effectiveness of advertisements for the PlayStation 3 and its PlayStation Network.
According to the press release, the new in-game advertising will "depict brands in various forms within the game, where users would expect to see them in real life on billboards and posters, on shopping bags and soda cans and on images of TV screens."
In my opinion, if in-game advertising reduces retail and developmental costs of games, then I’m game. Ubisoft released a few games for free briefly last month and it garnered some criticism. But, hey, who can pass up Far Cry and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for free, even if you have to look at awkward product placement.
