Ads In Video Games And (Apparently) A Good PR Staff
from the what's-new-here? dept
People have been talking for years about the idea of ads in video games -- and, in fact, they've been showing up more and more. One of the issues, though, was always keeping the ads up-to-date. With that in mind, a few companies have been experimenting with ways to do so. In fact, there were stories last year about companies working on exactly that. So, with that in mind, it's not clear why just about every publication seems to feel the need to talk about a me-too offering that seems to do the same thing. However, the San Jose Merc, News.com, the New York Times, Reuters and plenty of others all seem to be carrying the story. Apparently, this particular firm has a fairly impressive PR team. Most of these articles seem to just be parroting the story that the company wanted released, which doesn't seem particularly interesting at all. They're just adding dynamic ads into video games. That doesn't seem particularly special. What would be interesting is whether or not anyone actually pays attention to these ads, or if they're a complete waste -- but only the NY Times piece seems to even question that, and they don't go too deeply into it, either.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Longevity question
For that matter, will I be able to play the game on a machine that doesn't have an Internet connection?
You'd think the companies involved would consider these issues, but experience tells me they probably wouldn't.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Can we boycott these games?
Therea re plenty of games out there. Do I have to play the ones that have ads?
- Precision Blogger
http://precision-blogging.blogspot.com
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Can we boycott these games?
While I agressively filter almost all poorly targeted advertising (e.g. Firefox Adblock, no-call list, locked credit reports, disposable e-mail addresses, TiVo...) I strangely enough don't mind ads or product placement in games. Seeing a billboard for a soft drink in a racing game, or the ads surrounding the field in a sports game makes it more realistic.
The publishers will likely screw this up for a while. But, since game publishing is a zero-marginal-cost business, the situation will likely correct itself quickly if there is any backlash from gamers.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Can we boycott these games?
[ link to this | view in thread ]