Gameindustry.biz recently posted an interview Mark Androvich had with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. In it several foreboding passages can be derived regarding the fate of Blizzard's time-honored franchises and the "opportunities" this jackass sees to exploit the fanbase to bring in the big bucks through in-game advertising.

"Kotick says that, on the Blizzard side, the company has started to think about how Starcraft - as a short session experience - can actually be the model for in-game advertising and sponsorship and tournament play and ladder play for the future."


This, people, is balls on the wall trouble.

About a year or so back I ran a statistical analysis about in-game advertising as a final project in a statistics course. The specifics focus on people's attention to the ads, if they noticed them at all, if they were bothered by them and if so by how much, if it prevented them from buying certain games with foreknowledge of in-game adverts contained within, etc. Surprisingly the numbers came back significantly differently than I'd predicted (I'll stick some charts and whatnot in later to back it up if people demand the figures). It seems as if most people really don't give a crap if their games are plastered with ads or not. As a person that loathes the majority of ads I see on pure principle alone, I really have a problem understanding this indifferent attitude the majority of gamers take towards the corruption of our favorite pastime with insipid advertising. Think about it! Do you want to see Coke and Pizza Hut ads plastered over Space Marines as they blow the crap out Hydralisks?

As with most things, this is relative. There are certain games, specifically those that take place in current times and settings, where in-game adverts for real products can actually enhance the believability and authenticity of some environments. The problem is that a whole lot of in-game ads appear completely out of context, having absolutely no relevance with the environs created within the games they happen to be blemishing.

Everyone knows all about BF2142, which is one of the worst cases, but who remembers Pizza Hut ads popping up in EverQuest II? How about this abomination, which features Nintendo's kid-targeted Dewy's Adventure packed with ads for Nestle's Aquapod product:



Note that this advert just pops up out of the abyssal nothingness that's created between the completion of a stage and the next menu system. There's no precedence for it, there's no context to account for it, it's simply Nestle peddling their crap in a kid's game.

This kind of idiocy doesn't fly.

Advertisers: Listen up. You want to advertise in games? You want to make millions from the billions publishers are raking in? The rule is simple: Stay contemporary. Sports games are fine! Games that take place in New York right now are fine! On the other-hand, fantasy games, sci-fi games, any games involving a fictional reality that couldn't possibly be related to our own are off-limits. You see, we gamers enjoy games for many reasons, but one of the most prominent is that they allow us to experience a story, setting and reality without being reminded that there's coke to drink, shades to wear or cars to buy out in the real world. Keep your filthy mitts off of games that have no place featuring your shit, and gamers at large will have no problem swallowing your product placement. This information should be exceedingly more important in the coming years when in-game adverts really start to take off, and as long as you avoid pissing a lot of people off, you'll do fine.

As for me, I'm lost forever to strategically inept advertising, as I'm always pissed off at something. Sorry, it's the curse of being Jewish.

Well, one of them.

As a side note - Don't like my pixelated Zoe shrug? Find me a high-res version!

UPDATE!

Apparently, some folk were concerned about the things Bobby Kotick said in regards to Starcraft and in-game advertising, and so Blizzard has issued a little damage control.

Blizzard: "We have no plans to have in-game advertising in StarCraft II. We believe Bobby was actually referring to Battle.net, which has always included ads."

http://www.blizzplanet.com/?action=news&id=2170

I think we can all heave a collective sigh of relief...those of you that actually give a damn, of course.