GDC '08: 'Advergames' on the rise

By Randolph Ramsay, GameSpot AUPosted Feb 20, 2008 11:10 pm PT

Advertising-in-games guru says developers should expect more big companies to get on the advergames bandwagon.

If you're the type who hates the increasing amount of advertising within video games--and in particular entire "advergames" such as the Burger King series--then David J Edery, Microsoft's worldwide games portfolio manager for Xbox Live, has some bad news for you: It's going to get a lot worse.

Edery--who is also the author of the upcoming book For Fun and Profit: How Video Games Are Transforming the Business World (a book neither paid for nor endorsed by Microsoft)--says the success of games such as Sneak King for fast-food joint Burger King means more big-name corporations will jump on the advergames bandwagon. Edery was speaking today at GDC at a session titled Advertising and Games: Opportunities, Pitfalls, and Competition.

"Burger King sold 3.2 million copies [of their advergame series]. I think game developers and publishers need to be aware that this is only going to get bigger," he said. "Imagine McDonald's thinking about this. So now you're talking about an advertiser who's willing to sell a game for $4, and spending the same amount of money on development as some of our industry's AAA titles. It's a little scary."

As for advertising within other games, Edery says gamers are becoming more savvy and will more often have negative feelings toward any products or services featured in overt in-game advertisements that they notice. The solution for prospective advertisers, Emery says, is to eliminate recognition; in other words, advertise in games in a way that gamers won't notice. This means fitting into that particular gameworld seamlessly and in as natural a way as possible.

"[Advertisers] have to resist the temptation to stand out in unnatural ways," he said. "For example, don't fill a game city with billboards for a single brand, or don't put current ads in futuristic games."

54 Comments

  • kono11

    Posted Feb 23, 2008 4:21 pm PT

    Yup, this is getting ridiculous. But that's very good when there's advertising on games. Ya, teh seller will do anything to get their porduct sold. Imagine if GTAIV has coca-cola that can refresh your health and stamina, andAnd remember the Ferrari Challenge. I think it "advertise" Pirelli tires. So, advergaming 's OK, if the way's good.

  • greater_bird

    Posted Feb 23, 2008 5:20 am PT

    I don't mind if companies pay to create games that advertise their own brand, like the Burger King ones. Okay, such games are usually really bad, but you know exactly what you're getting - a game that exists to promote its brand.

    The teeth-grinding branding, for me, is when you're innundated with car ads, drink ads, etc in a game that has no connection with those topics. And save me from the day when my half-elf archer finds an ad for a Zune on the town notice board... shudder...

  • Lord_Regnier

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 1:22 pm PT

    Please no!

  • necronaux

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 11:12 am PT

    It's bad enough corporations have taken over sports arenas, but now they have their sights on game franchises. Just imagine: McDonald's Halo; KFC Final Fantasy; Depends Devil May Cry; Viagra Virtu-Fighter 6… If it lead to lower game prices, some in-game advertising may be tolerable, but I can’t see it happening.

  • thaobserva6160

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 8:43 am PT

    I never knew those Burger King games were so popular...

    If there were advertisements on billboards in a virtual city or other things that fit into the game seamlessly and don't annoy/distract the player, then that's all fine & dandy.

  • Erebus

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 12:32 am PT

    McDiculous. You just made my night.

    If they make Grand Theft Hamburgler IV on a 30 million dollar budget and sell it for $4, a rift will open on Earth leading to Darwin IV where Zeebamus' will gnaw off our faces while preaching their gospel.

    In other words, only then would I pay attention.

  • PumpkinBoogie

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 8:51 pm PT

    "This is McRidiculous"


    LOL....frankly HellaStoned it's not only that, but McCreepy. Hell, I remeber when that BK one came out a few years back and thinking "nobody's gonna really take this s*** serious?", but when I heard BK was sellin' these things like hotcakes---that's when it really hit me how low video gaming and advertisment had actually become....and to think, it's getting worse??

    Damn, if that creepy-ass BK King dude ain't even the worse of things to come then I'm terrifed to think of what IS......*shudders*

  • living_wmd_888

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 8:40 pm PT

    Ripoff! It's bad enough we have to have ads we can't remove splashed all over eveything, but goddamn if I'm going to PAY for someone else's advertising! F@ck that!

  • HellaStoned

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 8:13 pm PT

    This is McRidiculous.

  • nate1222

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 7:24 pm PT

    I'm with SHACKR on this one. Some Advergames "might" be fun but I'm NOT buying any. And on the issue of "fitting into...seamlessly", it's understandable. In certain genres and plots it makes sense and can help pay the bills. Say, in a racing game, race cars have ads all over them in real life. Sports titles in particular are no-brainers. Games with contemporary urban setting would seem a natural fit. Just don't go so far that the game itself is a $60 advertisement!

  • GrimGravy

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 7:20 pm PT

    F#@k this. leave my games alone please bad enough i have to get an ear full of it when i drive to work and school or turn on the TV.

  • SHACKR

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 6:37 pm PT

    Advergames are just corporal shovelware.

  • rockstar_88

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 4:52 pm PT

    Yeah, advertising methods in Guitar Hero III on the 360 were terrible, and that's really the only game I've played with any sort of advertising. That 5 gum is great, but what does it have to do with song selections? It doesn't make me want to play the guitar while I'm chewing a stick. Or an Axe Guitar? A guitar is a chick magnet in itself in real life, but even too much Axe will make anyone go away.

  • Merl57

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 4:39 pm PT

    THIS IS WRONG!

  • TraAus

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 4:11 pm PT

    "The solution for prospective advertisers, Emery says, is to eliminate recognition; in other words, advertise in games in a way that gamers won't notice."

    I know that this is supposed to make it cheaper for developers but at the same time isn't that kinda like subliminal? Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but if I don't notice it then how would I realize that its trying to advertise to me a message?

  • AncientDozer

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 3:51 pm PT

    GTA is one of the best games for this. Heh. If you saw a coke advertisement you wouldn't think much of it.

  • revelations

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 3:45 pm PT

    Burnout Paradise is currently.....well, you know how bad that one is. Great game....just the advertising is so blantant and EA-ish. Makes me a little sad. As if EA need the extra cash to pay for development hehe. Criterion....sorry!

  • juggleballz

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 3:32 pm PT

    GTA4 or any GTA for that matter should NEVER have in game ads, or product placements. It detracts from the humor and fictious world. I love searching around shops in Vice City and San Andreas to read the funny product names they used. It adds to the "want to discover things" feeling one gets whilst playing the game. If I saw Mars Bars and Snickers,a nd frigging Coca Cola cans in shops would I bother my ass looking at them, hell no. But someone(s) earlier made an interesting comment, if ads are going to be placed in games, those games should be made cheaper. Its like those "free magazines" you can get (well in Ireland anyway) that have loads of ads in them. They are free becuase the ads pay for the production and wages. In that case the games should be marketed cheaper making them fly off the shelf and therefore the advertising campaign and target market spreads faster. Now I actually do not condone this in the slightest, but if these big games companies make billions of people, then make more of advertising without thinking at all for the end user (us) then I won't be happy.

  • lamprey263

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 2:29 pm PT

    I think in game advertising should be like real world advertising, where we'd see the ads in games like we'd see them in real life, like on billboards and on TV or on a computer screen surfing the net or over a radio or something. I'm gonna be pissed when all my favorite heroes and villains are tarted up with ads like a NASCAR vehicle.

  • sharpshooter188

    Posted Feb 21, 2008 2:04 pm PT

    thats the one of things i hate about the usa and being a us citizen. there are adverts EVERYWHERE. I get irritated as hell when people come up and try to advertise to me and especially when they persist. On top of which some companys will fire their employees for not advertising special deals etc. it sickens me.

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