My topic today is video game advertising. Paul Tassi, contributor to Forbes Magazine, wrote this article on the topic. In it, Tassi analyzes a future path for advertisements within video games.
As in any form of media, corporations and businesses will find ways to push the demographic into consuming a product of some sort. Tassi states that the video game industry is "underutilized" for advertising purposes. This is often true. Ads are rarely seen in some of the biggest video game titles. Most ads with in the game itself are for fake companies used to make the game seem realistic. For example, Nuka Cola is a very obvious parody of Coca Cola that is used in the Fallout series. This is a recurring event in almost all games striving for realism, even the largest of titles such as Grand Theft Auto. So why are corporations not paying attention to the advertising opportunity that is video games? I believe it is mostly due to the poor representation of video games and gamers in other media. In movies or television, video games are typically portrayed in a negative manner.
However, Paul Tassi believes public opinion is beginning to change on the subject of video games. I agree that the term "gamer" has become more broad. It can now mean anything from playing tetris on your phone to competing in national competitions. This is why Tassi stated three years ago that "in-game ad spending will double by 2016". This hypothesis is beginning to be proven true as in game ads are becoming more dominant according to a Statista Article. Examples would definitely be games such as Trials Fusion and Fifa 2015. So is this a good thing for the gaming industry? Or does it hurt the immersion that video games bring forth? Let me know what you think!
Until next time,
David
I can't really claim to know too much about video games, but when I saw the title of this blog post, I immediately recoiled from the idea of advertisements in video games. I had assumed ads to mean disruptive commercials that would crop up as you play the game, which would definitely cut into its immersive experience. But now that I realize ads are very subtly incorporated as product placement in the game, such as the Nuka Cola example, they seem relatively harmless. Video games are a platform that definitely give advertisers great leeway when it comes to creativity.
ReplyDeleteVideo games are major creativity centers. The use of parody advertisements calls the attention of gamers and allows for a sense of realism to set in. If I were to be playing a video game I would rather not have advertisements continuously popping out. I'd much rather appreciate the creativeness the makers put into such a game.
ReplyDeleteI'd by lying if I said I knew much about video games. In fact, I would say I've actively avoided learning about them. Anyways, I think the reason there isn't product placement in video games is because it would be difficult to end the promotion. Let's say you're the developer of the latest Crash Bandicoot game (that's still a thing, right?), and Coca Cola comes up to you and offers you 100 bitcoins (or whatever currency they use now) to show Professor Cortex taking a big sip of a refreshing Cherry Coke. If you integrate that animation into your game, it will be there forever, even though Coke only paid you once. So even ten years in the future, when you have long since spent those 100 bitcoins, those coke ads will still be playing.
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