Sony has some big news coming out today: The company will allow “dynamic” ads to be placed in PlayStation 3 games. The Wall Street Journal is calling it “a boost for what could become a significant new revenue source for games companies” while Forbes thinks Sony is “set to ignite the world of advertising in videogames…”
Interesting, since the Xbox 360 has been doing this for nearly two years now. At the time (back in 2006), the gaming industry seemed pretty excited at what looked like a new source of revenue. But not much followed in terms of details of how this was to be a game changer for advertising (lame pun intended).
Now we have Sony joining the party late (sound familiar?) and everyone appears to be excited again about the prospects of in-game advertising. Not surprisingly, Electronic Arts will be the first publisher to feature dynamic ads inside its PS3 games. Upcoming version of Madden NFL, Need for Speed, and NBA Live will be among the first to have changing billboards and specific soda cans used.
But some questions are still unanswered this time around. Just how much advertising will gamers tolerate after paying $50-$60 for the game in the first place? And some games, such as fantasy or role playing games, might not work well with Diet Coke and Mitsubishi. Ads in such games might seem a little weird and out of place.
Not much has been done in terms of market research on in-game ad tolerance levels. But then again, not much complaining has been done on the amount that has existed for the last two years. Whatever the case, here’s hoping ad agencies and publishers don’t abuse this new way of reaching their target audience. Of course, “abuse” is going to mean different things to different gamers.
