One of the questions news and media organizations must consider is financial viability. When considering newsgames as a promising future for news, we often focus on their journalistic promise, their ability to inform. But, can online newsgames make money? Declining newspaper subscriptions are a known issue, and revenues from the online banner advertising so common on websites is in decline (it never matched print or television in revenue anyway). Can advertising in newsgames become viable?
One of the challenges of game-based advertising has been that of relevance. Traditionally, most advertising advertises consumer goods: bleach, crackers, toothpaste, toilet paper. The rise of television advertising during the so-called Golden Age of TV took place partly because television proved an effective way to reach the purchasing decision-makers of households. In the 50s and 60s, that largely meant women, and daytime television advertising continues that trend even in today's ad-averse marketplace.
As we know well, attitudes toward advertising have shifted and, really, evolved into doubt and cynicism. It is no longer sufficient merely to expose people to images in the hopes of eliciting compliance; their very realization that such exposure is happening upsets the process. And no matter how much we may hate the over-commercialization of culture in general, the fact remains that many higher-order cultural practices, including news, are largely underwritten by advertising.
There have been numerous solutions proposed for the so-called "crisis" in advertising. Given the increased popularity of DVR for television ads and the increased cynicism of citizens for outdoor/print ads, most include tighter integration of ads and content. Product placement (Reese's Pieces in E.T.) and "advertainment" (the 2000 BMW Film campaign) are examples.
In videogames, advertising has been a mixed bag. Creative early examples of what we now call "advergames" existed in the early 1980s (Johnson & Johnson's Tooth Protectors for Atari, for example). In-game dynamic ad placement has increased somewhat, but such an increase isn't surprising given the fact that it was non-existent ten years ago. Product placement in games has remained scarce outside of driving games: a Sony Ericsson phone in Splinter Cell might be the best example.
One reason advertising doesn't work well in games is structural. Unlike print or television ads, videogames don't typically have breaks apart from loading screens. This is even true of online games, although pre-roll and on-page ads are possible. But another resulting reason is thematic. Because of their continuous nature, quality game ads would have to tightly couple to the game's theme and environment. With so many games about fantasy, historical, or science fictional worlds, that kind of tight coupling is difficult if not impossible. A sprite machine in Medieval: Total War makes little sense.
Ironically, the one game that is most conducive to integrating consumer goods is also the most popular PC game: The Sims. Here is a title that takes place in a house. People perform ordinary tasks like eating, sleeping, and hanging around. They even go to the toilet.
EA experimented with product placement (mostly an Intel computer in The Sims and an ill-fated McDonalds stand in The Sims Online), but they've since been very explicit about their intention not to do so again, saying that products don't improve the player experience. Of course, EA sells its products outright, and The Sims doesn't need any help making money.
But there might be an interesting opportunity for product placement of some kind in journalistic games. The thinking would go like this: what consumer goods really need is a legitimate real-life context. Not a panic room covered in blood, not a space station galley, but the actual, corporeal world. Such a context allows products' features and functions as well as the images of their appearance to exist more naturally. Whether or not such a step makes game worlds feel more "realistic" notwithstanding (I don't personally believe this), news organizations might want to choose game design opportunities that open the door for product placement as a way of addressing both the journalistic and the business climate.
The initial thought is galling, perhaps, and journalists are well aware of the tensions between editorial and marketing. But given the long history of dealing with such discomfort, it is possible that the news might be better at it than other venues. The problems of coupling editorial and ad sales logistically also might prove a burden too hard to overcome given the present organization of news organizations.
Consider an example: when we were working on CNN Campaign Rush at Persuasive Games, CNN brought up the topic of in-game placement. Since it's an ordinary office, the idea of integrating placed objects such as office machines, pizza boxes, and the like might seem natural. The idea certainly wouldn't have interfered with the journalistic intent of the game (if even there was one, which is another question).
But the process of getting ad sales to confirm placement in a fashion that would also correspond with the typically unreasonable development schedule of this scenario was impossible to orchestrate. This is, I believe, the real obstacle to developing creative advertising revenues in games: an under-developed or unwilling ad sales organization. While it may not be the most pure of journalistic questions, asking "what sort of advertisers could we sell into games" ought to be a thought experiment run by news organizations.
Here's to wishing Wong Kar Wai makes an advergame on par with his entry in that BMW film campaign. God knows we 360 fanboys could use something more substantive than the Yaris game or the Cheetos Dash of Destruction "community" game.
While I don't like ads in video games which I already paid $50 to $60 dollars for. If there is going to be advertising in games, it has to make sense. I don't want to see medication ads in a puzzle game nor would I want to see clothing ads in first person shooters. The only genres that are acceptable are sports, music simulation games, racing games and realistic open world games. I don't want to be barraged with ads; they need to be an undertone that I don't have to perceive.
I think adds are acceptable if they're done right, say some post apocolyptic first person shooter with run down billboards and the like, but out of place adds would totally destroy the immersion.
Steve
Covert Hypnosis
This is definitely going to be the future for gaming. I think there were Obama ads in some of the games before the election.
Yup, there were Obama billboards in Burnout: Paradise! Clearly the reason he won ; )