A gamer's nightmare: Trials for in-game ads begin

Posted Feb 16, 2007 at 1:44AM by QJ Staff Listed in: Tags: Google, in-game ads, McDonald's, Wal-Mart

Well, it looks like there's no turning back now.

As it turns out, Valve is starting to test out the use of in-game ads for their titles, and the first guinea pig for this experiment is none other than Counterstrike 1.6 (screenies above, both courtesy of SK Gaming). Despite the flurry of protests that the mere mention of in-game advertising tends to generate, many game companies may soon be following Valve's lead.

While some fans argue that the sight of a real-world item being advertised inside a game tends to be detrimental to the whole experience, devs have noted that this form of advertising is actually beneficial for everyone in the long run.

After all, it generates revenue for game-makers.

Revenue equals more (and better) games.

More games equals happy gamers.

On top of that, there have been promises that the ads will remain discreet and out of the player's way.

At the moment, Valve is displaying advertisements for Portal and the upcoming Orange and Black boxes, all of which are their own products.

There have been earlier reports that Google ads may also end up invading the gaming world, and this has caused many to fear the possibility of having to encounter an in-game advertisement for Starbucks in a war-torn, World War II setting. After all, can you imagine running into an ad for McDonald's as you're crawling the trenches in games like Call of Duty or Brothers In Arms? Or perhaps one for Pedigree puppy food during an Unreal Tournament deathmatch?

On the other hand, there are also those who are willing to reach a compromise between revenue generation for the game companies and immersive gaming experience for the gamers. One point of this compromise involve the conditions which specify that ads that appear in games must be carefully chosen to match the theme and setting of the game itself. (An ad for Subway sandwiches while you're sniping away in 1942 Germany? Nuh-uh.)

Then there's the proposal to release two versions of the game. The pricier one which contains no ads, and the much cheaper version which contains advertisements. Could these possibly be acceptable middle ground for all parties? Either way, both ends of the conversation need to remember several vital things.

First, consumers must bear in mind that no matter what they say, companies will be companies. And this basically means that they are businesses, first and foremost. They have costs to cover, people to pay, and resources to maintain. Game developers, background artists, scorers, renderers, and programmers all want to make a decent living, just like you and me.

Producing game discs with pretty covers and awesome graphics takes money, and even the most pure-hearted and most dedicated member of the industry will need some place to get the necessary funds from. Advertising is a great way to make money. Now, we just have to put two and two together.

Next up, members of the game industry must never forget that the reason why people play games is because they want to be entertained. For a few hours a day, they just want to escape for a while and temporarily forget about the bills, the deadlines, the stress, the projects, and just simply unwind for a bit by either blasting zombies away or shooting sentient rabbits with plungers. This desire to escape and this willingness to be entertained is the seed from which a loyal following springs from, and this fact must be recognized and respected at all times.

People work hard and pay money just to be able to have the chance to get something they enjoy, i.e. the games that they love. Therefore, it's up to the makers of the games to not disappoint. How do they do this, in this particular situation? By not ruining it for everyone by reminding them of their boss (who requires them to grab a coffee from Starbucks every morning), of the groceries that need to be bought (Wal-Mart ads on a wall in ancient China?), and the credit card bills piling up (a MasterCard logo in GTA, is not - and probably never will be - a good idea).

Bottomline is, people must recognize the fact that this is a symbiotic relationships of sorts. However, if one party goes too far and demands too much without giving back, everything just morphs into something parasitic.

56 Jumps Another PSP exploit found, works on firmware 6.20 and all PSP models

34 Jumps Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars announced for Autumn 2010

32 Jumps Square Enix profits up almost 50 percent, FFXIII sells 1.8M units in Japan

30 Jumps Nomura to make Kingdom Hearts III a reality 'as quickly as possible'

29 Jumps God Eater has extremely customer-friendly shops

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27 Jumps PSP homebrew - PMPlayer Advance v3.0.8

25 Jumps Spike TV casting call for God of War reality show

22 Jumps PSPlayerMT For PSP - Direct AVI Player Works On All the PSP

19 Jumps Custom Firmware 5.50GEN-D3 final released

Comments

# Oh my god — Guest 2007-02-15 20:19

OMG WTF, I thought this was Counter-Strike 1.6 for the PSP! I got sad after scrolling down and didn't see a download link.

Anyways, I think Valve are retarded if they put ads in Counter-Strike: Source. I could care less about 1.6 because I don't play that ***** anyways :).

# sigh — Guest 2007-02-15 20:27

"On top of that, there have been promises that the ads will remain discreet and out of the player's way."

That portal ad says otherwise -__-"

# kewl tbh — Guest 2007-02-15 20:29

If sucht hing would be implemented in games like GTA, it would be friggin awesome, cause that would actually give you the feel of being inside a city.

# more realistic — MickMog 2007-02-15 20:53

its better if real day to day adverts can be incorporated, as far as that portal ad being in teh players way....well, i cant see any chance of falling over it, not as if it was a big mac burger stand, it was a sign on a wall, id say that was discreet enough for me.

# hmmm — Threatened 2007-02-15 20:58

or they could always pay random people to go around servers putting their sprays to adverts and tagging the place and leaving ;P

# youre totally right — Guest 2007-02-15 20:58

that's nothing discreet at all... if they really want to make ads in videogames they should put there stores in games like gta... they advertise + it isn't to seeable between the other fake shops

it's just what i think

# But I already paid once — Guest 2007-02-15 21:34

My biggest problem is that I already paid for the game once. But now it seems the game companies thinks I want to pay again by generating advertising revenue for them. And some companies (hello EA) even thinks I don't mind if they snoop on me to optimize the advertising.

I won't be buying any game that requires me to pay over and over (except for MMOs that has a clear need too generate revenue to cover the cost of running the service). And I especially will not allow anyone to invade my privacy just to generate more money for their tired old rehashes of the same titles (hello EA - again).

# It's begun... — Shatterdome 2007-02-15 21:51

It's a small step, but it's started. I guess valve wants people to upgrade and buy one of their new games

Hopefully this won't happen to source, but I never play that anymore since Gears :)

I doubt we would see ads in single player games, unless they would fit the scenario (real world ads in sports, racing, and gta'ish games would be ok). Otherwise I think they will keep it in multi-player, like ads durring the mid round score screen, or when you are waiting for a round to end....if I see McDonalds ads in Gears 2, I will cry

or I better get it for $10.

# hmm — Guest 2007-02-15 21:51

tl;dr

wipeout 2097 (xl) had red bull ads all through it, but that worked somehow, coz it was kinda related and cool...

ads can work, as long as they are unintrusive, and not overdone...

and related!

...oh, that pic looks like its just a spray logo

# half life 2 — MickMog 2007-02-15 22:11

half life 2 had the valve logo to hint wherethere was supplies n ammo and stuff, thisll just baffle u a bit more i think

# what a load of old tripe — Guest 2007-02-15 22:21

The only games that could warrent adverts are online games, because you pay for the product and you play it for that one price. You dont buy a DVD or a music CD and then be forced to watch or listen to random adverts throughout the presentation (unless its well-placed product placement that doesnt interfere with the movie!).

Games developers arnt all that smart really, and the buisness people just want to make money, they dont care how the adverts are implemented aslong as they are there to generate more money.

If its an online game with adverts, the money made should either make monthly subscriptions a thing of the past for games like MMORPGs, or the advertisement money should go back to the point who actually host the private multiplayer servers. Afterall if adverts are forced onto people in the valve-way, it means that all the game servers that are run for free are giving Valve a piece of their own bandwidth that THEY pay for. Its not right to do that, and if they do, then the game host should get the advert money, not the game developer.

The game developer will have already recouped their development cost from the store sales of the games (unless its a crap game of course!). After an online FPS is released, its the general public who host their servers openly, and use their own bandwidth for other people to play online through.

# i dont think so — Guest 2007-02-15 22:42

i find rockstar fake ads ALOT more amusing than

'I'm Lovin' IT' and ***** like that

# Who cares? — Guest 2007-02-15 22:56

Who cares? Counter-strike sucks big time anyway...

With adds, without adds...its the same sh1t...

Not to mention that all CS fans are retardeds...

# ***** you — Guest 2007-02-15 23:10

***** you

# ... — VgSlag 2007-02-15 23:39

While I don't particularly like it I'm not worried about ads being out of place.

For god sake, people will have spent a lot of money putting them there, there won't be dog food ads in Unreal Tournament, they will all be targeted.

How many sanitary towl adverts do you see during wrestlemania?

# uugh — Guest 2007-02-15 23:44

That portal ad is so out of place, its ugly....

# Adda — Guest 2007-02-16 00:34

Adds would be ok if they where incorperated into the games and where on in game signs or something but games must mot turn into a pop up haven. EA e.g. in burnout have advestising for need for speed but that thype of thing is ok. There are a few of them and they are unintrusive and add to the game but it ia only a few in a track. There should not be games with thousands on adds in the level.

Why do you need pop up adds. Just the add business get someone in a server and spraypaint ads.

# ***** you — Guest 2007-02-16 01:11

***** you

# Meh — Guest 2007-02-16 03:21

I have no problems with these ads as long as they are in reason. For instance If I'm playing Oblivion I obviously don't wanna come across a car ad. However I think if its a game like CS why not? Its based in present day and ads are everywhere in our world so if anything it should help to make the experience even more realistic.

# not good — bobafett5607 2007-02-16 04:05

This in no way improves the game experience. The big companies just want to make more money. I personally think the ads look silly, but I hope this terrible idea never gets going.

# Meh. — Guest 2007-02-16 04:19

People gotta do what they gotta do. Personally, i'm ok with what they've done. Just so long as they don't put animated, sound playing ads. (f***ing smilie ad...) If they were to do THAT, i'd be pissed.

But personally, it's not that big a deal unless they're flashy and distracting. So far, so good.

# .. — Guest 2007-02-16 04:24

"After all, it generates revenue for game-makers.

Revenue equals more (and better) games."

Yeah, as you can see in Free-TV ;P

More and more advertisements, but the telecasts suck more and more with every new day.. result: I don't watch TV anymore!

Hope this doesn't happen to Games :/

# bah — Guest 2007-02-16 04:39

this is *****e. Advertising should stay the hell away from gaming.

zomg like i'm gonna pay attention to some sign on the wall whilst trying to blow up stuff with a rocket launcher. its pointless, & out of place.

# Commercial in loading? — Guest 2007-02-16 04:43

Why not put commercial into the loading screens instead? It's no doubt more fun than watching a stupid black screen for 10 seconds.

# spray — Guest 2007-02-16 05:04

How do we know this is true, not just his spray?

# Discreet — Guest 2007-02-16 05:07

Why would a company pay for discreet advertising. The whole point is to get their product in our minds. If i's not visible why would we buy it?? Some ads are already in sports games and you notice them but they aren't plastered on the wall right in front of you like they maybe in a FPS.

# Power of the consumer — Guest 2007-02-16 05:43

One way to stop it before it gets going, is to organize, track, and report games with ads in them. And boycott those games. Poster above mentioned tv. I feel the same way. I don't watch tv now, because I am overwhelmed with ads. I hate watching tv now. It's all garbarge

Same is going to happen with games. Every load screen will be an ad. And then you'll see load screen times increase and increase, because the advertiser wants more time to display their ad. Which game devs, will say "hell yes, for more money please". Which the reply will be "sure no problem, we have loads of money".

The consumer in the end will be screwed, as always.

# Not only — Guest 2007-02-16 06:00

that, boycott the games, and the advertisers.

# not entirely true — GODzillaSDM 2007-02-16 06:01

I have no problems with ads, as long as it makes sense to the environment. Games like GTA or SIMS, etc can have these ads and it will maybe even make these games more realistic. Instead of the fake pizza place in GTA:SA, they could've used Pizza Hut. However, I wouldn't like to see the ad in CS:S gameplay. It would ruin the scenerey and realism. I don't mind too much ads in online lobby and chatrooms tho. But more money for developers means more money for better game developments which is better for gamers.

Even in some sci fi games, ads are possible. But they have to make it fit nicely into the scenery or map.

# Yeah — Demon Slayer 2007-02-16 06:25

I think it would be great to see real products sitting on the shelves in GTA.

I DON'T want a huge Portal ad in my way when I'm trying to plant a bomb or kill some terrorists. That ad's about as discrete trying to sneak an elephant into the White House.

# äää — Guest 2007-02-16 06:34

leute was heißt der artikel kommt cs 1.6 für PSP oder wie????

# big deal — Guest 2007-02-16 06:42

look , im all for this. GOOD game devs know limits to put in games, and if they can keep their companies alive thru ads, GO FOR IT. the gaming industry is on its way to die again, and ads might slow it down. the only place u r going to see

"Every load screen will be an ad. And then you'll see load screen times increase and increase, because the advertiser wants more time to display their ad"

is in crap license games, (note CRAP license games).

good studios are run by gamers 4 gamers, and they know how far they can push...

# PSP Suckdates — Guest 2007-02-16 07:29

OMG WTF, SMB (Suck My Balls),

And I quote, "Revenue equals more (and better) games." What a load of crap. That's like syaing The more money you spend on a movie the better it will be. Anyone heard of Ishtar? Waterworls?

# Yea dude — Guest 2007-02-16 07:38

I was wondering why while playing Resistance, all of a sudden the Burger King grabbed me and started biting me. That fool took like 30 Auger rounds to kill!

# ... — Guest 2007-02-16 08:13

well looks like it is time to make anti ad sprays

# seen it before — nateo200 2007-02-16 08:21

i have seen in games ads in several diffrent games i like it it adds realism i first saw it in ghost recon (which i hope comes out for psp!)

# but — nateo200 2007-02-16 08:23

but what i dont like is when they are completetly random and out of place!

# stop *****in — seargent007 2007-02-16 08:26

come now guys. First its nicely realistic, second, the more money a company makes, the more updates and products they make. In fact, thats how EA affords to keep its game devs to make their game updates (contrary to popular beliefs, the original devs are usually NOT the ones who make updates)

# Subliminal Messages? — Guest 2007-02-16 08:55

If you ask me, by saying "On top of that, there have been promises that the ads will remain discreet and out of the player's way." it kinda leads me to believe that this is going down the line of subliminal messages, why would you want to add adverts to a game anyway?

And... Sony are already making less money than Nintendo, so adding this into games is going to make it all A LOT worse... as for having things in games that were never meant to be there, or having something moden in a game set in medievil times, its going to get annoying and just be totally out of place.

Personally I think this will happen for a few games, and then companies will stop as its not working out how they expect.

As for starting to use adverts, there is a big billboard in Spiderman with an advert for a Nokia mobile on it. I think that was a PSP game, but I only saw it in a mag so I'm not 100% sure, but this isn't a wholey new concept.

# . — Guest 2007-02-16 09:24

Imagine a huge ad "CONGRANTULATION S YOU ARE THE 999,999th VISITOR!" blinking in red and white very fast.. ugh.. that would be discusting :)

# ... — Guest 2007-02-16 09:29

The only reason to have ads in games would be for GTA-like games...

Also, why do game-makers do such a thing? Don't they already make enough money from selling their games?

# More Gaming Industy BS — Guest 2007-02-16 09:37

This is just about the gaming industy making more money. NOTHING ELSE.

Remember when we switched to smaller boxes to "pass the savings on to the consumer"? Well boxes got smaller but games never got cheaper oops!

Remember when the top game studios got together and actually released a statement saying that "Next gen titles will be $60 instead of $50. Not because they are harder to make, but because we are seeing what the market will bear"

The "Intellectual Property" angel must be getting tired and worn out for them.

# Total agreement — Guest 2007-02-16 09:43

The revenue goes into someone's pocket, not into the next game. This is just an attempt to bleed more money out of the consumer.

I PAID MY $50. LEAVE MY WALLET ALONE.

# dumbsfchuk — Guest 2007-02-16 10:18

Ads are all around us now and adding them to this game would only make it seem more real

# Destructable Ads — Guest 2007-02-16 10:41

If your going to put ads in games, make them destructable!!! imagine planting a c4 at the base of an ad and blowing it up as well as a nearby pc... that'd be cool. make it fit into the world much better.

# spray — Guest 2007-02-16 10:56

r u all dumb its a spray......i seen this spray b4 being used in office

# False — Guest 2007-02-16 11:01

This is probably not true...

As people who've delved a bit more in messing with files (hell, these are the basics), they'd know that Valve games maps are not regularly updated (especially a 1.6 one), and this is a spray. There's no way they'd be able to actually add that image to every player, considering that it's not a free running and updating game.

# this is not new at all — Guest 2007-02-16 13:26

have u ever played sonic adventure 2 battle? in that game there are billboards advertising in game items like ring capsules or movies about chaos but there are also advertising for some sega games including the ones with night on them and for the sneaker store soap, in fact sonic shoes are supposed to be soap brand

# Oh big deal guys.. — Guest 2007-02-16 13:36

Would you really ***** your pants if you saw a Coke vending machine in GTA? Sides, this isn`t really new. I mean, in Sonic Adventure 2 ads for Phantasy Star Online and other Sega games were seen everywhere on billboards and such. Big deal!! Let people advertise in games, will it really kill the experience? No, its just that you`ll be seeing real world things in game. Big deal.

# .. — Dodo 2007-02-16 14:04

Ads that have no relevance to the game environment, like the article explained will severly put gamers off. It's different in sports games where they actually have ads in real life. As long as they advertise the right products, from the right timeline, setting on the right games, it could be beneficial. Otherwise, it could backfire.

# ads are ok — Guest 2007-02-16 14:18

crackdown has huge billboards that advertise dodge vehicles. the overall approach of dodge to cars kind of fits the feel of the game.

in game advertising is like nudity, done tastefully or artfully it is acceptable by everyone but uptight retards.

# hey — Guest 2007-02-16 14:41

That's not such a bad idea. Gotta be better than seeing a giant floating ad in the middle of a battlefield - kinda surreal.

Oh, and what noobs are running through the comments downvoting any decent argument? Did valve pay you or something?

# . — Guest 2007-02-16 14:46

. Now imagine if that ad was for Microsoft. No way it's gonna happen though. But all the CS servers with ads are probably having them shot at right now, and the distinct juvenile community is probably screaming "OMG HAX" over the chat.

# Bullsh*t — Guest 2007-02-16 14:52

The reason there is ad's in movies and tv is because then we benefit from it by not having to pay as much or anything at all. But with Ad's in videogames we don't benefit in the slightest from seeing f%$king fast food ads in unreal tournament, counterstrike or whatever. Also this is just one step soon they will become more and more prominent in games and i really have no f%$king desire to see "Call of Duty 5 brought to you by sprite !" i see this as a massive betrayal of loyal and hardcore gamers trust. Also anyone who says it add's realism is a retard unless they are extremely small ad's but then they will eventually build up into the other crap i am talking about. F@#k these greedy bastards its not like Valve or EA need more money...and EA's games are *****ty enough without ad' s i can scarcely imagine what they would be like with them.

# lame — Guest 2007-02-16 14:59

This is valve taking a ***** on their 1.6 fans (me)

# dumb — Guest 2007-02-16 16:06

Im SO sick of advertisment, if I want something i'll search for it, I dont want people shoving there stupid crap ads in my face while im trying to play a game, I see enough of it on tv.

I can see it now.

Im on the last level of call of duty 4 on veteren difficulty,

running low on health, the enemy is everywhere and im blasting away, all of a sudden I look at the wall to my right and see a McDonalds ad, WHAT, I can get a McChicken for just a dollar!!!!!!! "drops controller and heads to McDonalds".

REALITY CHECK!

# game adds — Guest 2007-02-16 16:45

F-ck gabe newel and valve! If you listen to the "this will help make more/ better games"crap, than you are a bunch of nieve people!! every time a big corp. makes an extra buck, do think they will pass it on to you, faithfull gamer? WHAT A LOAD OF SH-T !

# does anyone remember... — Guest 2007-02-16 18:30

in final fantasy: the spirits within, there was a Pepsi billboard close to the beginning of the movie...! i really don't see much of a difference... video game characters can have Pepsi if they want to... that would be sweet.

# umm What?? — Guest 2007-02-16 20:57

Did you see the ad on the first image? ----- "Where were you when cosole games became ad-ware?"

# gagagagaga — Guest 2007-02-16 21:26

the only ads i ever liked in a game were those funny ones in GTA

# Half Life 2 — Guest 2007-02-17 15:38

I think you're talking about the Lambda symbol right? It's orange and has as H in the middle?

# well... — Guest 2007-02-17 19:28

discreet + ads that you see but aren't consciously aware of + subliminal advertising + very evil

# Un-f**king believeable — Guest 2007-02-19 01:26

As an older gamer I will say with 100% certainty that I will NEVER buy a game that has adds in it. NEVER!! We are bombarded with an estimated 16,000 adds per day.

Gaming serves as a small break from this unholy barrage by allowing us to escape into a different reality. Placing adds in games compromises that experience and I don't care HOW artful the add placement is.

GO TO HELL VALVE!

# disagree — Guest 2007-02-19 01:33

The gaming industry is far far from heading for a crash. Advertisers want "in" because they know the gaming industry is growing like crazy. If it wasn't they'd be wasting their time and money placing adds in them. As far as your comment "good studios are run by gamers 4 gamers" please remember that all those devs want to be paid. If it comes between them losing their job or getting a raise due to ad revenue, which do you think they'll choose?

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# Who the ***** cares? — Guest 2007-03-01 09:50

They're adds! Are you really going to ***** your pants if you see an Axe add on a billboard while driving around a Grand Theft Auto 4 city? People aren't retarded. Adds will be placed strategically to go with what's going on. The only games that have really featured these in-game adds are racers and open world games. I'm pretty sure game developers will have a say in what adds can go in there game.

# Turn back before it is too late! — Guest 2007-03-02 18:03

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. CONSUME YOU, IT WILL!

I recall a SF story I've read. It is set in the future, and a grim future it is. Literally everything is covered in ads - even the toilet paper. George Orwell's omnipresent screen is in that future too, only it isn't there to spy on you. No, it's just there to convince you to buy things. There are jingles instead of elevator music and logos printed on the bedsheets. If I recall correctly, the advertisments are even projected into your dreams. Does that sound like an unrealistic future to any of you? Honestly? Because it seems to me that we're headed in that direction quite directly.

Advertising is a terrible thing. Please, please, please hear me when I say we must stop this before it starts. Right now, it is considered socially acceptable to have commercial breaks during TV shows. If they go through with this, it will be acceptable to have advertisements in video games. Where does it end? On the pages of a novel? On the sidewalks in front of your house? In the middle of your phone calls? We've got to make a stand somewhere, and the longer we wait, the harder it will be.

If this catches on, then I fully intend to boycott any and all video games with that kind of blatant advertisement in them. There are plenty of wonderful indie, homebrew or just plain older games that I can enjoy.

One last thought: Who remembers when there were no such things as banner ads, popups and spam e-mails on the internet? It wasn't a very long time ago at all.

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