In-game advertising was one of the biggest issues that hit gamers and game developer alike in recent years. It's always been a part of gaming pretty much from the get go, with sports titles often plastered with real-world company logos and whatnot.

Bu a lot of people were put off by the overly anachronistic ads and spyware reports that popped up in a number of games in the past year (*cough*Battlefield 2142*cough*).

Despite the backlash over the whole issue, in-game advertising does have a good side. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Europe and part of IGA Worldwide">Ed Bartlett, vice president of IGA Europe and part of IGA Worldwide, the biggest name in in-game advertising in the whole world, said that IGA could help independent studios to keep possession of their own intellectual property.

Bartlett points to two titles - Stoked Rider and Trackmania - which were made available via free download thanks in part to IGA. This in turn has improved their developers' finances.

"Obviously the more players you have the more ad revenues you get, which makes it almost a self-fulfilling model. By having a bigger audience you bring in more ad revenues which means you can offset the costs even further," Bartlett explained.

"When you look at a big triple-A console release you're never going to be able to offset the entire cost of the release through advertising. But I think with a PC-only release, where you're reiterating a technology which has already been paid for and developed as it was with Trackmania, then I think you're looking at some exciting new models."

Not all developers are eager to explore the whole in-game advertising scenario, as Bartlett himself admits. IGA is still attempting to change its image, though, by showing evidence of its achievements so far. "We've seen some resistance from the smaller independent studios rather than the bigger studios, who are obviously our targets, so generally we're getting a very positive response," he said.

Personally, I welcome any kind of in-game advertising that would actually add something to a game's fun value. I can't think of anything off the bat other than all of the real-world cars in games like the Need For Speed and Gran Turismo games (come on, if that ain't advertising, then what is?).

With the sheer variety of games these days - from sims to historical shooters to fantasy - I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that anachronistic in-game ads will be in good supply for the years to come. Of course, there's also the issue of in-game ads making games cheaper for us gamers, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

What's your take on this? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.