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  (Source: Kotaku)

One of Several Types of Ads Google will Sell  (Source: Google)
Google finally takes advantage of 2007 Adscape purchase

Google is the undisputed king of internet advertising and it is always looking for the next big advertising market to jump into. Expanding its advertising market is one of the main reasons Google introduced the open source Android OS for mobile phones.

In March of 2007, Google plunked down $23 million to purchase video game advertising firm Adscape. Everyone knew when the purchase was made that Google would be entering into the video game advertising market sooner or later.

In May of 2007, Google filed a patent for video game advertising technology that would monitor the player's in-game behavior and attempt to serve ads based on their needs. Privacy advocates took issue with the patent because Google said that monitoring would include in-game chats. Presumably, on Google's part, the in-game chat monitoring would be used for serving up ads for something like Taco Bell if a player said they were hungry.

It took over a year but Google has announced that it will be entering the game advertising field, and surprisingly even Google's competitors in the environment are glad it are participating. CNET News quotes DoubleVision CEO Jonathan Epstein saying, "By (Google) finally launching in the space, it confirms for all parties...that this space is of interest to one of the largest media companies in the world. Google does not enter into markets that don't have billion dollar-plus potential for them."

Google’s competitors hope that its entry will create a sort of "if it's good enough for Google, it's good enough for me" advertising mentality.

Google has announced its AdSense for Games program and says that its initial advertisers in the beta program will include eSurance, Sprint, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. At least for the beta launch of the program, advertisements will stick to placement of different ad forms in Flash-based casual games and a few larger game titles.

Considering how Google often comes to dominate markets it enters, it would seem competitors should feel at least some concern. Epstein said, "The battleground here is not between ourselves and Massive and Google. It's getting games their rightful share of the ad dollars, as opposed to TV, print, and (traditional) online ads."

Many industry analysts feel that Google won’t necessarily run away with the in-game advertising market as it did with traditional online advertising. Tim Hanlon, executive vice president of Publicis Groupe's Denuo media futures division says, "I would argue that Google is not going to be a home run in in-game advertising...any time in the immediate future. But pay careful attention, (it is trying to build the) foundational building blocks to be an ad server in many environments that could be very attractive to marketers and ad agencies, and I think the place where Google will be successful soonest is in the self-serve marketplace, or the long-tail marketer environment."

As with all in-game marketing, how well the platform ultimately performs depends on how well the ads are integrated into the game. If the ads are intrusive, gamers will revolt very vocally. If the ads aren’t intrusive enough they will simply be ignored. For many, the ideal in-game advertising method would be to use real products in games. A good example would be games like FEAR where you see drink dispensers and products lying around in the environment. If a vending machine said Coke on it rather than some made up brand, it would add to the realism of a game and be welcome by most gamers.

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By Imaginer on 10/8/2008 11:51:12 AM , Rating: 2
Really, would I find that mark in a real life back ally warehouse along with other company ad marks randomly placed on rollup doors that did not belong to the owner of the warehouse or company responsible for them?




By Believer on 10/8/2008 11:59:04 AM , Rating: 5
How do you know the above image, and subsequently the logo, isn't illustrative to what McDonald do back in dark ally warehouses???


By Alpha4 on 10/8/2008 12:01:34 PM , Rating: 3
I'm pretty sure its a Photoshop gag, or at least something not intended to be taken seriously. Something tells me McDonald's wouldn't approve of having their logo splashed across the Rollup door of some decrepit, demon infested warehouse.


By Motoman on 10/8/2008 12:28:42 PM , Rating: 5
...which differs how from the typical McDonalds?


By Alpha4 on 10/8/2008 12:43:15 PM , Rating: 4
Well these demons might kill you a little bit faster.. But only a little.


By NullSubroutine on 10/9/2008 7:23:01 AM , Rating: 5
If you know people are going to rate you down for trying to make fun of another user by modifying letter of their name, why post at all?


By FITCamaro on 10/9/2008 7:38:07 AM , Rating: 5
He's too pathetic to have his own identity.


By F4TCamaro on 10/10/2008 6:52:00 AM , Rating: 2
Hey, I'm just trying to fit in! It seemed like the "in" thing to do.


By ikkeman2 on 10/9/2008 7:29:56 AM , Rating: 2
because sometimes it's nescecary to stand up for one's right to free speech - and sometimes it's just to funny to keep to yourself

/skips along, onto usefull posts


By tmouse on 10/8/2008 1:26:06 PM , Rating: 3
Now you know what goes into the "secret sauce"


By mindless1 on 10/8/2008 6:12:09 PM , Rating: 2
McDonalds... warehouse... back alley demons... McSoylent Green

How did you think they get all their meat?


By AstroCreep on 10/8/2008 8:07:28 PM , Rating: 4
Well, the screenshot in question isn't a back-ally or a warehouse; that is an actual photo of one of the current McDonald's slaughter houses with some of the happy USDA Grade-A livestock smiling at you.


By ikkeman2 on 10/9/2008 7:34:55 AM , Rating: 2
and I would like to be the first to go on record and welcome our new smiling livestock overlords to our humble planet. May their sadistic and destructive rule of our miserable planet and it's worthless inhabitants be a source of contentment to them.

Oh, you did mean this is the new McDonald's management masterplan, right?


Escapism
By TomCorelis (blog) on 10/8/2008 12:56:31 PM , Rating: 5
Games are escapism. This world sucks (its a pessimistic view, I know), and part of the reason I play games is because their worlds don't suck.

Granted, I'm not a fan of realism in the slightest... all in-game advertising does is intrude into one of the last few safe havens of fantasy we have/had. Coca-Cola vending machines add realism? Ok fine, but are people really so unimaginative that they can't enjoy the not-realism for what it is?

I've read of initiatives where advertisers want to have vending machines with directional speakers that can speak to a single passerby. I've heard of sci-fi sounding projects where the advertisements penetrate into your subconscious... even your dreams. This isn't about realism. Games do not "rightly" deserve ad revenue unless I it is subsidizing an abnormally low price or some other fringe benefit.

I get tired of living in a world where the good citizen is a good participant in capitalism. Now games want to reinforce a sense of consumerism?

Then again, with game development budgets skyrocketing, we gamers have no one to blame but ourselves, for raising the quality (and cost) bar so high. *sigh*




RE: Escapism
By Regs on 10/8/2008 1:36:50 PM , Rating: 2
Excellent point. I noticed as I grew older and my imagination was more clouded by reality, my taste for video games had become limited.

I can't seem to "escape" in many games now, which is why I don't like many of them. Doom , Quake , Unreal Tournament, Metal Gear Solid , ... all games I use to play days on end. I just can't do it anymore and it's sadly not even because of Time. However, it's more about what I choose to do in my spare time than the ammount their is. All the things we can't do in real life, we can do in front of our PC or TV. The more the game is not like real life the better the game is.


RE: Escapism
By zinfamous on 10/8/2008 1:54:13 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Games are escapism. This world sucks (its a pessimistic view, I know), and part of the reason I play games is because their worlds don't suck. Granted, I'm not a fan of realism in the slightest... all in-game advertising does is intrude into one of the last few safe havens of fantasy we have/had.


/Devil's advocate

could it be that in-game advertising is just what basement- dwellers and WoW addicts all around need to shock them back into coherence that there is a real world out there? and maybe, just maybe, they might have something of value to contribute to a world that, once given the chance for exploration, really is pretty cool?

/Devil's advocate


RE: Escapism
By mindless1 on 10/8/2008 6:39:10 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe, just maybe if they preferred reality they wouldn't be playing the game in the first place.


RE: Escapism
By MrBlastman on 10/8/2008 3:17:44 PM , Rating: 3
We pay 50.00 for a new game. With that game comes intrusive DRM which sometimes includes rootkits, hooks and other measures which foul up other pieces of hardware (such as DVD burners/software). Some of these DRM measures require online authentication and even others require a persistant internet connection. A few years from now if you want to play them you might not be able to due to the master servers no longer working.

So... we pay our hard earned money - and we are the ones doing the tricks and jumping through the flaming hoop, not the publisher?

And now, they want to advertise on TOP of all of this?

I don't think so. There is too much taking going on and not enough giving.