PS3 maker working with media monitoring company to better measure effectiveness of advertising efforts within games.
Most forms of advertising have certain numbers associated with them that tell companies how well their messages are reaching consumers. TV shows have ratings, magazines have circulation, and Web sites have hits. But with the market for in-game advertising projected to increase exponentially in the coming years, companies want more independent verification that their expenditure in the field is yielding results.
To that end, Sony Computer Entertainment America and The Nielsen Company this week announced a partnership to establish a measurement system to accurately and transparently assess the performance of in-game ads. As part of the agreement, SCEA will share data regarding network traffic for PS3 games, PlayStation Home, and the PlayStation Network. As for its part of the agreement, Nielsen will work with SCEA on methods to selectively target in-game advertising to specific audiences.
"By marrying SCEA's server-side data traffic with our standard ratings metrics, we will be able to provide advertisers with a much more robust picture of the impact of their game network advertising and of those consumers who are actually playing games, all while preserving consumer privacy," Nielsen Games vice president Jeff Herrmann said in a statement.
The Sony-Nielsen deal comes roughly 14 months after Microsoft bought Massive Inc., one of the biggest in-game advertising companies. Ironically, the deal put Sony in a partnership with its archrival because some massively multiplayer online role-playing games operated by Sony Online Entertainment feature Massive's dynamic in-game ads.
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
HI Guys! I saw and read more sites about xbox 360 there are so many error in xbox 360 like 3 red ring of light screen freez etc. My question is Has Xbox 360 Also have 3 red ring of light circle of doom ring of death?" ok tell me please i will very very thank full to you thx
pencilpusher is right. If they can take a format (videogames) that is already making money without ads and add them to it, then they're just going to pocket more money. The video game pricing structure is already pretty well established, and if they make the ads transparent enough, most people won't notice them anyway, or at least wouldn't think of them as an ad (a billboard in a skating game, for instance, might just be subconsciously considered as art imitating life). Part of the problem of advertising is it costs so much. Movies, for instance, often spend more than the cost of the movie just to promote it. So naturally, it becomes a big investment just to get one movie to sell well. Games have long been headed towards this direction, so if they do make any more money by putting ads into the games, then they're surely just going to either pocket it, or more likely, put it into advertising for the game itself to try and sell more copies and make more money that way.
I wonder if they can get an "annoyance meter" on how in game adds annoy people. That might solve a problem there!!
bigmick07 said: i don't mind advertising in the game, but as long as it is in reasonable places where an advertisment is ment to be. You can't be playing, let's see, Mercury Meltdown, and on the track/path that you follow to the end is actually a bunch of pictures of some companies logo, that wouldn't fit. A Billboard in a fps shooter game though, i wouldn't mind that. Agreed. I can take things such as in NFS Underground where you got a special set of sponsor decals (didn't mind that Burger King one, actually) or a Burger King outlet as a building in the game, or maybe the logo being part of the loading screen, but it should never go into interrupting the gameplay. I'd kinda like it if there was a billboard for it, makes it more realistic, but only if it were appropriate. I mean, a McDonalds or Sony Ericson billboard in Halo?! In many ways, as the developers are already on a tight schedule, then it's leave them little tome to do anything other than throw in a couple of textures for billboards and the like.
The ads won't cut prices at all. Movie theatre's tried telling us that the ads before movies would bring the cost down, but all it's done is push revenues up. The only thing this ensures, is the death of creative gaming. These companies are going to learn the obvious, that their ad money will be best spent on the titles that are GUARANTEED to sell well. That means that 3rd party resources are going to go to franchises that guarantee revenue, not to new and risky experiments in gaming, or to even those games which have been around for a while, but don't push big numbers. This is quite possibly the worst news for gaming, and yet none seem to see it. Thanks to this, it's going to be even harder for games like Okami and Killer 7 to ever see the light of day. But if you only love Grand Theft Auto, then, well, there'll be a LOT more of that. (You'll still pay just as much for it, and you'll get to see all those great ads though!) Think of it in terms of radio and music videos. The labels pay big money to promote those acts that already have an installed "sound". They don't need to risk spending money on bands or music that the public hasn't heard yet, because they don't know how the public will react. So we get more and more of the same, same, same crap, pushed down our throats ad-nauseum, until the current sound fads completely flat line, and then some new fad will hopefully be discovered. Discovered, and soon after flogged to death by companies that will push the new sound.
As long as ADs = > 20% Game Price Cut, then no problems. If free to air TV is free because of Ads, then why shouldn't games be the same ?
HA HA HA. Picture this case scenario. PS3:"We interrupt this game with a message from our sponsors. Please stand by" Gamer: "...come on dude, hurry up, I want to play..." (minutes later) PS3: "Thank you for your participation. We will now begin loading your game."
i don't mind advertising in the game, but as long as it is in reasonable places where an advertisment is ment to be. You can't be playing, let's see, Mercury Meltdown, and on the track/path that you follow to the end is actually a bunch of pictures of some companies logo, that wouldn't fit. A Billboard in a fps shooter game though, i wouldn't mind that.
not a bad idea ive heard about this somewhere before though but lets hope they dont get to crazy with it
you know that if they had the option in Pro evo to add your own company logos to team strips i would make sure that all temas had the correct sponsor on them ... and it annoys me that you cna't do that .... talk about buying into the corporate machine
Personally I'd welcome in-game ads. I'd love to shoot my rocket launcher at a McDonald's billboard in Resistance (might yield a skill point, too)
@ mark_c_128 Thanks for injecting some common sense into this thread. I mean come on people there is a positive side to ingame-advertising you know; for one thing it puts money into the industry and lets face it with the costs of creating games for this gen developers need all the cash they can get @ Jac5232 yeah that would be good and I bet it would definately change alot of peoples perspectives about ingame ads. But its not farfetched to think they dont, I mean it would stand to reason that the more money the developers get from these ads the more they can cut the cost of the games and still have a decent profit margin but like Tayruh implied; the costs of games is still up there so who knows....
You guys really don't seem to understand why games and movies use ads or product placement. It's not to lower the price of the game (you see product placement in movies all the time, but are the tickets or DVDs any cheaper? No). Ads give the developers more money to put towards the finished product. The bigger the budget of a game, the more time the developers are given to work on the game. Everyone always complains about games being rushed to market, but then you turn around and whine when they find a solution to that problem. You can't have it both ways.
As long as there are no "commercial breaks", I'll live. I would have liked it if the ads made the games at least a bit cheaper in retail though.
i hate in game advertisement... occasionally, though, it can be well done like Sobe in Oddworld
I cannot agree more, the Burger KIng, Mcdonalds, or Whateverthef##k add is on my 360 is anoying the hell outta me. I play games. I watch movies. Artist created media to entertain. I don't watch TV strictly because of the damned, infernal adds. I will break down and weep if I find my games riddled with adds. If people weren't so stupid and bought what they liked instead of what they're told to like.... i.e., almost every licensed piece of crxp game that always makes the top-sellers list. Yes, Transformers included. I've never been persuaded by advertising. I keep tabs on what's being released and how it measures up. Be it TV's, games, movies, food, you name it. If I'm paying for it, I want no adds. No adds. NO ADDS! What's next, commercials in our DVD movies?
These advertising creeps just keep trying to come up with ways to force feed ads to us gamers. Don't they get it: We don't want them in our games!!! Well...maybe just sports games.We are already paying an additional $10 per game this generation to cover the higher costs of development. So the ad revenue is just greedy blood money as far as I am concerned. All it does is lessen the gaming experience and ruin the suspension of disbelief (in most genres). Talk about selling out.
In game ads don't affect me that much. In fact I've never noticed an in game ad before. I doubt Sony will be any different in making me see in game ads.
That reminded me the first PS3 commercials with a PS3 floating in a white room with a tearing-up baby...
clearly this will be the kind of ads in car games and the such, that kind of replicate real life ads, and they arent talking about adding more ads, there monitoring how effective the current ones are, did anybody read the article?
A few banners here and there won't hurt to help out some monetary issues. lamprey has a good view on things... I don't have much problem with this, seems like a good idea to get Sony out of their debthole
I agree with lamprey263 or have any pop-up adds that come up during gameplay because you enter a certain shop. Peace
just as long as I don't have to hear the "you've just been randomly selected to receive 2 free iPod Nanos"
who cares at this point were talking about MMO PC games that have adverts in them SONY AND MS ARE NOT ENEMIES ON THE PC MARKET ... Gamespot always blows this stuff out of proportion ... SOE has always been PC based not Mac based ... not like sony has their own OS or anything...
Think on it like this - maybe it's a way for Sony to cut the PS3's price while still being able to make some kind of cash back.
PMatt722..Why exactly is the Sony a disastrous system. I currently do not own one as of yet but do intend to buy one very shortly. i play my friends quite often and have watched blue ray movies on the player. I think it is a great system, it just lacks great games. I have a 360 which is a good system but has numerous hardware issues. I can name about 50 people who have some issue with the 360 and have dealt with Microsoft's "great" process of repair.
Furthermore, I pay to play, why should we spend money to see ads? I do not care if there will be a ninja gaiden half priced for having ads (which will not be), I pay for a product that satisfies my needs, If I was looking for a bargain ok, but at least that is not my case
I play games, I ignore Adverts :) So long Sony is happy getting the money from adverts and I'm having fun playing games, then it's all good.
Man... stop with the advertising already... We are PAYING the game... if the games were free, then yes it would be okay, be were are PAYING IT DAMN IT ! And for the guy that I forgot it's name even though I saw it 10 seconde ago. I am not bashing because it's sony. I did too when Microsoft bought that ads compagny. I did too when it was about to be included on PC game. And I will continue as long as I have ^^. Even if people don't care, or if it won't change anything. People should voice their opinions.
If I pay 40 pounds for a video game than that is exactly what I expect a game, and not more advertising there is far too much of it in the world today. Video games are about escaping the normalities of life and having fun. Therefore if I have to endure in game advertising then the title should be considerably cheaper. Though personally i would rather not see any at all whilst gaming.
Gigatron: "Snake! Disarm that bomb or the world will explode!" and he replies "Well Colonel, thanks to Enzyte natural male enhancement, I'm ready for anything." I don't think in-game adverts will EVER be that bad. LOL, hopefully not. Ads that fit the game doesn't bother me TOO much but i dont want like an ad for Fisher Price toys when i'm blasting away at aliens or something. Also these ads dont do much for us consumers, they just make more money for companies and we never had a choice in this so i think that's why most ppl are pissed.
Thats god for us they cant see how the games are doing and make more god games!! PS3 Rules!
@FrenziedRaldo24 fanboyism at its best.... sony partners with an ad company but microsoft buys a ad company yet u bash sony like they killed ur dog... good job.. noob
Am I the only one who thinks in-game advertising is kinda cool? In GRAW there was that sweet-ass spanish AXE billboard... I just think it adds a lil' realism. Racing down the street, flying past ads for Boost Mobile doesn't bother me at all. Geez it's not like "Snake! Disarm that bomb or the world will explode!" and he replies "Well Colonel, thanks to Enzyte natural male enhancement, I'm ready for anything." I don't think in-game adverts will EVER be that bad.
these game publishers need to focus more on the games and gamer. If they do indeed make extra money from in-game ads, the product had better be really good or cheaper.
and this has what to do with us gamers. Oh right... to find out how much effort corporate America has to use to force most of the middle class to spend it's hard earned money on their junky products.
I just got a 360 cause ps3 was just too much money now i have psp 360 and soon wii i like sony alot but the price has forced me away too bad i wanted mgs4 too
**** off and keep it in the nascar games and baseball! that actually enhances the experiences because they are trying to simulate a baseball game. but for ****s sakes keep it out of my god dam genre of games! that is every ting but sports games :P
Nothing like finding some Doritos brand nachos in the middle of the forest, a dragon dropping some hershey bars instead of gil, and in the middle of that deadly dungeon is a limited edition can of Diet pepsi, I mean it wasn't bad enough that all your getting is soda for the risks you take, but you can't drink it too, its diet, ewww
Yeah I don't mind advertisements in sports games or driving games. No way they will cut prices of games because they get ad revenue. Games will stay the same price, and the ad revenue will just be icing on the cake for the developers. I don't blame them though, these new games have got to be costing a fortune to produce.
United States Vice President Joe Biden believes there is no legal restriction on ability to tax violent media. Full Story
Avalanche Studios co-founder says developer's ambition is for action, not moments that make players cry; steampunk-style game on hold. Full Story
Developer confirms image suggesting version of upcoming shared-world shooter in development for Sony's latest portable is a fake. Full Story
Assassin's Creed and Far Cry publisher says its network of 26 studios and over 7,000 developers will allow company to ship major franchises more regularly. Full Story
4A Games creative director Andrew Prokhorov thanks Jason Rubin for telling the studio's story, but says, "We deserve the ratings we get." Full Story
DICE head would also like to poach top talent from rivals Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Full Story
Future EA games won't require Online Passes; the service is being scrapped after tepid player response. Full Story
'Big' Battlefield 4 news teased on eve of Xbox 720 event
Official Twitter account for first-person shooter series says "big announcements are coming soon"; reveal event to last one hour.
