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IGA Europe boss says in-game ads help developers retain IP

2 January 2007 10:48 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 5 comments

IGA Europe Vice President, Ed Bartlett, has told GamesIndustry.biz that the use of in-game advertisements may help developers to keep the Intellectual Property of their works. He made the claim during an interview with the site. "Part of the reason I set this up with Hive originally was so that we could get more revenue to fund games perhaps without getting publishers involved, and retain control of the IP." he said.

He named two titles; Stoked Rider and Trackmania, that have been made available via free download from the help of IGA, while in turn improving the finances of their developers. "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," he explained.

He continued: "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."

In-game advertising is still somewhat a gray area with many gamers and critics referring to it as greedy and often labeling it spyware. The backlash against EA's Battlefield 2142 is a prime example. Bartlett acknowledges that not all developers are keen on the idea but said IGA is working to change attitudes.

"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. "When we first go in there's often a bit of wariness but once we show people what we've done, case studies and past work, and once they understand the business model, there's very little push back."

In-game advertising has been used for more than 10 years now; the billboards in FIFA International Soccer released in 1994 are an example. Of course, with the technological growth since then, in-game advertisement has become much more complex.

Source:
GamesIndustry.biz

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In game ads are the future of games industry? (15 April 2005)

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CiDaemon (Member) 2 January 2007 12:55
Why do we put up with ads? Because they allow us to save money; i.e. putting ads on a website helps cover server costs, therefore it's worth it. But I don't see the games getting any cheaper! [ + quote]
limelight (Member) 2 January 2007 14:13
^^^^Therefore, it ISNT worth it. The day that developers put in game ads like television is the day i put the controller down for good. [ + quote]
gogochar (Senior Member) 2 January 2007 19:25
In game ads are worthless. Most of the time, people notice it and then are like "meh". And forget all about it when they turn the game off. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 3 January 2007 7:51
I doubt it publishers will have so many "claws" into the game that the dads or such with destroy them and thus no one will buy them and it will force devs to suck up more and sale their games away faster..... on the other hand if done correctly they can be nice and add to the game if done right...but thats like asking hollywood not to screw over soemthign when they adapt it.... [ + quote]
Steve83 (Member) 7 January 2007 12:11
Just like cable TV; these game developers are holding out BOTH hands. They want consumers to pay top-dollar for the game, and then they also want to sell advertising. If I buy a game system, and then I buy game software to play on it, what POSSIBLE justification can there be for forcing me to tolerate advertising while I'm playing??? If they want to sell ads, they'd better sell enough to pay for the software so I can play it FREE. [ + quote]