James Delahunty
2 Jan 2007 10:48
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