Hi everybody. New contributor.
With regards to the recent news about the future of in-game ads, I feel the need to offer a dissenting opinion. EA's recent deal to allow downloaded advertisements in sports titles may not seem to be that big a deal, and even might lend towards a sense of authenticity: How often do you see a halftime report that isn't "Sprint's Super Awesome Half Time Report"? Even stadiums are named after the corporation that donates the most money; see the Carolina Panthers' "Bank of America Stadium".
However, I don't think ads can infiltrate games without breaking immersion to an extent. Sports games allow a lot more in that regard, but it isn't just sports titles. I purchased Crackdown a few months ago. It's a near-future game in which you play a supercop that can jump 50 feet and throw cars, among other talents such as shooting people. The game is fun, but one thing that always drove me nuts is that despite the nanotechnology in my character, despite the fictional "Pacific City" having underwater tunnels leading to a hundreds-of-stories-tall private police force fortress in the central sea of the city, and despite all the stupidity and high-technology around, there were billboards for the 2007 Dodge Nitro.
As an informed consumer, you will likely be aware that your new game downloads ads. This knowledge alone will ruin any sense of immersion immediately upon seeing a real-life product in the game. Why? Because you know you are being sold to. You know that some corporate suit is getting a dime every time you score a touchdown, because it's not a touchdown; It's a "McDonald's i'm lovin it Touchdown, courtesy of Starbucks".
I know people like making money, but there is no way for real-life advertisements to exist in games without ruining the escapism. I'd like to call for a moratorium on this practice. Making money should come second to keeping games fun and immersive, and I'd love to be able to convince EA and Microsoft of that.
Sadly, I don't have the money.
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Hmm. I haven't seen those ads in Crackdown but perhaps I haven't played through enough of the game. (or I'm just unobservant)
I had much the same problem you had in Crackdown with Battlefield 2142.
Toyota billboards were all over the map in far-flung future. And I'll be damned if 320 tank rounds later that billboard was still there.
I agree with some of your points.
I agree that this is a slippery slope.
I agree that the immersion is broken in varying degrees.
One unsettling direction that this is taking us in is having to deal with advertising-assisted games to be published and sold to us for the same price as a game that has absolutely no in game ads.
I will make this abundantly clear. If you are going to assist taking care of your publishing costs by selling out to advertisers, then do not expect to get the same money from us who have to put up with your shitty ads.
Sell your game for cheaper and integrate the advertising into your business model.
While it would be a beautiful thing if these companies embraced these games as works of art. And I believe there are some development companies that do this as evident by their great games. But games are now a multi-billion dollar industry and with that comes the degenerate crowd.
That's all for now,
Shawn out.
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