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Blizzard job listing mentions 'product placement' within its next MMO

Justin Olivetti — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, Miscellaneous

When details of Blizzard's upcoming casual MMO, code-named Titan, are incredibly scarce due to the developer's ironclad secrecy, it falls to enterprising fans to ferret out any scraps of information that may exist. One such player on the NeoGAF forums was combing through a Blizzard job posting for a Franchise Development Producer and noted an interesting line that indicated the studio could be mulling over the idea of in-game ads for its next MMO.

The line in question specifies that one of the duties of the position is to "work with major consumer brands to facilitate product placement and licensing within the world of Blizzard Entertainment's next-gen MMO that enhances the gameplay experience." Whether this is a sign that we'll be seeing billboards for Skittles while we raid or that players will be able to get endorsements and decorate their outfits a la NASCAR cars is anyone's guess.

It's important to note that the rest of this position entails a number of efforts to promote Blizzard's "next-gen MMO" outside of the tight-knit gaming sphere, including comics, action figures, and short movies.

Blizzard job listing mentions 'product placement' within its next MMO originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CoX seeks player submissions for optional in-game ads

Adrian Bott — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains

As the City of Heroes dev team always said, optional in-game ads aren't all about advertising someone else's product. There's potential there for the players to use the billboard space, too; we thought the idea of advertising player-made publications, events, supergroups and even heroic deeds on the game's own billboards was fantastic.

They're now making good on their words, as Community Relations Manager Alex 'Lighthouse' Von Minden has put the call out for player submissions that can be put in front of the Dev team. Guidelines for creating in-game ads can be found on the fan submission guidelines page.

The well-loved regular fixture The City Scoop, a player-made magazine, is naturally in the forefront here and several ads for it have already been created, including the superb ad made by Echonis and pictured alongside. There's no guarantee that any submissions will be used, but the NCsoft community people can certainly take them to the devs' table to be looked at.

CoX seeks player submissions for optional in-game ads originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In-game ads now live in CoX

Adrian Bott — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains

The first sign of the much-debated in game advertisements has now made it into City of Heroes. So far, there appears to be only one ad, a billboard-size poster advertising JETER CLUTCH sneakers. British players needn't worry about seeing this particular ad, as they won't be able to, whether they play on American servers or not. The ads are regionally targeted, so only those that are appropriate for a given audience will show up. We've not yet received any reports of what the UK players see instead, though some players have found a cached image of Statesman standing near a Union Flag.

Understandably, even though these ads are optional, not all players are happy with their presence in CoX. Immersion seems to be the main issue, so some players, led by Marcian Tobay of the City Scoop, have started a satirical thread to customize the sneaker ad for a super-powered audience. There are some funny entries, but you'd be hard pressed to match Zombie Man for sheer quality of snark.

In-game ads now live in CoX originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buy this box for $60 or go to hell

James Egan — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, Events, real-world, News items

"Buy this box for $60 or go to hell, I don't want your money." That's the message on the tunnel vision of boxed game sales that Alex St. John, CEO of WildTangent, is trying to get across to the gaming industry. The dominant business model in PC gaming largely ignores the possibilities of in-game transactions and ad-sponsored gameplay. St. John spoke on the need to pursue new gaming revenue models at the recent ION Game Conference in Seattle and more recently, at the 6th annual Wedbush Morgan Securities Management Access Conference in New York City. Gamasutra followed St. John at both events, where the WildTangent CEO raised some eyebrows when he asserted,"In a few years any business not making money from ads is leaving half their money on the table."

According to St. John, the industry fixation on boxed sales will be the downfall of a number of companies that fail to change their business models and embrace in-game or in-world revenue streams. "There's a wide open opportunity here. Anybody can get into this, and everything the traditional publishers and game companies know about doing business will ensure their failure," he stated at ION.

Continue reading Buy this box for $60 or go to hell

Buy this box for $60 or go to hell originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 May 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In-game ad pioneer says in-game ads are a mistake

Shawn Schuster — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Game mechanics, Interviews

As one of the pioneers of in-game advertising, you would think Alex St. John had better things to say about this method of revenue. But the Wild Tangent founder and CEO says that in-game ads are "not a very effective way because you've got to plumb the game, you've got an unproven method of measuring the value of that ad, that unit is not trackable."

As an alternative, St. John states his company's revelation on effective advertising income. Simply give the players the option to see advertising videos in loading screens, thereby granting them free or discounted prices on their gameplay. It follows the same logic as those free forums that say "Click here to remove ads". It boils down to either you pay to support the game, or you sit through a commercial so a big-name company can pay to support the game. Wild Tangent's ad revenues skyrocketed 400 percent in 2007 when they switched over to this method, and Mr. St. John swears by it.

In-game ad pioneer says in-game ads are a mistake originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 May 2008 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Upcoming Exteel patch to introduce in-game ads

William Dobson — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Economy, Patches, Exteel

Some notes for the next Exteel patch at the official site inform us of what's in store for NCsoft's free mech-battling MMO. The last thing to be mentioned in the short blurb is the inclusion of in-game ads after the patch is live. Players already participate in a microtransaction-based model in order to buy certain upgrades for their Mechanaught, but obviously this wasn't enough of a cash-spinner, so Exteel will be able to take its place in this table soon.

Aside from the ads, there are a few other changes to come with the patch. A new map called Face-Off will be launched, two new Mechanaught sets will be available (one purchased with NCcoins from real money transactions), some changes to Territory Control rewards, weapon balancing, and a super-deformed gameplay option.

Upcoming Exteel patch to introduce in-game ads originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marketing in virtual worlds: which company gets around the most?

William Dobson — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, MMO industry, Second Life, Virtual worlds

These days we're becoming used to seeing advertising pop up in all aspects of daily life. A lot of the free games out there are only free because of the deals that have been made with various marketing companies. To get a good overview of the advertising in virtual worlds, Kzero created a table that shows companies and the games they are represented in, with an accompanying write-up.

The study shows that Toyota is the most "adventurous" marketer, shopping themselves out in five different MMOs. I recall that they also had a game available on Xbox Live Arcade until the end of 2007 called Yaris, which was free to download, and thankfully free to delete, as it was nothing more than a giant ad for the launch of the car by the same name. It looks like Toyota is definitely switched on to marketing to the gaming audience. On the games side of things, Second Life and Gaia have the dubious honor of being the home to the most advertising. Clicking on the table above will take you through to the bigger version at Kzero.

[Via Virtual Worlds News]

Marketing in virtual worlds: which company gets around the most? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dungeon Runners chunk 2 preview

Michael Zenke — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:45:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeon Runners, Game mechanics, Patches, Previews, Free-to-play

Warcry has up a preview of the second big update to NCsoft's Dungeon Runners. The free-to-play fantasy game will be getting another heaping helping of content (which they call a 'chunk') sometime in the near future. The update is interesting, because there is some good news and some bad news.

The Good News: Non-members (freebie players) will be gaining access to a bunch of features that are currently Members-only. Things like bank pages, stackable potions, and Rare/Unique items will now all be part of the free-to-play package. Members are getting some bennies too, with three bank pages instead of one, and the continuation of certain benefits like Mythic items and priority logins.

The Bad News: These non-member benefits are coming at a price - they're finally adding the in-game ads that have been promised since the game launched. Warcry's Razor explains: These won't be "in-game" ads in the classic sense, but more "around-the-game" in nature. The most noticeable of these will be a banner ad at the top of the play screen ... Non-Members will also see static ads on load screens occasionally when switching zones. Video ads will play during login and logout.

Both types of players will also gain access to a secure trading system they're calling 'Bartering', which can allow for item transfers between characters anywhere in the game world. A mixed, but exciting, bag for DR players.

Dungeon Runners chunk 2 preview originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hellgate: London uses tailored in-game advertising

William Dobson — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Hellgate: London

Following the release of the demo for Hellgate: London, a somewhat disappointing discovery has been made. Heartless_Gamer has a post that shows that the game's licensing agreement has provisions for them to collect information about users, to help them tailor in-game advertising. In other words-- adware. Hellgate: London is being published by EA, and as Heartless_Gamer points out, this isn't the first time they've bundled this helpful addition with their games. Battlefield 2142 caused a stir when the full retail version of the game did exactly what Hellgate: London is doing now. Is there really any point in hoping that this will only be included with the demo of Hellgate?

The advertising seen in the demo is in the form of posters on the walls, but I'm willing to bet that they could be a lot more creative than that. There is also the question of whether we want to see ads in games at all, "dynamically served" or otherwise. If Hellgate is set in a post-apocalyptic London, then why am I seeing current-day ads in-game? Games in the sports genre include bucketloads of advertising, but in most cases, the fact that those ads are there at real life sporting events lends more authenticity to the games -- okay, perhaps not the Burger King's Fight Night cameo (coincidentally also EA's doing). Let us know where you draw the line in the comments section, and if Hellgate: London is collecting information from you, will you still buy it?

Hellgate: London uses tailored in-game advertising originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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