Three key in-game advertising players, Double Fusion, AdScape and IGA, will have the opportunity to draft up contracts with games publishers on the PS3 platform. In-game advertising has always been a controversial issue for gamers, giant Pepsi billboards on a war-torn field of battle don’t really add to the virtual ‘tense’ atmosphere.
Nielsen Media Research signed a deal with Sony last summer to measure in-game advertising, and Sony also hired ex-AdScape employee Darlene Kindler to focus on Sony’s own ad efforts with emphasis on Home.
”Making things open only makes things better for marketers or people who want to place ads because they aren’t the mercy of a given network,” said eMarketer senior writer James Belcher. ”Everyone’s playing around with the best model – how to charge, what gamers will and will not put up with.”
The market for in-game advertising stands at around $400 million, and with decisions like Sony’s to make the PS3 open for business, things look set to boom.
Microsoft doesn’t operate an open plan but use Massive, which handle all Xbox360 in-game advert deals for the giant. While it may look better, Sony is in fact going to face some difficulty as companies may need to go through one, two or even more corporate entities to get their ads in the games, at least initially.
One thing is for sure, the market will be gearing up for battle as each will vie for lucrative game titles to add to their portfolio.
