In game advertising

I have been perplexed to this situation as of late – especially with the recent release of this year’s famed Madden game. Advertising has always been a give and take entity. For example in television, you get 20 minutes of free content in exchange for 10 minutes of interweaving advertisements. Obviously, if you have cable or satellite the trade off is still the same, where it differs is the variety - the price makes sense.

With the availability of new technologies, comes new ways to view advertisements. A few weeks ago I was playing NHL 09’ (on XBOX 360) with my brothers when I made them pause the game so I could take a better look at an ad for Valley Fair (Minneapolis area amusement park) that I saw on the boards around the rink. I was quite amazed that I was targeted by my physical location through my online Xbox Live account. The Valley Fair advertisement was not only adding to the realism of the game - as all hockey arenas have local advertisements – but it also brought on a certain WOW factor.

I, unlike most people, get a little excited when seeing advertisements, but I must admit I do have an even more bizarre fascination in both placement and content of advertisements in video games. This is why I was disappointed (and annoyed) that Madden 2010 took a step in a terrible direction. The Madden franchise has been a proponent of adding sponsors for the statistics or half time reports, which usually have been accepted on my end, as they add to the game; however, with the new edition of the only NFL licensed football game allowed on the market (Madden Monopoly – EA sports has a deal with the NFL to the exclusive rights of the Teams and Rosters), the advertising has become a nuisance. A McDonald’s pop-up ad obtrusively sits on the screen as you are picking your next play. The ad neither enhances the game play nor does it even remotely appeal to my WOW sense.

I know that advertising in video games is not a new phenomenon, but I feel that there has been a recent shift in the give and take of the sacred unwritten agreement. The fact of the matter is that I paid $60 to play this game, I am assuming that the creators of the Madden game charge more than enough to compensate the work that has been put into it – as it is a yearly game and there is not THAT much that changes between editions. What do I get in return to have this advertisement being beamed to me? Maybe I would be more willing to accept and forgive the obtrusiveness of the advertisement if I wasn’t also paying $50 a year for my Xbox Live account!

If EA Sports wants to make money through advertisements, I say that they have every right; in fact I would even encourage them to go after that demographic – but then give something back to the users/gamers. My suggestion would be to either offer a less expensive game, or better integrate entertainment with the advertisements.

In the meantime I will pick up a real football and enjoy the rest of the summer... at least until EA Sports can find a way to send me advertisements on my football... but actually that would be kind of cool!