Google acquires Adscape

Google has stepped into the in-game advertising business with the acquisition of Adscape, the Internet giant revealed on its website on Friday. Financial details were not disclosed, but technology site Red Herring, previously reported the value of the deal to be around $23 million. Video game analysts said Google's step into the field could boost the business significantly.

"As more and more people spend time playing video games, we think we can create opportunities for advertisers to reach their target audiences while maintaining a high quality, engaging user experience," Google said on its site. "We think this rich environment is a perfect medium to deliver relevant, targeted advertising that ultimately benefits the user, the video game publisher and the advertiser."

Microsoft Corp. previously purchased Massive Inc. for $200 million, sealing itself into the market. Massive struck several deals with publishers including UbiSoft Entertainment SA, THQ Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. to place advertisements in their titles. Many experts say that Google dropped the ball when that deal was struck.

Source:
Reuters

Written by: James Delahunty @ 18 Mar 2007 19:28

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7 comments

zixiz

yea sounds good and all for google, but really what does the gamer who spendt $700 on a ps3, $2000 on a HDTV, $400 on the extras get from this. We get a whole bunch of soliciting we dont want. This in game marketing is going to become the next-gen TELEMARKETER and that is not what i spent $3100 for.

Anyone else agree with me.

19.3.2007 01:33 #1

ZippyDSM

In game advertising can have a place however this dose not fix the current trouble with Pubs,its getting to a point they are like the shcool system in the US they have billions poured into them and they still are not fixed because they are so poorly mismanaged

them is management in gaming is the lack of care,polish and effort put into games,causing them to sale badly,until this root cuase corruption in gamedom is fixed no amount of money to the devs/pubs is going to help anything....

Advertisers might not like re doing their ads to fit the fiction/world of the game this will not help things..

19.3.2007 02:24 #2

georgeluv

i especialy like the onliune UPDATEABLE ads in some of the xbox games. someone should write a patch that blocks them, and them only unblocks them if the advertiser pays a small fee. its like when people tried to write progs to rip the anoying ads out of AIM and all aim did was come out with new versions and made old versions incompatable.

19.3.2007 06:03 #3

SProdigy

It's not all that bad, especially if it helps the bottom line of the company trying to release the game. Personally, I like the advertisements in sports games, as it gives the arenas a better sense of realness. (ie. Adidas tied into FIFA, cars in PGR3, Gran Turismo, etc.) Even the Dodge ads laid about Crackdown fit in well. I think a few different ads around town wouldn't have made them feel a bit out of place, as they are the only ads in the game.

19.3.2007 07:58 #4

georgeluv

interestingly google seems to be positioning itself for the post-media 2.0 world with advertising endevors for print, radio, and most importantly; in-game.

one of the biggest arguments for the legalization of file sharing is that the producers of these entertainment peices will still make money through advertsising, just like the free tv model. music, movies, and tv serieses have made the unfortunate shift into the dark realm of "placed" advertising as of late because of file sharing, that means not simply aired before or after a program, but imbedded into the show. sometimes its dumbass obvious and takes you straight outta the experience and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. sometimes the placement is so minor and well stiched into the fabric of the show or movie that you dont even know. hell, directors, actors and participants in certain programs actualy sometimes sign undisclosed agreements to promote products on shows, sometimes without the concent of the tv chanel, movie studio, or even producer. rubin studdard? remeber that fat fuck?

i personaly think that placed advertising should be banned. it borders on subliminal advertising when placed advertising is well-woven into a story. it would be hard to prove, just like its hard to prove the backroom promotional deals they sign today. do you know how much its worth for mtv to let an artist wear your shirt in a music video? its in the hundreds of thousands. sometimes you cant even buy your way out of the ol "logo blur", take for example little wayne in the new video for "make it rain (remix)" he is clearly wearing a "DC" skate shoe shirt but its blurred out. i have absolutly no proof of this, but i am damn sure nike is pressuring mtv to not let skate shoe logos fly as easily anymore. skate shoes are eating up nikes market share. MTV refused to play the "vans" song for months because "it sounded too much like an advertisment for vans" and when they finaly did they cut out every last mention of "vans" or any description of the product that could be posotivly atributed to that specific brand or product. if you dont like songs about shoes then what the fuck was "air force ones" you fucking idiots? DC is fully able to pay the mtv logo un-bluring ransome, they sponcerd an entire season of the real world road rules challenge a few years ago. im sure its just that nike got tired of playing fair.

another reason it should be banned is because if we let this fly for much longer entire episodes of tv shows and whole movies will be one big advertisement (the Mr. Pibb episode of American Dad?). it will dilute the product to an un-consumable level. the consumer will be burdoned with finding the entertainment media that is the least wraught with advertisment. it will force a happy medium, but we are the people, we should ban it outright and force producers to make money off other avenues so our art will not suffer.

as far as in-game advertisements, i think they are ok as long as they fit the setting, like racing games and sports games and billboards and the like in cityscape games like grand theft auto, but they definatly get excessive (i have a wild idea, make the ads in the game the same AS THE REAL BILLBOARDS/ADS ON XYZ STREET IN NEW YORK, OR DAYTONA SPEEDWAY? if they cared about game experience as much as ad revenue then they would). the online upgradeable ads i think cross the line substantialy. i think i should get some sort of compensation for every time the ads update, cause you KNOW microshit is getting a big ol check from it. its distracting, and fucking repetative as fuck. you spend months mapping out virtual las vegas and you shit all over it by having hundreds of identical little posters for "smoken aces" all over it? literaly all of them being the same exact poster, over and over again. turn another corner, oh look at that the same smoken aces poster i saw 50 million times before on this level. realy ads to the game experience, huh? realy makes you think 50 bucks is a fair pric, huh?

we already know that entire industries can pop out of providing consumers with free entertainment and making money off advertising (tv). i think it should be a law that every game, movie, tv show, or song that has placed advertising should be free.

19.3.2007 20:21 #5

eLeCTR0n

zixiz

It's definately a distraction I don't need either.

23.3.2007 13:59 #6

ZippyDSM

georgeluv
apply for AD staff NAO!! I needs ur bwains *pounce naw*
:P

in-game ads can work,if they are willign to use the fiction as a base,like doom had a furtruistic version of a branded car things like that are not bad,satire ads could work to liek a add for a crazy killer gun in a game yet in reality its some Nerf gun or super soaker.

there are allot of things they can do,like branded dish ware in Edler scrolls or dresser drawers and such ads for branded items could be very interesting to implement into a game.

23.3.2007 14:15 #7

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