In-Game Ads Helping Companies See “Significant Revenue Increases”

On the heels of an announcement that Electronic Arts has extended and expanded its deal with in-game ad company Massive, the company has come out to defend the concept of in-game ads against naysayers. Both Sony’s Sir Howard Stringer and Activision’s Robert Kotick recently aired their skepticism over the legitimacy of advertising in games.

“The [supposed] solution to everything at the moment in the digital space is ad-supported,” said Stringer. “While advertisers are happy to talk that up, there is a limit to the amount of money available.”

Kotick had a similar attitude, saying, “It’s early days. I wouldn’t go in that direction myself.”

But a regional sales manager for Massive spoke with GamesIndustry.biz and claimed that in-game advertising is actually having a significant impact.

“We’re seeing that in-game advertising is providing new revenue streams for publishers,” he said. “There are lots of new ways that companies are looking for new revenue streams, and margins are being squeezed as the industry has matured.

“We know from feedback we’ve had from a number of our publishing partners – and really this deal expansion with EA validates this – that there are publishers out there that are seeing significant revenue increases with in-game advertising.

“What other people in the industry say – it’s a view, and they may well have other plans for new revenue streams, but the feedback that we’re getting is that it isn’t insignificant.”

The obvious question for gamers is: When will we get anything out of this? Production costs of games are increasing, sure, but so are the prices of games, and for every method companies employ – microtransactions, in-game advertising, etc. – there never seems to be any sort of benefit to the consumer. If that trend continues, you can bet that gamers are going to be none-too-happy with game companies.