Game Product Placement

April 5, 2001 11:25 AM

Inside.com has an article about product placement in video-games and how more publishers are getting interested in this alternative revenue source. The article mainly focuses on console games but of course it could be applied to the popular PC games as well. While for most publishers its still just a nice addition but not anything making them rich, companies like Electronic Arts are looking at covering the cost of development just through in-game advertising for some of their games. Especially since some games sell millions, the advertisers reach a big group of people. What would you think about more advertising in games, where all the fake billboards are actually replaced by real ads?

What's more, fans seem to be taking the ads in stride, as another reflection of pop-culture reality. ''In games like Crazy Taxi, product placement is so excessive that it almost feels like a joke,'' says Bryan Younce, a 24-year-old gamer in Los Angeles. ''It just seems like the natural course of things.'' Adds Heather Berry, editor at Happypuppy.com, a gaming fan site, ''If gamers like the game, they don't care about the product placement.'' ...

Maarten Goldstein

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