Sports Video Game Ads Getting Ever More Conspicuous
It’s no secret that video game advertising is the next new marketing frontier. After all, digital space is unlimited. It’s cheap. And it attracts millions of detail-affixed eyeballs, even if those eyeballs are more concerned with sniping Nazis than with saving money on car insurance. Ads in video games — they’re a no-brainer.
This, however, is a bit trickier: What happens when advertisers and game engineers manipulate facsimiles of real-life environments — say, virtual Wrigley Field — for the purpose of squeezing in some more ad space. Kotaku will tell you what happens: ad creep. Creepy ads! And not like the people that email you on Craigslist!
But it does exemplify advertising creep, and the extent publishers will go to modify the in-game feel to either make a buck or honor a one-size-fits-all advertising contract. (I’m certain MLB, MLBPA and State Farm were all guaranteed outfield scoreboard placement in 2K9. Hence the ridiculous ads on the apartment roof across Waveland Ave. at Wrigley.) And if this is the precedent, then what is next? It’s like Ralph Nader once said. They’d sell advertisements on your eyeballs if they could.
On one hand, I agree: it is a little sad that game developers will so willingly modify places like a beloved ballpark in video games, when part of the reason you’re buying that game is to recreate a real-life experience. On the other hand, I find it pretty hard to get worked up about this. I don’t even get worked up about real-life ads at Wrigley. You know why? Because the people that do are terrible and need to find better things to worry about. It’s fair to extend that rule to MLB2K9.
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Thank you
Chris
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That was part of what made Wrigley special and when it changes people don't like that. Yep I should probably worry about the budget deficit or something but if I did I wouldn't be reading your web page in the first place.