The *small* Case For Advertising in Games
I must admit that I’ve always found advertising interesting, but this is not to be mistaken with enjoying all ads. With the recent news of Electronic Arts (EA) once again considering adding advertisements for video games, it's interesting to consider how they plan to apply them and how there have been and continue to be successful and non-alienating ways of in-game advertisements (although, trusting EA to this may be hopeless).
When it comes to in-game advertisements, my first thought almost always goes towards an example I found funny (and therefore, non-intrusive) as a kid: Pikmin 2. In this game the protagonist, Olimar, crash lands on an alien but earth-looking planet. The player is tasked with controlling Olimar/Pikmin in collecting trinkets and ship parts spread around the crash site. One of the first items the player will pick up is a Duracell D-battery, except it’s captioned “Courage Reactor” when collected:
From: Nintendo’s “Pikmin 2”
It’s not that this is paramount to world-building or the keystone of the game, but it is a bit of a chuckle, gives a sense of scale, and an “a-ha!” moment in allowing the player to learn this “alien” planet is Earth. Usually, or nowadays, I would be annoyed at the inclusion of this type of product placement; but something about it in the context of Pikmin makes it charming and not as meddling.
One could argue that in-game advertisements also bring a realistic setting to one of the most consistently popular genres in video games year over the years: Sports (which just so happens to be within EA’s domain). People don’t purchase sports games such as Fifa yearly to look at ads, but it is an accepted part of the setting to have playing fields, arenas, and jerseys filled with sponsorships. Even most courts, rinks, fields, and stadiums are named after major corporate sponsors nowadays – Would it feel more correct to have your favorite team play at some unnamed home stadium? Or to wash these teams and stages of their atmosphere in favor of an adless utopia? This isn’t to suggest, however, that the player would enjoy being subjected to ads between plays just for the sake of realism either though.
In the same vein as major league sports games, brand exposure in titles such as Pro Skater or MX vs. ATV can be appealing to the players as well. If you’re a skater or motocrosser in real life, odds are that you have preferred brands within those hobbies. Given customization options, players enjoy the opportunity to connect with their avatar if not project themselves to it directly.
Cross-promotion events are becoming an increasingly popular avenue of in-game advertising. Fortnite, of course, is the leading example of this. Fortnite transcends simple crossovers within nerd pop culture to a point where it crosses over with famous artists, movies/TV franchises, and even Nike! In addition to simple brand exposure, the benefit to marketing in this way is that not only do players not mind the promotions: they’ll pay for the luxury of representing your brand.
I won’t pretend that advertising in video games isn’t usually implemented in an annoying and alienating way. There are the Monster cans in Death Stranding which, unlike Pikmin, do not feel like a thoughtful easter egg but rather the out-of-place product placement they are. There’s Mercedes in Mario Kart which, although it doesn’t alienate me any more than being a simple option, is something I’d prefer were not in the game.
I don’t particularly support the mass adoption of advertising into video games, but I also don’t believe people hate advertising as much as they think they do; they just hate bad advertising. If sponsorship became a prevalent way for developers to secure funding while lessening the need for an overbearing publisher (and even better if they’re able to implement that advertising creatively); that could be a better alternative to how the current industry operates.
