It seems that gamesblog's predictions about the imminent saturation of advertising in games were correct. The Register reports that start-up company Massive is about to invade our gamewaves with billboards of well-known high street brands, acting as an agent for companies concerned with the rapid decline of target audience TV viewing figures.
Some argue that such a presence will increase the immersion of the playing experience. Funnily enough, I play games to escape from the real world and don't want the latest Hollywood blockbuster vying for my attention when I have some important gold coins to collect.
The company are working on gaining a monopoly over what gamers get to see in future releases from current joiners Konami, Vivendi, UbiSoft and Atari, signing multi-year exclusive contracts with these publishers. Furthermore, they're in on the networked components, which screams digital tags, cookies and targeted ads. With the aim of getting PlayStation in on the act, who knows what kind of access they'll be after with the help of the EyeToy.
Are games really more engaging with real world advertisements in place, and is it really worth it?
