40
Vista Reviewed!
Find out how Microsoft’s
next version of Windows
stacks up.The Good
and Bad of
In-Game
Ads
!IHNeHNs
Ed Word
Please send feedback and
anything but fruitcake
to [email protected].JANUARY 2007 MAXIMUMPC
I
was fl oored by the deluge of feedback I received
about my Battlefi eld 2142 review (December 2006).
It turns out that you guys really don’t like in-game ads
in any form—at least you don’t think you do. You guys
are even talking about boycotting every game that
uses in-game ads. But not all in-game ads are bad.
The problem with the game industry is that
development costs are skyrocketing. A triple-A,
single-player title shipping this holiday probably cost
$20 million to create. Games that include copious
content—like MMOs—can cost twice that. And
developments costs are only going up in the future.
To break even on a $20 million game, the
developer needs to sell more than 400,000 copies
at $50 a pop. (To keep the math simple, I’m going to
skip the retailer’s cut of the profi t, marketing costs,
packaging and distribution, and the rest of the
incidentals). Now 400,000 doesn’t sound like a lot of
copies, but it is—especially for a single-platform title,
and especially if that platform is the PC. To put the
number in perspective, Half-Life 2 is one of the best-
selling PC shooters ever, and it’s only moved 4 million
copies since 2004.
While the cost of game development has
skyrocketed over the last 10 years, the price of games
has remained relatively steady. We’re just now making
the jump from $50 to $60, and only for PS3 and Xbox360 games, so far. Although games are selling more
copies, developers and publishers still have to recoup
massive development costs—not to mention the
losses on failed games.
To cover the gap, some companies have
embraced subscription models, where you pay a
monthly fee to play. Other publishers have boosted
revenue by selling small add-ons that enhance the
base game. But in-game advertising isn’t anything
new. Companies have been placing ads in their
games for several years. These ads aren’t all banners
or billboards; there are pop soundtracks and in-game
product placements too.
As the trend continues, there will inevitably be
some offensive in-game ads, but most are inoffensive,
and won’t hurt us (or our hobby). Here’s my rule:
In-game ads shouldn’t distract me from the game
I’m playing. They should fi t in with the setting.
They shouldn’t be animated or use a distracting
color palette. And they shouldn’t collect any more
information about me than a similar web ad would.
If in-game ads let developers make more
innovative games, without passing the added cost
to me, then I say, “Bring ‘em on”—as long as they
follow my rule.(^48)
Get Virtual
Learn to use virtual
machines to make
troubleshooting your
PC easier!
Next-gen consoles be damned! The
latest hardware and software will
knock your socks off!
Next-gen consoles be damned! The Next-gen consoles be damned! The
26 This is
DirectX 10 Gaming
Features
MAXIMUMPC 01 / 07