Poll: Does labelled product placement in gaming bother you?

[Aerius]

Like Jim constantly reminds us, we can't trust these companies. We should not believe that the extra money they make is used for anything other than investor dividends and gold plated shoes for executives.

Why is that even a bad thing? Without those investors, who are attracted by good dividends, and executives, who provide prudent financial management, you wouldn't get games at all. Given that one of the biggest threats to the gaming industry is a lack of willingness by companies to put forward capital, aren't more investor dividends good for us?

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I can live with in-game ads in a F2P, but if I've paid for a game upfront or monthly I will not be advertised at. Similarly I don't mind banners and things on web pages for the same reason (though I take issue with popups, pop-unders and full screen shiz). I'm afraid of the XBone actually because I've heard it does actually throw ads at you [http://www.sticktwiddlers.com/2013/06/28/xbox-one-dashboard-created-with-advertising-in-mind/], despite paying almost £400 for the thing. If they think I'll pay £400 to have adverts in my face, MS can think again. I'll end up

I disabled the in-game ads in DE:HR Directors Cut on the PC. I believe they were posters/billboards for other Squeenix games but I'll not put up with it if I don't have to. Besides, I already own any of their games I'm going to so it's pointless marketing them too me. I will say in their defence however, at least they had the grace to a) only display their own products and b) only market video games. If one were to advertise in games, I cannot think of a better example of doing it right, tastefully and in keeping with the game's aesthetic.

Generally, I think brands should be kept out of games. In a fictional universe, even if it's set in our world it's very immersion breaking to have real-world stuff appear. It's the antithesis of escapism. On the flip side, things like Nuka Cola, Blasto, Ryan Industries Plasmids and so on all *add* to immersion but drawing us further into a believable ecosystem.

 

[Eggsnham]

It depends on how blatant it is or whether or not it fits the context.

The examples you provided probably wouldn't bother me since it's part of the game, it's not as if characters are walking around going "BOY, I SURE DO LOVE COKA COLA BRAND SOFT DRINKS!"; you're seeing coke bottles strewn about in a post apocalyptic abandoned Walmart.

In my eyes, as long as the product placement serves a purpose and isn't trying way too hard to be noticed, then it's not a problem.

 

[babinro]

My only problem with it is if the game is has product placements up the wazzoo, and yet still comes out at full price.

A couple of people have mentioned this and I tend to agree. I wish the impact of ads in games were at least somewhat evident to the consumer. For example, if a AAA title shipped at $50.00 with significant ad use as opposed to $60 without them. Or thanks to ads we've been supplied extra DLC content for FREE.

Right now, I can only 'hope' that the ad revenue generated is put towards a better final product but I have no proof to believe this. For all I know they just pocket the cash as a bonus and call it a day. Or just as bad, they put it towards development of DLC.

 

[OneCatch]

This is too far:

But if it can be done in such a way that it fits in fairly subtly and without altering the gameplay or atmosphere, I've got no problem with it.
I wouldn't mind if the cars in Crysis were branded, or if you came across branded food in a survival game (provided it didn't give stupid stat bonuses or otherwise have attention drawn to it).
It might actually be better than the usual improv-ed 'Depsi Cola', 'Facepage', 'Kehler and Hoch' branding that actually draws attention to itself.

 

[Radoh]

Product placement in video games has always been a weird thing to me, not so much because of what it is but rather how people always seem to react to it.
Is it a real world product advertised? If Yes, everyone freaks out over it and gets mad. If No, it gets pointed out and is viewed as ridiculous with a side of contempt.
I honestly don't care one way or another.

 

[irok]

Well its not going to enhance it , the last thing I think the industry needs is encouragement to put ads into the game itself, in fallout these things would annoy me slightly as I would have to deal with these names and places commonly in normal gameplay, in maybe something like saints row I doubt I would care If I drove past Starbucks and Mc'ds but I feel its always going to be intrusive, obnoxious as well as prolific, why stop at any point, why not have every item and building be a real place or product , I feel this will probably be the next big plague to hit triple A gaming.

In fact I remember a certain zombie game made by tripwire that had advertising in a window in their game, was not a fan of the idea.

 

[antidonkey]

If it's there purely to advertise a product and nothing more, then I'm fine with. Hell, most of the time I don't even notice it. However, if it's all up in your face or, as mentioned before, it's used as a boost or power up, then I'm certainly not ok with it.

 

[CaptainCliche]

I'm fine with it as long as it's not shoved in your face Truman show style.

It could even help with the immersion factor for some games. I would love a Mod for fallout 3 that replaced all the in game brands with real brands for drinks, cars, retailers and computers and such. It would really add to the post apocalyptic atmosphere to see these corporate giants that controlled so much reduced to virtually nothingness.

 

[krazykidd]

No, because i'm not so petty to let a placed product in a game bother me. More likely than not i probably won't even notice it.

 

[RobAlister]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It does not bother me at all. Why should it? I see advertisements in real life all the time. Why do people ask for more realistic graphics, AI, vehicle controls etc. yet ads (that they probably see all the time in real life) somehow throw them off or anger them.

It's one thing to be upset about seeing a million commercials per commercial break or annoying male enhancement ads in the sidebar of a website, but seeing a Coca-Cola billboard in a videogame where your focus should be on the action, is just ridiculous.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

In some games, like ______-sims (sports, racing, etc) it makes sense to have real-world advertisements. It helped the city in Crazy Taxi feel more real by having KFC and, Pizza Hut. What irks me are things like...wasn't it Bionic Commander which had Pepsi Machines but you couldn't use your super-awesome Robot arm on them or, kill people with them? That would kind of take me out of the experience...I can hurl a car at people but a Pepsi Machine which is likely 10's of times lighter though still just as lethal as a car? Why can't I kill people with that!?!

 

[WeepingAngels]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It does not bother me at all. Why should it? I see advertisements in real life all the time. Why do people ask for more realistic graphics, AI, vehicle controls etc. yet ads (that they probably see all the time in real life) somehow throw them off or anger them.

It's one thing to be upset about seeing a million commercials per commercial break or annoying male enhancement ads in the sidebar of a website, but seeing a Coca-Cola billboard in a videogame where your focus should be on the action, is just ridiculous.

Because people don't generally like ads? Really I can't believe you put ads on the same level as actual game mechanics.

TV ads started out few too, but as people became more accepting of them (and as advertisers got more bold)...well this is what we have now. Do you want video games to reach that level?

 

[tippy2k2]

Incidentally, people keep talking about Energizer batteries in Alan Wake but I never saw any: did they censor the Australian version or something?

They must have because it'd be pretty damn hard to miss...

Spoiler

While Googling that, I also found out that...

Verizon has commercials in the game (I knew that but I forgot all about it). When you turn on a TV, if it's a random show or something, said show can have a Verizon commercial pop up

There is also a Ford commercial that can play as well

 

[Mrkillhappy]

It really depends on if it feels natural to the environment in the game example would be like the product placement for coke in the movie blade runner when the car is flying through L.A. That is a time when it felt natural but if the product placement is bad then it can detract from the overall experience of the game an example of a way this could be done is if the game took away camera control from the player and panned over to a mountain dew vending machine for no real reason.
Another example of bad product placement is if it is put in the loading screens.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

I've trained my brain well enough to ignore paid advertisements in video games for the most part, but there are still cases that irk me, like Energizer batteries and Verizon commercials in Alan Wake (blatant & tacky) or Square's attempt at throwing RL ads into Deus Ex: Human Revolution (unnecessary & insulting).

I don't watch television or go to the movies primarily due to the fact that commercials make my brain feel like it's shrinking, so I'm not surprised I sometimes get agitated when I see them in my video games.

 

[Roxas1359]

Not really, but I guess it depends on the situation and how it's placed in the game exactly. I mean if it's on loading screens then I don't mind it, granted the game should hopefully not have terrible loading times, and then there are some product placements and product tie-in games that are bad. *looks at the Noid*

 

[Blinktv]

If a game wishes to create a sense of immersion, then no, it takes me out of it( I'm looking at you Alan Wake!)

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

It depends on whether or not the game is attempting to emulate our real life on Earth. If it's a game like that, and not overtly blatant, it wouldn't bother me. I thought of this when I installed the otherwise excellent cinematic mod for Half-Life 2. It makes the game look absolutely gorgeous, but the vending machines turn into Coca-Cola machines and the cans you can throw around do the same. It drove me fucking bananas and I had to disable that part of it, as well as the new faces for Alyx and Barney. City 17 and the like are a different, dystopian and alien world, and I want no reminder of the things I see in RL while I'm trying to immerse myself in it.

Playing Madden or a racing game? Whatever. The real stadiums are plastered with the ads, but I really don't like the announcers talking about Snicker bars and shit during instant replays and such. The ads all over the stadium are more than adequate.

And while were on this topic, FUCK sponsored achievements. Madden specifically has this problem. There's no joy in unlocking the "Fedex delivery award for throwing a 70 yard touchdown".