Microsoft subsidiary Massive, which specializes in placing advertising in video games, announced a deal Wednesday with Electronic Arts that brings five popular titles into the Massive network, including the latest installment of the best-selling Madden NFL franchise.
The deal is another example of continued interest in in-game advertising and signals the first appearance of dynamic ads in some of the most popular game franchises in the world. The contents of dynamic ads can be changed on the fly on Internet-connected game consoles and PCs.
By September, Massive’s network will include Xbox 360 versions of five EA games: Madden NFL 08, Nascar 08, NHL 08, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, and Skate. The agreement also includes PC versions of Madden and Tiger Woods.
Ads will appear in typical places: on scoreboards, around hockey rinks, and during race updates. “Sports are such a natural fit with advertising,” said EA Senior Director of Game Advertising Shelby Cox. “We’re looking at alternative ways to monetize our games [and] we’re invested in growing this dynamic business.”
Parks Associates predicts video game advertising—including static and dynamic elements—will be worth $2 billion by 2012, up from $370 million in 2006 (see Game advertising to hit $2B by 2012).
The Massive announcement more than doubles the number of EA games that feature dynamic advertising. Current titles with such ads include Battlefield 2142, Need for Speed Carbon, and Def Jam Icon.
The addition of new games, especially Madden, clearly helps Massive build its network. “It’s a watershed moment when we can announce these big titles,” said Massive Marketing Director Alison Lange.
Now in its 18th year, the Madden franchise has sold more than 60 million copies and generated more than $2 billion in retail sales. The next iteration will be released in August, while the 2006 version was the best-selling game of that year (see Top Games ’06: Madden).
Such titles are valuable not only for their stellar retail sales but also because they reach many players beyond those who actually buy the games. Madden NFL 07 sold nearly 4 million copies by the end of 2006, but research firm Interpret released a report in March saying the game has been played by some 14 million people (see Who’s Playing What and When).
Though this newest partnership will bring Massive and EA additional revenue, it leaves persistent questions about how EA plans to handle dynamic ads in versions of its games for other systems—particularly Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Microsoft’s 2006 acquisition of Massive (see Microsoft’s Massive Purchase) gave marketers an easy way to get in to games on the Xbox and left many wondering if Sony would make a similar move. Sony has yet to talk at length about its in-game ad strategy.
EA wouldn’t share many details about what it knows of Sony’s plans, either. “We’re in conversations with them, as are many publishers,” Ms. Cox said. “We hear in-game advertising is a priority [and] it’s something they’re looking at very seriously.”
Sony said earlier this month that it’s working with the Nielsen Company to develop a standard for measuring video game playing and make it easier for advertisers to get involved in the budding market (see Sony, Nielsen Partner on Ads).