Blizzard’s Next MMO May Include Product Placement

Before you attack a Zerg hive, don't forget to enchant your weapons with Raid.

wait if there is product placement in the game are they still going to charge a monthly fee?

because that would be kinda fucked up.

Actually, if this is in a 2001: A Space Odyssey "future-product-placement" style (for instance, HAL is an IBM machine), this could be kind of cool.

Free to play will show paid for advertisements contextually appropriate for the game.

People paying the monthly subscription can choose whether or not they want to see the ads.

YOU DRINK MONSTER ENERGY DRINKS TO HEAL AND RECOVER MP

If that means no monthly fee, then great.

@dream431ca said:

If that means no monthly fee, then great.

+100 agreed

Protoss. Powered by Intel.

eww

@theveej said:

@dream431ca said:

If that means no monthly fee, then great.

+100 agreed

Oh hai Activision.

If this makes it F2P, maybe okay. But..

"Work with major consumer brands to facilitate product placement and licensing within the world of Blizzard Entertainment's next-gen MMO that enhances the gameplay experience"

Really? Really? I can almost taste the marketing bile from here.

@MikeGosot said:

@RockAction said:

b

b? Really?

It doesn't matter how many more sentences you add to your edited comment; a fellow giantbomber would always cap hard cold evidence before you can even make that edit.

@ccampbell02 said:

Free to play will show paid for advertisements contextually appropriate for the game.

People paying the monthly subscription can choose whether or not they want to see the ads.

Do subscribers get an HD option as well? lol

Call of Duty - more Massive, more Blizzard...

...or they're taking on DICE and Battlefield and build a more massive Battlefield experience for the common man.

To all the people spewing hyperbole and jumping to ludicrous assumptions:

This already happened. It happened in WoW. It happened years ago. It didn't have any impact on the pricing structure of WoW. Most people, apparently, didn't even notice it happened.

It was the Mountain Dew Warbot

They came in two colors, based on the faction/flavor of Mountain Dew you bought during that marketing campaign. There wasn't any actual mention of Mountain Dew in the game. The robots weren't outside the norm for existing robot pets in the game.

You need to get your head examined if you're expecting banner ads and trademarks within the game.

World of Crimecraft.

I think it would be interesting if add revenue could support a free MMO similar to how youtube is sponsored by adds. Think about it, free to play has been known to quadrouple subscriptions to MMOs and a massive next gen blizzard MMO could have 10s of millions of subscriptions if it was free. If Advertising was in game and done unobtrusively then they could make a killing off that revenue and provide a better game and have it be free of charge. Of course they could supplement that add money with a real money auction house and a cash shop selling mounts and what have you. That would make for an interesting and sustainable business model that makes money by just having people play the game.

However, this would need to be tastefully and delicately done because we all know how badly product placement can break a game's immersion. I have no doubt this is a great business idea although I have my reservations about how a real money auction house and presumably adds can negatively impact a game experience.

@cavemantom said:

To all the people spewing hyperbole and jumping to ludicrous assumptions:

This already happened. It happened in WoW. It happened years ago. It didn't have any impact on the pricing structure of WoW. Most people, apparently, didn't even notice it happened.

It was the Mountain Dew Warbot

They came in two colors, based on the faction/flavor of Mountain Dew you bought during that marketing campaign. There wasn't any actual mention of Mountain Dew in the game. The robots weren't outside the norm for existing robot pets in the game.

You need to get your head examined if you're expecting banner ads and trademarks within the game.

It was a pet, not product placement. Nowhere on that bot does it say Mountain Dew or anything. It is similar, but this is talking about clear brand placement inside the world of that MMO, not some pets you get by buying a bottle of coke.

They really ought to put this in WoW. I would love to see a mount sponsored by PetSmart that I could then go buy and ride!*

*This comment sponsored by PetSmart.

You can take that too far, WoW within the context of it's environment has product placement and working with other companies to produced themed merchandise in and out of the game.

You would at least do this in your other MMO now you have got all that implemented already for something else. Going further as well is of course a possibility. If it is Starcraft for example then sci fi cities would have those bladerunner style placements for adverts. Getting some money that make them real adds, as long as their not obtrusive I do not mind.

Allow me to pose the question: If we still know nothing, why is there an article?

SOE did in game advertising with Planetside once it started dying. While waiting for a shuttle in your main base they had "screens" everywhere playing the same annoying Army ad over and over and over and over...

Here's hoping Blizzard can manage something a little better than that.

Which can only mean that it's not another fantasy MMO.

/captainobvious

I just hope it won't be a 3rd person or first person shooter

Bad ideas are like cancer, if you let them spread too far there's no hope of recovery. In-game advertising is such a cancer to our hobby as gamers so you will see them rise up to combat it no matter who tries to weasel ads into their game. Since MMOS reach the broadest audience, they are a perfect testing ground for such woefully gainful ventures that publishers are willing to gamble on. This isn't about bashing MMOs, Or Activision/Blizzard. This is about stopping in-game advertising before it ever becomes mainstream and calling out a company on making an unpopular decision.

Allow me to pose the question: If we still know nothing, why is there an article?

I love product placement. I don't know why people complain about it. Unless it's the "in your face" type, that gets annoying.

As long as it is all in space I guess that's okay.

Since we know nothing, it could be a lot more tame than people are making it out to be. What if it's a MMO set in a modern day world, seeing a vending machine with "Coca-Cola" on it wouldn't be obtrusive, it'd actually make the game feel more normal. Or alternatively, a near-future (think Deus Ex) type world with the same. Again, it wouldn't really be obtrusive at all and could indeed be seen as increasing the player experience.

I want Dr. Pepper ads in every single game I play.  I love Dr. Pepper.  I drink it in the morning, I drink it before bed.  Sometimes I just open a bottle for the aroma.  I don't know why you guys have to be such fags about a little Dr. Pepper.

Yeah, "product placement" just screams "free to play" to me, which means I might actually play it. I'm tired of MMOs but I am down with free shit.

Hey what a surprise, Blizzard's Next MMO will probably not include me.

It's too early to say this but I will anyway:

Fuck you Activision.

Guys, it's Blizzard. They're not going to do anything that will destroy the world of their game. They don't spend whole decades developing things just to muck them up with poor marketing decision making. They have a special team of robots that iterates every possible release scenario a billion times over to ensure success.

@Brodehouse said:

I want Dr. Pepper ads in every single game I play. I love Dr. Pepper. I drink it in the morning, I drink it before bed. Sometimes I just open a bottle for the aroma. I don't know why you guys have to be such fags about a little Dr. Pepper.

You my good man are a gentlemen and scholar. I agree.

I would love to see a product placement ad for Day[9] and/or other e-sports things, and I would be relatively indifferent to stuff relevant to their games (like microtransaction stuff, D3's RMAH, gaming hardware)...Stupid shit like Mountain Dew or Doritos, I could more than live without. Or maybe they'll make a F2P MMO supported by microtransactions and these PP ads, then make you pay a WoW-esque subscription fee for ad-free gaming and throwing in some loot bonuses or a pet.

I can't wait to see how many bizzard fanbois keep subscribing even tho they are being exploited. LOL

@cassus said:

Calling it, their next mmo (following all the other remake/sequel crap they are doing) will be a Rock & Roll Racing game. World of Rock & Roll Racing. That way the banners and ads will be right at home around the track.

New IP my ass.

I gave a good friend Rock 'N' Roll Racing for the super NES this holiday 2011 as his gift.

@Buzzkill said:

@cassus said:

Calling it, their next mmo (following all the other remake/sequel crap they are doing) will be a Rock & Roll Racing game. World of Rock & Roll Racing. That way the banners and ads will be right at home around the track.

New IP my ass.

I gave a good friend Rock 'N' Roll Racing for the super NES this holiday 2011 as his gift.

Hell I'd support that. They could reinvent Auto Assault :P

@Brodehouse said:

I want Dr. Pepper ads in every single game I play. I love Dr. Pepper. I drink it in the morning, I drink it before bed. Sometimes I just open a bottle for the aroma. I don't know why you guys have to be such fags about a little Dr. Pepper.

Just how rotten are your teeth?

Here's how I think of it , and how it can be done intelligently and somewhat smartly.

Futuristic setting, much like Bladerunner , and Saints Row the Third - stick those ads on the side of giant buildings

@Rongaryen said:

I have no problem with product placement as long as it makes contextual sense.

I lvoe the in game advertising in ME2

Tired of wiping your guild raids over and over again? Try a bucket of Popeyes™! Atleast you've got chicken!

As long as its set in some kinda modern/futuristic style city I'm ok with it, if its some fantasy game with mountain dew ads that would be the worst.

i heard it's an mmofps

I actually liked the changing billboard ads in Burnout Paradise. Fuck it, let's see what they do.

@Doctorchimp said:

Product Placement means free-to-play right?

That has to be a sure sign.

Have you not heard of Bobby Kotick? Blizzard Activision has become about maximizing profits to the nth degree. They've made literally billions of dollars from WoW subscription fees, the chances of their next MMO being free instead seems low, to me at least.

From their point of view, if it aint broke don't fix it, they've made so much money from WoW with it's high subscription fee so why change that? From what I heard (don't play or follow WoW anymore but I've come across a news blurb or two recently) the game is losing a lot subscriptions now but they still have millions of subscribers and it is a damn old game at this point anyway so it's to be expected, it's still extremely profitable. Coke and other companies aren't going to pay them billions of dollars to have in game product placement, millions yes probably, billions no. It's far more likely this is just an attempt to pack as much profit into their game as they can, you'll have in game product placement and subscription fees, and many people will pay it because it will probably be a good game and it's Blizzard.

Honestly, if in game advertisements was how they were planning to make the majority of their profit from this game, I think they'd be hiring more than one guy for it years into production of the game.

That being said, I personally don't really mind product placement in game as long as it fits in with the world, isn't awkward and doesn't interrupt gameplay. It's a lot better than in your face ads interrupting your entertainment for minutes at a time like TV. If I'm in a modern or future world setting and my character is drinking a beverage I could care less if it's a coca cola instead of a made up fictional brand or a generic blank bottle. After all I see these products and their fancy labels around me all day in real life, my brain is already used to kind of tuning them out. If they put some of the extra profits towards more content and a better game, then whatever, I'll accept it as long as the game is damn good.

We can hope the subscription fees are gone or at least lower and the services fees are brought to reasonable levels instead of charging $20 to change a name or something but realistically we'll probably just be disappointed.

@Aus_azn said:

I would love to see a product placement ad for Day[9] and/or other e-sports things, and I would be relatively indifferent to stuff relevant to their games (like microtransaction stuff, D3's RMAH, gaming hardware)...Stupid shit like Mountain Dew or Doritos, I could more than live without. Or maybe they'll make a F2P MMO supported by microtransactions and these PP ads, then make you pay a WoW-esque subscription fee for ad-free gaming and throwing in some loot bonuses or a pet.

I think you cracked it. F2P + micro + ads.

Product placement can be perfectly bearable if done tastefully. I think if Blizzard is thinking about this, they're only going to implement it if done well. That said, we don't even know what this mmo is so the context in which ads could be included is pretty vague.

Anyone remember the intel billboards in Battlefield 2142? Those were a hoot. I bet it's gonna be like that.