Bad news for PC and console gamers: commercials like those broadcast on television will arrive in video games, especially in titles offered by Hi-Rez Studios (Smite, Paladins, etc.) et Electronic Arts.
Simulmedia, a company specializing in television advertising, is launching its playerWON platform this week, which will connect video game development studios with major brands, whose advertising spots are struggling to reach “young people”.
Billions of dollars up for grabs for developers
Showing video ads in games on PC and consoles is a concession that could prove extremely lucrative for developers, especially within studios that mainly produce free-to-play titles. Dave Madden, Executive Vice President of Simulmedia, urges them to think seriously about it:
“The acceleration of free-to-play (F2P) games on consoles and PC, like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone and Roblox, means viewership and playtime have seen explosive growth, but the big Majority of gamers, over 90%, never spend money on F2P games. »
As part of its research to build its playerWon platform, Simulmedia has determined that players would be willing to watch up to ten advertisements a day, if this allows them to unlock free benefits. And data from a pilot campaign conducted on Smite, Hi-Rez Studios' MOBA, does indeed point in that direction.
Players were found to be more likely to spend in-game money after watching ads giving them access to free rewards. And according to an analysis by the American bank Morgan Stanley, based on the year 2020, the integration of advertisements in console games - with rewards at the key - would make it possible to reap 2 billion dollars, even if only 45% of players were watching them!
In-game ads in exchange for “exclusive content”
The playerWon technology will be licensed to development studios so that they can implement it in their PC and console titles, and then decide what rewards to offer to players who agree to see the ads. Because yes, they will have the possibility of refusing to watch these commercials for 15 to 30 seconds, but they will then not be able to unlock the “exclusive advantages” linked to the game.
Thanks to its advertising server, Simulmedia will indeed be able to determine whether an advertisement has been broadcast in its entirety. A notification will then be sent to release the reward to the player, which should be in-game currency and skins for their characters. Thus, the big brands will finally be able to reach players aged 18 to 34 who often escape their advertisements, while saving money.
Indeed, this new mode of distribution will be much more economical compared to the rates applied for television. It's already been done: Tencent's Hi-Rez studios are ready to continue the experiment with Simulmedia, in order to add commercials to their titles... which is not surprising, given their large catalog of free games.
The same goes for the giant Electronic Arts, which is not surprising either. Indeed, the publisher is looking for new inflows of money, at a time when it is closely watched following new incriminating documents concerning FIFA and its much criticized policy on loot boxes. We will not escape it: by the end of the year, Simulmedia plans to launch commercials in a dozen video games, without specifying the titles concerned.
