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Game advertising is a subject that affects all gamers. Every year, advertising becomes more heavily integrated into the games that we enjoy. The question of whether or not this in any way benefits the end user is one that we've talked about before here on OT, and it's one that I discussed with NeoEdge's director of marketing, Jonathan Venier, at GDC on Tuesday.
NeoEdge Networks is a Silicon ValleyWeb 2.0 Internet startup that enables gaming and other media companies to deliver Internet advertising as part of their products. NeoEdge is notable in that it is a pioneer in both peer-to-peer distribution and in-game advertising- a topic that has become both popular and controversial as Internetbusiness models come to dominate all aspects of consumer entertainmentservices and products.
Jonathan explained that NeoEdge represents part of a comprehensive movement towards introducing an advertising system for casual games that doesn't interfere with the gameplay in the same way that advertising in core games does. You won't find in-game billboards plastered with ads with NeoEdge's system, nor will you find yourself wondering whether or not you're paying full retail price in order to be advertised to.
"NeoEdge is focused on advertising in casual games; we have an end-to-end solution to ad-enabling any format of casual games—online, downloadable," said Jonathan. "What's unique about [our system] is the solution can be implemented without the source code; it's a wrapping solution." He continued to state that the company is seeking to monetize the smaller casual games market—games that reach a player base of "60-70 million consumers in North America alone." And while, "there are a lot of solutions out there" for game advertising in the casual space, the existing market is "fragmented": NeoEdge hopes to unite them.
However, there is one significant difference between the strategy employed by NeoEdge and that of competing services like EA and Microsoft's "Massive" solution. NeoEdge separates itself from the pack by taking the interests of the consumer into account in addition to the desires of publishers. "It's like the network television model," Jonathan explained. "You pay for HBO so you don't get advertising. But with network TV, it's understood that the tradeoff of the lesser price is a result of the commercials." The same mindset is applied to NeoEdge's advertising system, similar to the kind of system recently implemented into GameTap but accessible to a wide array of potential clients.
While the company is currently supporting specific games like Cake Mania and Diner Dash, as well as specific portals such as MostFun.com and PlayFirst.com, its eventual goal is to provide independent developers a cheap and easy-to-implement solution to the monetization of casual games.
Advertising in games is an unavoidable byproduct of the growth of the industry, but there may be solutions that have a payoff for gamers—based on what Jonathan told us, it seems like NeoEdge offers one such solution. In addition to other ad-supported free titles, such as EA's Battlefield Heroes, this new trend in advertising within causally-oriented gaming has the potential to be a positive one.
Electronic Arts is to release a free online version of the popular Battlefield game to be supported by adverts and micro payments.
The PC game, Battlefield Heroes, will be available only online later this year, and will not be sold in shops.
The move marks EA's first major attempt to tap into new sources of ad-driven revenue in Western markets.
The firm has a free version of its Fifa game in South Korea, earning more than $1m a month through in-game sales.
"Online gaming has a massive audience," said EA's Gerhard Florin, in a statement.
"People want to play games in new ways, with easier access that is quick to the fun. With Battlefield Heroes, EA brings its first major franchise to North America and Europe with a new distribution model and pricing structure adapted to the evolving way that people play."
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