[casual_games] Advergaming

Wed Apr 12 15:26:59 EDT 2006

If asked to define "advergaming" then I would agree with your 
definition.   I looked at Jonas' blog and company site and felt that 
this is an alternative he, and others like him who might not get picked 
up by Massive, should know about.

There are a few problems with the business of advergaming from the 
developers point of view.  The first is meeting the advertiser who can 
actually afford real development time to build something credible - 10K 
doesn't typically build you a compelling interactive experience but a 
lot of the advertisers you talk to will talk about knocking out 
something like Zuma, but better (of course), in a month or two.  The 
tweak time with those green clients is going to cost you a lot of the 
10K if you are paying a real engineers salary (not to mention the 
producer to interface).  The second is that most of us would like to 
still get the profits from the games we make - in fact most of us are in 
this space because we don't want to work for corporations - we just want 
more $ for the games we make and streaming ads can enable that.

 From the advertisers point of view there are a couple of problems as 
well.  The first is that you need to lay out your cash on an unknown 
quantity - you don't know when your game will be completed and what the 
quality will be once done.  Insert software engineering schedule jokes 
here.  Secondly, just to grab #'s, let's say you lay out 75K for a small 
team to build you a product over the course of 6 months.  Once it's 
done, and you've gotten your feet wet as an external producer, then you 
still need to actually get the thing distributed - non-trivial if you 
don't have a portal network.  Somehow you get the game distributed for 
another 25K and get 100K downloads.  You, the advertiser, have paid a 
dollar per game play if all of the if's above have been answered.

You don't have to use IA to enable this kind of system.  A streaming 
server isn't that hard to whack together.  The thing about using IA is 
that we don't take an exorbitant amount of the cash, we are working to 
build a network so that those games that under or over perform have more 
of a chance of actually meeting the advertisers needs (trying to meet 
the ebb and flow of game play with a single title is tricky) and you 
don't have to do the really time consuming thing - actually selling the ads.

My 2 cents,

Lennard Feddersen
CEO, Rusty Axe Games, Inc.
www.RustyAxe.com

Lennard at RustyAxe.com
P. 250-635-7623 F. 1-309-422-2466
3521 Dogwood, Terrace, BC, Canada, V8G-4Y7

James C. Smith wrote:

>I am confused. I though "Advergaming" generally referred to games that were
>custom built (or reskinned) to promote a specific product or brand.  For
>example, Energizer would commission a game developer to make a game
>featuring the Energizer bunny.  It wouldn't be a game with an Energizer ad
>in it. It would be a whole game all about Energizer.  Isn't streaming
>billboard ads into a game a completely different subject than Advergaming?
>
>I don't want to debate the vocabulary and semantics. I just want to make
>sure Jónas gets advice on the topic he is interested in.
>
>--James 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
>On Behalf Of Lennard Feddersen
>Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 11:00 AM
>To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [casual_games] Advergaming
>
>
>Anybody who is interested in this topic can email me directly as well.  
>I started Integrated Ads last year - www.IntegratedAds.com - with the 
>goal of enabling casual game developers to ad. enable their games after 
>or late in development with a minimum of dev. effort (link in a static 
>library, make 3 calls, display 1 image).  You can see the system in use 
>if you download the Battle Castles demo from www.RustyAxe.com.  I read 
>the indie gamer forums every day and do the math.  From the #'s being 
>reported,  there are a lot of indie developers who aren't making enough 
>$ to get by on. I believe that advertising can play a bigger role in our 
>industry segment since we give away so much content in the form of free 
>demos and reduced cost games.  Both the Battle Castles demo and a 
>reduced cost version of BC ship with advertising - players can still buy 
>a premium cost version with ads removed.  I've recently been looking at 
>the Arcade In A Box forums and a lot of gamers there felt disappointed 
>that they had to pay $20 for a casual game (I know, tough cookies) and 
>I've often had the same thought when I see the dev. $ we sink into a 
>title versus those of premium companies.  There are a lot of games at my 
>local Staples at the $20 price point that costs millions to develop - 
>including Diablo, Warcraft and Baldurs Gate gamer packs and it's obvious 
>to me why a lot of titles in our space aren't making their $ back.  
>These may be viable gaming experiences that are getting play.  The 
>answer may well be to ad. advertising.
>
>Lennard Feddersen
>CEO, Rusty Axe Games, Inc.
>www.RustyAxe.com
>
>Lennard at RustyAxe.com
>P. 250-635-7623 F. 1-309-422-2466
>3521 Dogwood, Terrace, BC, Canada, V8G-4Y7
>
>
>
>Thomas H. Buscaglia wrote:
>
>  
>
>>I recommend putting together a portfolio demonstrating your studios
>>game capabilities and sending to every ad agency you could find...then 
>>let them tell you want they want...and all you have to do is tell them 
>>how much.  Direct pitching to end users (the companies that actually 
>>use the advergaming) is way too difficult and besides they all already 
>>have ad agencies that they rely on to do this sort of thing.  So all 
>>you really need in a few internal advocates within the agencies.  And 
>>hip gamers who already "get it" in terms of the value of interactive 
>>multimedia as a marketing tool are in those positions already.
>>
>>Tom B
>>
>>At 01:10 PM 4/12/2006, you wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Hi.
>>> 
>>>I was wondering what companies would be considered as "leading
>>>experts" in Advergaming? I need some advice since the concept isn't 
>>>something I deal with on a regular basis and, thus, do not exactly 
>>>know how to "pitch" properly. What are the "selling points", who 
>>>should I consider as primary "targets" for an idea, etc.
>>> 
>>>What do you generally think of Adwaregaming? Is it a "dirty" field or
>>>something that is going to grow and get better? Do games and 
>>>advertising mix well?
>>> 
>>>Some background on my thoughts can be found here:
>>>www.jonasantonsson.com <http://www.jonasantonsson.com/>. Basically I 
>>>have an idea that would be rather expensive to implement. My gut 
>>>feeling tells me that the idea is well suited for advergaming if I 
>>>could pitch it to the right people and with the right points.
>>> 
>>>Regards,
>>>Jónas Antonsson
>>>CEO, Gogogic
>>>jonas at gogogic.com
>>>www.gogogic.com <http://www.gogogic.com/>
>>>
>>>www.jonasantonsson.com <http://www.jonasantonsson.com/> <
>>>http://www.jonasantonsson.com <http://www.jonasantonsson.com/>> 
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>Casual_Games mailing list
>>>Casual_Games at igda.org 
>>>http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games
>>>      
>>>
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>>Thomas H. Buscaglia, Esquire
>>The Game Attorney
>>T. H. Buscaglia and Associates
>>80 Southwest 8th Street
>>Suite 2100 - Brickell Bayview Center
>>Miami, FL  33130
>>Tel (305) 324-6000
>>Fax (305) 324-1111
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>><http://www.gameattorney.com/> ¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,¤º°`°º¤¤º°`°º¤,¸¸,¤º°`°º¤
>>
>>
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