In-game advertising promisses to be huge

gamesindustry.biz has a very interesting article on in-game advertising featuring Google AdSense for Games’ Bernie Stolar, promissing that it will become a billion dollar industry by 2010.

‘If you look at research, there are more people playing games than watching television. So what does that tell you? That tells you there’s a whole different audience," Stolar said.

The demographics have changed. So the rules have changed.

A lot of gamers are very scared by things like this, but I believe it will be a very natural placement. It’s already started, but it should go everywhere IMO: the hero is drinking his last can of brand soda in a dramatic moment before parachuting into enemy territory, you drive by some billboards with real advertisments, you listen to a radio featuring real advertisments slightly tweaked for the game, brand name cars, you shoot your way through hallways with posters… the possibilities are pretty much endless. Maybe even more importantly though, games will be able to cost less, finally closing the gap between the high price of gaming and the free-ness of television.