14 DAY TRIAL // You probably keep hearing that the video game market will soon become the best place for advertising and, if you were having any doubts about it, Sony is planning to prove us right by announcing a deal for Europe and North America with Double Fusion. Following this agreement, your PS3 will become the best place for advertisers to promote their products, no matter whether you want to see them or not.
According to both parties, though, all the ads you'll see will be suitable for the gamer demographic so they shouldn't bother you too much. Double Fusion will leverage its expertise, technology and sales force while creating effective programs targeting the PS3 fan base, meaning that, in the end, Sony and Double Fusion will get a bit more money.
"We have already received tremendous support from publishers who want to incorporate ads into their PS3 games, across all of the regions of the world," Jonathan Epstein, president and CEO, Double Fusion, said. "We are very excited to work with SCE on this and PS3 will add a vast number of players to our already robust network. SCE's participation strengthens the in-game advertising ecosystem."
An interesting thing is that, even though we all know that the sales of the PS3 consoles are not that great at the moment, Sony is very optimistic, predicting that, by the end of 2011, no less than 180 million PS3s and PSPs combined will be sold. Although it sounds like a sweet, impossible dream, it surely manages to bring in even more advertisers to the platform and, in the end, that's what matters most for the company.
It remains to be seen how this in-game advertising partnership with Double Fusion will influence the sales of the Playstation consoles (if it has any effect on them at all) in the future and how gamers will react. Oh, one more thing: since Sony will start receiving income from another source, too, does it mean that we'll get a price drop?