14 DAY TRIAL // After game publisher Electronic Arts recently signed an in-game advertising deal with Massive Inc. regarding advertisements in games distributed by the industry giant, it seems that the in-game advertising concept is picking up Steam yet again.
Double Fusion, another important player in the market, doesn't want to be left behind and has announced that Gearbox Software will be using its services to incorporate in-game advertising in its games. The deal is aimed at dynamic in-game advertising and at securing integrated sponsorship deals from interested third parties.
Gearbox was founded in 1999 and first came to the forefront of the games industry by developing two expansion packs for the original Half Life, named Opposing Forces and Blue Shift, that chronicled the Black Mesa events from perspectives radically different from that of Gordon Freeman. They also developed the Halo: Combat Evolved PC port. They're biggest franchise yet is Brothers in Arms, which has been developed for a variety of platforms, and is a very detailed simulation of World War II at a squad level. A new entry in the series is expected for late 2008 or early 2009.
Details regarding the deal were scarce. Jonathan Epstein, who is the president and Chief Executive Officer of Double Fusion, declared: "Gearbox is one of the gold standard developers focused on the highest production value titles targeted at core gamers, and we're very excited to be working with them".
Given that Gearbox has at least two high profile titles in development, in Borderlands and Aliens: Colonial Marines, it can be assumed that this titles will be the first to feature advertising as provided by Double Fusion. Whether the back catalog of games from Gearbox will also be part of the advertising deal is currently unknown.
From where I'm looking, more in-game advertising is a bad move, as it tends to limit the immersion element provided by a game in favor of more monetization.