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Gaming industry blog Saving Content sat down with ECD/Partner Charles Bae to talk about the influx of advertising in video games:

“For the gamers who don’t want to see an advertisement on a billboard during a Madden Game, use a Sony cell phone in Splinter Cell or Drive a Dodge Charger in Grand Theft Auto you are out of luck. The age of advertising has finally taken over the gaming world.

• Do you think advertising in games has a positive or negative effect on people playing the games (or no effect at all)?

I don’t think in-game advertising has a real effect on a gamer. For the most part, brands and game publishers have been doing a respectful job with ad placement. Since we’re dealing with an immersive experience, advertisers and publishers seem to be following the basic rule of placing ads within the context of a respective game’s world. It makes absolute sense for an ad to appear on a billboard in a game set in New York City. It also makes sense to fill a sports game with advertisements because it actually helps bring the game closer to reality. Ads and sponsors on sports networks have conditioned us to expect ad overload while watching sports on TV, so a sports game without is would feel wrong.

An instance such as PlayBoy magazine appearing in a game like Mafia 2, is a win-win for everyone. Gamers enjoy the centerfolds, Playboy shows off their brand heritage and relevance in Mafia’s period setting, and the game itself adds another touch of realism.

• With the money that is pulled in from advertising, do gamers receive a better product?

Money never makes a game better, in fact, not one single factor makes a game better. More time, more money, more developers, might indeed help create a better product, but the game may still fail to deliver. There are tons of games that have had big budgets but launched with mediocrity and underwhelming sales figures. I think it all comes down to the talent behind the game, and advertising money may certainly help developers and studios hire best-in-breed talent. Same goes for the film industry. You can spend a ton of money on a hollywood blockbuster, but the chances of the movie actually being good is 50/50.”

Read more over at Saving Content.

If there’s anything you can default to talking about with someone, it’s usually something you’ve both watched. Whether it’s something on the silver screen or the next cat video on YouTube, there’s a guaranteed commentary and we’re starting to see that chatter make a big influence on the way we watch content. We’re saying goodbye to the one-way messages and passive lean-back experiences of watching television and instead inviting a new era of interactive content, where viewers can directly influence and converse with what they are watching. We have smart phones. Isn’t it time for smarter TV? Conversely, if and when that happens, what is that going to be like for the future of advertising?
Read the full article on Ad Age.