How NOT to advertise in Gaming
Kevin Bahler
PR Manager, Blog contributor
Advertising in video games should be mutually beneficial for the game studio and the advertiser. As video games become more expensive to produce, ad partnerships provide supplemental income. This is even more important for mobile games, most of which are free to play and supported by ads and in-game purchases.
In many ways, advertising in video games works the same as any other channel: display the ad to the audience, promise benefits, call to action, and achieve activations. However, gaming is an active experience, which is considerably different from the passive experience of doom scrolling social media or watching TV/Netflix.
Placing ads at strategic times and locations makes the difference between compelling players to make a purchase with fewer impressions and making them quit the play session. Success depends on both the game developer and the advertiser. Either one can sour the player’s experience, but when they collaborate harmoniously, players notice and reward the effort.
Video game advertising is relatively new, and is still in the experimental phase of development. Read on to see some horror stories of egregiously bad advertising, plus discover how retailers and advertisers can individually and collaboratively create successful campaigns.
In many ways, advertising in video games works the same as any other channel: display the ad to the audience, promise benefits, call to action, and achieve activations. However, gaming is an active experience, which is considerably different from the passive experience of doom scrolling social media or watching TV/Netflix.
Placing ads at strategic times and locations makes the difference between compelling players to make a purchase with fewer impressions and making them quit the play session. Success depends on both the game developer and the advertiser. Either one can sour the player’s experience, but when they collaborate harmoniously, players notice and reward the effort.
Video game advertising is relatively new, and is still in the experimental phase of development. Read on to see some horror stories of egregiously bad advertising, plus discover how retailers and advertisers can individually and collaboratively create successful campaigns.
Prime Directive: Respect the
Players’ Experience
Players’ Experience
Advertisers and game developers need to understand gamers’ desires and motivations in order to maximize target activations. Our previous article went inside the gamer’s mind, but the general principle is that gamers want to escape the real world and enjoy an immersive experience.
A gaming session encompasses several distinct activities, which might include:
Every game has its own specific activities, but there are two important things to note:
These natural breakpoints occur when switching from one mode of thinking to another (more on that in the next section). Placing ads at the wrong time breaks the immersion and flow state, which frustrates and annoys players. All gamers have tolerance for frustration, but excessive or egregious annoyances can become quit moments – “the moment a player decides they no longer want to play [the] game.”
A gaming session encompasses several distinct activities, which might include:
- Playing a level/match
- Collecting rewards
- Checking inventory
- Upgrading equipment
- Buy/sell items
- Reviewing challenges/missions
Every game has its own specific activities, but there are two important things to note:
- Actively playing the game itself is only a portion of the whole gameplay experience.
- There are natural breakpoints where advertising comfortably fits without breaking immersion.
These natural breakpoints occur when switching from one mode of thinking to another (more on that in the next section). Placing ads at the wrong time breaks the immersion and flow state, which frustrates and annoys players. All gamers have tolerance for frustration, but excessive or egregious annoyances can become quit moments – “the moment a player decides they no longer want to play [the] game.”
The moment just before rage-quitting a game.
Quit moments can mean the end of a single play session, but it can also mean uninstalling the game entirely. Since frustrations can come from the either placement or the content of ads, it’s important for both the developers and the advertisers to maintain the prime directive and respect the players’ experience.
Where NOT to Place Ads
With the general rule of “don’t annoy the players” in mind, let’s get into specifics of where advertising can be detrimental.
In the Middle of Gameplay
Whether it’s a puzzle, fighter, shooter, or sim, the core gameplay requires focus and attention. Interrupting players here takes them out of flowstate, which causes maximum frustration. This is literally the worst place to advertise.
While Navigating Menus
In between active playing, gamers need to navigate menus and submenus. These include checking inventory, equipment, item shops, challenges, and more. Navigating menus also has its own flowstate, because they want to get everything prepared before starting the next level or match. Interrupting menu navigation for advertising slows down the process, and can make players decide to leave the app rather than play more.
Before Receiving Items
Many games use loot boxes, which reward a random item that is revealed after opening. This mechanic creates strong anticipation up until the reveal. Putting an ad in between opening the box and revealing the item prolongs the wait, which is actually harmful. To the gamers, the ad becomes a chore or burden to endure when all they want is to find out what they’ve won.
Pause Screens
Ads in pause screens are debatable. When players pause their game, flowstate is already broken, so an ad could be displayed. However, players pause their game for a specific reason like real-life urgency or menu access, so they aren’t in the mindset to view ads. The best option for pause screen ads would be non-video displays that don’t take control away from the player.
In the Middle of Gameplay
Whether it’s a puzzle, fighter, shooter, or sim, the core gameplay requires focus and attention. Interrupting players here takes them out of flowstate, which causes maximum frustration. This is literally the worst place to advertise.
While Navigating Menus
In between active playing, gamers need to navigate menus and submenus. These include checking inventory, equipment, item shops, challenges, and more. Navigating menus also has its own flowstate, because they want to get everything prepared before starting the next level or match. Interrupting menu navigation for advertising slows down the process, and can make players decide to leave the app rather than play more.
Before Receiving Items
Many games use loot boxes, which reward a random item that is revealed after opening. This mechanic creates strong anticipation up until the reveal. Putting an ad in between opening the box and revealing the item prolongs the wait, which is actually harmful. To the gamers, the ad becomes a chore or burden to endure when all they want is to find out what they’ve won.
Pause Screens
Ads in pause screens are debatable. When players pause their game, flowstate is already broken, so an ad could be displayed. However, players pause their game for a specific reason like real-life urgency or menu access, so they aren’t in the mindset to view ads. The best option for pause screen ads would be non-video displays that don’t take control away from the player.
Where SHOULD Ads Go?
As mentioned above, the ideal times to show game ads are when the player is switching modes of thinking or changing from active to relaxed states. Here are some examples of natural placement points.
Game Launch (Home Screen)
Mobile games commonly reward players with free items for logging in every day. When players first launch the game, they see pop-up messages on the home screen telling them what rewards they’ve received. These pop-up messages can also inform them of game-related news like events, new features, and server maintenance.
Because the game launch usually includes this information, it’s a time when gamers are more receptive, and ads can be included among the news. That being said, this moment shouldn’t use video ads or anything unskippable; pop-ups are the best format to give the information without holding up gameplay.
After a Level/Match
The most important part of a game session is the actual gameplay, when players are mentally active and focused. One of the best times to display ads is immediately following this event. Whether they’ve won or lost, their adrenaline is dropping and their mind is calming down. Players are primed to relax for a moment and recollect themselves. Advertisements fit well at this natural checkpoint.
After Collecting Rewards
Players receive in-game rewards for a variety of reasons such as winning a match, reaching a milestone, or completing a challenge. Just after receiving a reward, players are enjoying the dopamine rush of success and will be more receptive to ads.
Game Launch (Home Screen)
Mobile games commonly reward players with free items for logging in every day. When players first launch the game, they see pop-up messages on the home screen telling them what rewards they’ve received. These pop-up messages can also inform them of game-related news like events, new features, and server maintenance.
Because the game launch usually includes this information, it’s a time when gamers are more receptive, and ads can be included among the news. That being said, this moment shouldn’t use video ads or anything unskippable; pop-ups are the best format to give the information without holding up gameplay.
After a Level/Match
The most important part of a game session is the actual gameplay, when players are mentally active and focused. One of the best times to display ads is immediately following this event. Whether they’ve won or lost, their adrenaline is dropping and their mind is calming down. Players are primed to relax for a moment and recollect themselves. Advertisements fit well at this natural checkpoint.
After Collecting Rewards
Players receive in-game rewards for a variety of reasons such as winning a match, reaching a milestone, or completing a challenge. Just after receiving a reward, players are enjoying the dopamine rush of success and will be more receptive to ads.
After receiving a prize, players are more amenable to watching an ad.
Voluntary Ad Views
After a player beats a level in a game, they are shown what items they’ve won. Some mobile games offer an additional reward in exchange for viewing an advertisement. This voluntary option creates positive player sentiment because they see it as a fair exchange instead of an interruption.
Within Gameplay
This option is nuanced, because interrupting gameplay with advertising is a huge offense. The key is integrating the branding naturally and unobtrusively. Generally speaking, these kinds of collaborations don’t really work for programmatic ads, but are ideal opportunities for collaboration campaigns. You can read our article about video games that nailed brand integration.
After a player beats a level in a game, they are shown what items they’ve won. Some mobile games offer an additional reward in exchange for viewing an advertisement. This voluntary option creates positive player sentiment because they see it as a fair exchange instead of an interruption.
Within Gameplay
This option is nuanced, because interrupting gameplay with advertising is a huge offense. The key is integrating the branding naturally and unobtrusively. Generally speaking, these kinds of collaborations don’t really work for programmatic ads, but are ideal opportunities for collaboration campaigns. You can read our article about video games that nailed brand integration.
Impressively Terrible Advertising in Gaming
Sometimes advertising simply goes too far. This can happen in a variety of ways, so here are some examples of the most hated advertising in modern gaming.
Dynamic Ad Insertion
Within the world of console gaming, Electronic Arts (EA) has been at the vanguard of monetization strategies. CEO Andrew Wilson revealed on a recent earnings call that his team is developing technology for dynamic ads inside their AAA titles. Gaming fans were immediately furious at this news. In their eyes, once they’ve paid full price for a game, advertising is no longer acceptable. This is only the latest in a series of gamer-enraging actions that EA has taken.
UFC 4 Mid-Fight Ads
Released in August 2020, UFC 4 was the newest iteration of the Ultimate Fighting Championship game. Much like other licensed sport titles, branding covers the floor and corners of the fight cage. In addition, advertising was displayed in the middle of fights during replays. After gamers made a public outcry, EA disabled those specific ads from the game.
Dynamic Ad Insertion
Within the world of console gaming, Electronic Arts (EA) has been at the vanguard of monetization strategies. CEO Andrew Wilson revealed on a recent earnings call that his team is developing technology for dynamic ads inside their AAA titles. Gaming fans were immediately furious at this news. In their eyes, once they’ve paid full price for a game, advertising is no longer acceptable. This is only the latest in a series of gamer-enraging actions that EA has taken.
UFC 4 Mid-Fight Ads
Released in August 2020, UFC 4 was the newest iteration of the Ultimate Fighting Championship game. Much like other licensed sport titles, branding covers the floor and corners of the fight cage. In addition, advertising was displayed in the middle of fights during replays. After gamers made a public outcry, EA disabled those specific ads from the game.
EA's full-screen ads disrupted the gameplay experience and enraged gamers.
Unskippable Ads in Loading Screens
Publisher 2K Games included ads during loading screens for NBA 2K21. Loading screens make sense as a place for ads since the player’s must wait for the game to load. The problem was that the ads couldn’t be skipped, even when the game was fully loaded. Since this is another AAA game with a full price ranging from $60-$100, this was another example of stepping over the line and disrespecting the players.
Publisher 2K Games included ads during loading screens for NBA 2K21. Loading screens make sense as a place for ads since the player’s must wait for the game to load. The problem was that the ads couldn’t be skipped, even when the game was fully loaded. Since this is another AAA game with a full price ranging from $60-$100, this was another example of stepping over the line and disrespecting the players.
Why Branded Collaborations are SO Successful
In a world of programmatic advertising, users see commercials as interruptions to their gaming experience. However, when brands collaborate with game studios, they create an integrated experience that offers something valuable and memorable to players.
The real-time strategy game Mushroom Wars 2 partnered with Burger King and PepsiCo, with branded reward chests that players could achieve through battle victories. In addition to the in-game rewards, players get a discount offer for a Mushroom Wars-themed combo meal.
The real-time strategy game Mushroom Wars 2 partnered with Burger King and PepsiCo, with branded reward chests that players could achieve through battle victories. In addition to the in-game rewards, players get a discount offer for a Mushroom Wars-themed combo meal.
Burger King and Pepsi supported players with their brand integration, fostering good will.
Tap Tap Builder, a city construction simulator, collaborated with delivery service Ozon Express to create an in-game experience. Players could add billboards on their buildings to add a splash of color and variety. When they tapped on the signs, they were given a unique offer to order food directly to their location.
These branded builders added decoration and provided exclusive deals to players.
Mobile fighting game Shadow Fight 3 ran an integration campaign with Alfa Bank which rewarded players for getting a new credit card and making a purchase. The ultimate reward was a legendary in-game equipment set called the Alfa Aspect, which was branded with the bank’s colors.
C.A.T.S.: Crash Arena Turbo Stars bridged the physical and digital world in their partnership with Arby’s. During the promotion, kids meals included C.A.T.S. token toys, as well as codes to unlock Arby's exclusive supply boxes in the game.
C.A.T.S.: Crash Arena Turbo Stars bridged the physical and digital world in their partnership with Arby’s. During the promotion, kids meals included C.A.T.S. token toys, as well as codes to unlock Arby's exclusive supply boxes in the game.
C.A.T.S. Kids Meals are here!The C.A.T.S. mobile game has come to Arby's! Pick up a Kids Meal and your kids will get special token toys and in-game power-ups!
Опубликовано Arby's Вторник, 4 декабря 2018 г.
This collaboration rewarded kids with physical toys and in-game prizes.
These collaborations support gamers rather than disrupt them. They receive something valuable, whether that be cosmetics, resources, or new gameplay experiences. The integrated brand comes in good will and the players recognize this, increasing their brand affinity as a result. More importantly, these partnerships have a significantly higher success rate in the short term and long term. Integration campaigns with mobile games have 1.5x lower customer acquisition cost (CAC) and 20% greater lifetime value (LTV).
Brand managers interested in learning more about mobile game collaborations can read our article about how to choose an ideal partner. If you’re looking for a custom solution that aligns with your brand values and goals, you can contact the team at PlayMGT directly.
Brand managers interested in learning more about mobile game collaborations can read our article about how to choose an ideal partner. If you’re looking for a custom solution that aligns with your brand values and goals, you can contact the team at PlayMGT directly.
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