The video game industry has gained a lot of ground in the field of conventional entertainment. Not so long ago, this form of leisure was socially aimed as something childish, not that serious or useless. However, today the figures speak for themselves:
- There are more than 2.5 billion video gamers around the world (Yanev, V. 2019).
- Approximately 37.3 Million of UK population played video games in 2018 (New Zoo, 2018).
- Only in UK, the industry achieved $3.7bn revenues in 2018 (Desjardins, J. 2017).
- Gamers spend more than seven hours each week playing (LimeLight, 2019).
- The video games market has contributed £2.87 billion to the UK economy only in 2016 (Batchelor, J. 2018).
- Esports, i.e. video games competitions streamed via internet, are predicted to accomplish £1bn revenue and 600 million audiences by the end of this year (BBC, 2017).
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The impact of this industry is that deep that gamification has broken out as a resource in various fields. With the aim of significantly increase a user’s level of engagement in different spheres, gamification is the advertising activity whereby elements commonly associated with games are applied in non-game contexts. But it is more than a sociological phenomenon. Obviously, those huge amounts of money and users previously pointed out can be translated into advertising business. Video games have become a target channel that can be very beneficial due to the rising value of the sector. Thus, video game ads are already a reality, and attainable visibility is something that companies increasingly consider. It can be divided in two ways of developing the promotion: Advergaming and in game advertising.
The first mode is based on advergames. It consists of the creation of videogames to advertise a specific brand or product. This typology has been in the games since the early ’80s (Barton, 2017), although it grew exponentially in recent years as a result of the growth of the video game industry and the expansion of the number of players, as well as the crisis suffered by traditional media through the migration of audiences to digital media. They are video games that allow a continuous exposure of the user to the advertised brand, which can captivatingly and discreetly feel the values of said brand.
Secondly, in game advertising is the insertion of advertisements in videogames, which are used as a promotional channel, unlike the first way in which the videogame is created specifically for the act of promotion. In some cases, advertising appears as part of the natural environment of the action (e.g. this Panasonic ads in FIFA series, where they appeared located on the stadiums’ banners). Other times, advertising is more invasive and can have effects on the gameplay (e.g. Candy Crush gives free lives by watching ads). The opportunities that the videogame platform offers are incalculable. As seen in the figures presented, their intensive use makes the incursion of promotional material inevitable. Even so, this publicity may seem excessive and sometimes certainly uncomfortable, as we can see in this entertaining video:
Can anything be advertised?
The inclusion of advertisements in video games faces certain challenges, since its use can create particular ethical dilemmas. A great example of this leads us to the 2008 US presidential election, when Barack Obama was elected president. His campaign was carried out in various games of the EA company, although only in the Xbox 360 console version (Sinclair, 2008). Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is the manipulation of potential voters. In addition to being able to condition the free will of the user, if there is no regulation to those campaigns the process can lead to even worse events —e.g. advertisements for bookmakers or alcoholic beverages that can promote behaviours that threaten public health—.
What does the future hold?
With a billionaire industry that does not stop growing and those appealing revenues, it seems that the paths of advertising and video games are doomed to associate and understand themselves. Historically, the emergence of disruptive formats provokes the need of promotion channels to gradually transform. The same is happening with new technologies. These are exciting times for marketing production and will certainly bring creative ways to carry the message to the largest number of users.
Thus, advertisers are no longer spending most of their advertising budgets on traditional media purchases such as television or radio, as consumers are using alternative platforms more frequently. Moreover, promotional video game campaigns may be more effective due to the user’s repeated exposure to advertisements (due to the addictive nature of video games). Gaming will increasingly become a pivotal part of our culture, and greater accessibility to games combined with greater levels of immersion will lead to people more willing to spend their money on games. For that reason, we marketers must value and control the video games industry if we want to be at the forefront.
(Source: Giphy)
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References
Barton, Z. (2017). The Evolution of Advergames: Top 3 Examples of Marketing in Gaming. Medium. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/@zbbarton0706/the-evolution-of-advergames-top-3-examples-of-marketing-in-gaming-3e688aad6884.
Batchelor, J. (2018). Games industry contributes £2.87bn to UK economy, supports nearly 50,000 jobs. Games Industry. Retrieved from: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-09-games-industry-contributes-2-87bn-to-uk-economy-supports-nearly-50-000-jobs.
BBC (2017). Esports ‘set for £1bn revenue and 600 million audiences by 2020’. BBC. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/39119995.
Desjardins, J. (2017). How video games became a $100 billion industry. Business Insider. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-history-and-evolution-of-the-video-games-market-2017-1?r=US&IR=T.
Limelight (2019). The state of online gaming – 2019. Limelight. Retrieved from: https://www.limelight.com/resources/white-paper/state-of-online-gaming-2019/.
New Zoo (2018) U.K. Games Market 2018. New Zoo. Retrieved from: https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-games-market-2018/.
Sinclair, B. (2008). Obama campaigns in Burnout, 17 other games. Game Spot. Retrieved from: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/obama-campaigns-in-burnout-17-other-games/1100-6199379/.
Yanev, V. (2019) Video Game Demographics – Who Plays Games in 2020. Tech Jury. Retrieved from: https://techjury.net/stats-about/video-game-demographics/.
Comments
I wrote two comments, but unfortunately the second one (made on Freya’s blog) is still awaiting for approval. For that reason, I attached an screenshot to prove the existence of the comment.
Comment nº 1 – Joanne’s blog
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Cesar MarKtin 
