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Report: Microsoft shutting down Massive in-game marketing firm
Adweek reports that inside sources at Microsoft have confirmed that Massive Inc., a Microsoft-owned advertising firm with a focus on in-game marketing, will be shut down by its parent company before the end of the month. The reasons for Massive's waning business are apparently twofold: Apparently, Microsoft favors advertising directly on the Xbox Live dashboard, as the company keeps all of the ad revenue, while Massive must split its revenue with publishers. In addition, sources told Adweek that EA's recent decision to keep in-game ads in-house stripped Massive of some of its largest clients. The price at which Microsoft purchased Massive Inc. in 2006 is estimated to be between $200 million and $400 million, both of which are a great deal of money. The firm faced its fair share of hardships last year, when its parent company laid off more than one quarter of its staff. We've contacted Microsoft for a comment on the report. Update: A Microsoft spokesperson responded to our query with a boilerplate "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation."
Massive sees 'double-digit' in-game ad revenue growth in 2009
On the Microsoft Advertising Blog, J.J. Richards, head of Massive Incorporated, decided to dispel some rumors surrounding the in-game ad industry. Specifically, Richards noted that the in-game ad industry is "thriving." He adds that in fiscal 2009 Massive has seen "double-digit year-on-year revenue growth in the face of one of the worst economic crises of the last century," and that the company has surpassed its first quarter sales target by over 100 percent. Richards spends the rest of the post explaining that in-game ads work, are easy to implement and, the kicker, gamers actually like them. He notes that all ads are placed with an eye toward realism, saying that "gamer satisfaction" is paramount and that all ads go through testing before being added to a game. Furthermore, he suggests that ads actually enhance the experience, contributing to realistic immersion. Regardless of your feelings toward game ads, one thing is clear: They aren't going anywhere. Massive has already announced a fairly, well, massive lineup for this fall. Let's just hope Massive keeps the ads unobtrusive, unlike some other in-game ad companies. [Via Edge]
Blizzard makes deal with Massive for Battle.net ads
The AP is reporting that Microsoft's game advertising division (called Massive, Inc., not to be confused with Massively), has signed a deal with Blizzard to offer advertising on their upcoming Battle.net revamp, presumably to premiere with Starcraft II. This is apparently out-of-game advertising, i.e. the ads you'll see upon login to the service, not necessarily on in-game billboards or other nonsense like that. Battle.net is Blizzard's online service -- they've used it since way back in the Diablo days, and they've always had ads for their own products in it. But now they've contracted with this company Massive, Inc. to put other ads in there, and since they've been planning for a revamp for a while, you can probably expect to see the ads in right away when the new service launches.How will this affect us as WoW players? It might not -- Blizzard may leave WoW on its own launcher, rather than having you go through a Battle.net launcher to sign in. On the other hand, WoW is clearly Blizzard's biggest online game, and we already know that Blizzard plans to include some WoW features (achievements, accounts) in the Battle.net revamp, so it could be that they're going to unify everything under one launcher (WoW, Starcraft II, Diablo III), in which case you'd see these ads when you sign in as well.Which makes us wonder why exactly we'd be paying $15 a month to see more ads on login, but don't panic yet -- we'll cross that bridge when we actually know it exists (for now, Blizzard hasn't announced any official plans to change the way WoW works with Battle.net, other than the fact that one account will work across all games). We'll keep an eye out for any other new Battle.net news -- there's definitely something big in the works.
Blizzard deal with in-game ad firm does not mean ads for WoW
Despite a recent multi-year partnership between Massive Inc and Activision/Blizzard, the in-game advertising firm will not be adding in-game advertising to our favorite games. "Massive understands and respects our stance against advertising that might detract from gameplay or offend our players," stated Blizzard COO Paul Sams.As this story has circulated throughout the last two days, many players got worried that they would soon see Coke ads in Northrend or a Ford banner on Guitar Hero, but that's just not the case. Massive Inc's focus with Activision and Blizzard will mostly be web-based ads and the Battle.net service, as they team up with video game advertising representation company Intergi to manage these ads. So as the websites will get more annoying, our in-game space is safe... for now.
Obama billed $44.5K for in-game advertising
How much did it cost 2008 US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama to put ads inside of Burnout Paradise and other titles? According to a Federal Election Commission filing (via Gamespot), Obama's campaign sent $44,465.78 to Massive Incorporated to run in-game advertisements, from October 6 to November 3, in 18 separate titles. The real winner of these in-game ads, of course, was Tim the Paradise City Street Sweeper.Comparatively, the campaign has spent a estimated total of $205 million on TV ads, about $4 to $5 million of which was for last night's 30-minute infomercial on CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, BET, TV One and Univision. Fun statistic: The amount spent on TV ads was 455,555% higher than in-game advertisement. According to previous statements, Massive had approached the McCain campaign about doing a similar advertising deal, but they had passed on it.
