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Rumor: Google to buy Adscape

Filed in adscape, google, in game ads, rumor, January 22, 2007, 12:01 pm by Jeff

As reported (paid subscription required) in the Wall Street Times yesterday, Google is considering acquiring Adscape Media. Last week I speculated that such an acquisition would be unlikely for Google. With all the press – let me take a closer look at Adscape and what might make them attractive to the search giant.

Why In-Game Ads?

There are a few reasons why Google would consider getting into in-game advertising. Perhaps Google feels the need to “keep pace” with Microsoft. This might be a response to Microsoft purchasing Massive, or it might be an effort that aligns with their foray into radio, and newspaper/print advertising. Or, perhaps there is some specific technology behind Adscape that Google wants to lock-up.

Keeping pace with Microsoft is no easy feat – companies either need to invest a tremendous amount of resources, or redefine the marketplace to carve Microsoft out (see Scoble vs. Winer on Microsoft Innovation). To my eyes, it appears that Google is trying the latter approach by pursuing non-WWW advertising options.

In 2006 we saw Google purchase a radio advertising company, explore newspaper advertising, and most recently file a patent on digital billboards. Here there is no direct competition from Microsoft and Google is going to learn a lot about targeting consumers off the web and with little user-context. There are tremendous rewards to be gained from digitizing real-world advertising (think better targeting, easier ad or campaign rotation, measurement, etc…). In-game advertising gives Google a platform to test & refine these technologies before going mainstream.

So, why Adscape?

Adscape boasts their unique “AverPlay” technology allows publishers to activate and deactivate “ad spots” remotely and dynamically. They also claim to have a proprietary “two-way connection between in-game ads and the real-world. Real World/Virtual World Gateway (RVG) enables two-way text, audio and video communication via SMS Text or eMail.” (source, click Technology).

As a gamer this sounds very intrusive, as a publisher this sounds like a mixed message. They claim “a priority of Adscape Media is to ensure the deployment of ads into games does not detract in any way from the game experience.” – yet their flagship technology is intended to provide interactive advertising. In my opinion, using SMS to interact with advertising sounds better suited for real-world billboards, than their virtual counterparts.

In fact, I can’t seem to find any Publishers that have signed with Adscape. Their site doesn’t mention any titles in their network. Their CEO Chris Gilbert claimed (7 months ago) “though we have several deals signed, we can’t discuss them publicly until they are formally announced.”

In the end, I think that’s what makes them attractive to Google – the technology itself, rather than the in-game opportunity. As Google tries to digitize real-world advertising by making it more interactive, they will need technologies such as SMS interaction. Adscape boasts 1 patent granted and 30 filed. In the end these technologies are what matter to Google, not the in-game market.

Related reading:

– Fry

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Put your gamercard in Outlook

Filed in gamercard, January 15, 2007, 7:27 pm by Jeff

Recently, I added my gamercard to my email signature at work. Other people took notice and asked me how I did it. It’s not a difficult process, just a lengthy one.

Step 1: Get a signature…

Visit one of the free online gamercard services and signup. Options I know of:

When you signup, you’ll get a URL to an image for your card. For example, I use MyGamerCard.net and my URL is: http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Fry.png

Step 2: Add it to Outlook…

I’ve tested these steps on both Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. Here’s the process:

  1. Edit your signature in Outlook. In Outlook 2003, navigate to Tools – Options – Mail Formats tab – Signatures button. I don’t recall the path in Outlook 2007, but it is similar.
  2. Create a new signature and give it a name. You can base it off a blank template. Enter some placeholder text “blah”. Click Finish.
  3. In Outlook 2003, you’ll end up on the Create Signature screen which shows a preview of the signature. In Outlook 2007 you’ll be on the same screen, but have rich editing options. The signature you’re looking at is actually stored as an HTML file.
  4. Open the text editor of your choice and edit this file. It is %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Signatures\[signature name].htm
  5. Now, insert the required HTML and save the file. If you flip back to Outlook you should see the changes. For example, in my signature I use:

<a href=”http://profile.mygamercard.net/Fry”><img width=”340″ height=”40″ border=”0″ alt=”Gamertag: Fry” src=”http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Fry.png” /></a>

Some tips:

  • Link your image to your profile on Xbox.com or on the service you’re using to generate the image (see above).
  • Keep your image small and lightweight. Flashy or large images will distract readers from the rest of the content in your email.

Finally, remember that the image you specify will be downloaded at the time you begin composing the mail. The image downloaded at that time is saved in the mail. So the statistics you see aren’t “live”, they’re accurate only when you began composing the message.

Frag on.

– Fry

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Google to do in-game ads?

Filed in google, iga, in game ads, predictions, January 11, 2007, 10:42 pm by Jeff

From Andre @ Ozymandias:

As promised, here are my game industry predictions for 2007 … Google will show significant public interest in the gaming sector for the first time, including interest in acquisitions to bolster their Ad-sense business. The most likely target will be IGA Worldwide (to combat Microsoft’s acquisition of Massive). If unsuccessful, Google will seek to acquire one of the larger game publishers on the market to gain a foothold in the in-game advertising market. Likely targets include Electronic Arts (though it would be extremely expensive), Activision, or THQ. (Source)

I don’t think we’ll see Google get into the in-game advertising space this year, and I certainly don’t think they’ll become a publisher. It just doesn’t square with their mission and their strengths. Google’s mission is to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful. They fund this by selling advertising that’s contextually relevant to its surroundings. Ads are placed alongside a set of search results, next to an email, within a 3rd party webpage, or even in a newspaper. In each case Google uses the surrounding context to determine the interests of the viewer.

Within a videogame this doesn’t make much sense. Imagine if advertising in a game like Rainbow Six Vegas promoted various Las Vegas shows or a local Las Vegas restaurant. To make the ads relevant to the gamer, an entirely different approach needs to be taken. Ads can’t be targeted based on in-game surroundings, but rather to what the gamer is interested in outside of the game world. A more effective advertising campaign might promote a show that’s in the same city as the gamer, or perhaps a certain beverage or type of car that the gamer might find appealing.

As for becoming a publisher? Forget it. When you think of Google do you think fun? I sure don’t.

Frag on.

– Fry

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Advertising in the Future

Filed in comics, in game ads, January 8, 2007, 5:57 pm by Jeff

From Penny-Arcade, posted 10/19/1006

Advertising in the Future

Make sure to download the accompanying podcast. I was laughing my ass off:

10/20/06 – Advertising In The Future (MP3)

10/19/06 – Advertising In The Future – by Tycho (blog)

I’m not going to comment on the privacy concerns with in-game advertising just yet. Gamer privacy is a really important subject to many gamers (myself included!) and I want to dedicate at least a whole post to that subject alone.

Frag on. – Fry.

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Welcome!

Filed in about me, in game ads, January 6, 2007, 7:47 pm by Jeff

Hi!

I created this blog so I had a place to comment on news and offer opinions on the world of in-game advertising. For some gamers, advertising in videogames is a polarizing subject. Some gamers feel that advertising pollutes the game experience while only benefiting the wallets of publishers. Others believe that advertising can add a sense of realism to games and offset some part of game development costs. For publishers and advertisers opinions are mixed as well.

I plan on using this blog to bring up and discuss some of these issues, as well as track the goings on in this industry (well, as best I can. =).

But before I get started, I’ll quickly introduce myself. I’ve been an avid PC gamer for a long time. My first game was probably Crossfire. Released way back in 1982, it was a cartridge that you would slap into the front of your IBM PC Jr (my first computer, an 8088 running at 4.7 Mhz). This must have been back in 1987, when I was 7 years old. And let me tell you, that game was fun! I’d spend hours basking in the green glow of my monochrome monitor shooting pixelated aliens.

Over the years, I grew up with PC gaming as a core part of my life. I have fond memories lugging my 486 DX2/66 to my friends house so we could setup a 10 Base 2 thinnet network for multiplayer Doom & Quake. I remember frequently visiting local BBS’s to download new WAD’s and talking strategy.

Fast forward to today, much of my game time has shifted to the Xbox. I’ve played hundreds of hours online and enjoy mostly first person shooters. You can find me on Xbox Live under the gamertag “Fry” (from Futurama). Professionally, I’m a Program Manager at Microsoft working in a group called Massive. As a program manager, I’m responsible for software design and work closely with developers & testers implementing new features and products. Massive is a company Microsoft acquired in early 2006. At Massive, I work on features that mostly impact the servers that provide the in-game advertisements. This is long after a game publisher has integrated our technology into their game. (Perhaps at some point I’ll talk a bit about this process).

That’s enough for now, as this blog evolves feel free to send me feedback or suggestions. You can reach me on Xbox Live, or send me an email at “fry(at)microsoft.com”.

Frag on.

- Jeff Carnahan