Advertising in video games is the integration of

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

into

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

to promote products, organizations, or viewpoints. There are two major categories of advertising in video games:

in-game advertising In-game advertising (IGA) is advertising in electronic games. IGA differs from advergames, which refers to games specifically made to advertise a product.Matthew Yi (2005-07-25). "Advertisers pay for video games - Product placement tradition no ...

and

advergames An advergame is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand-name product. While other video games may use in-game advertising (s ...

. In-game advertising shows the player advertisements while playing the game, whereas advergames are a type of game created to serve as an advertisement for a brand or product. Other methods of advertising in video games include in-game product placement and sponsorship of commercial games or other game-related content.

Categories

In-game advertising

In-game advertising is similar to product placement in films and television, where the advertising content exists within the universe of the characters. These forms of product placement are common, which led to the advertisement technique being applied to video games to match evolving media consumption habits.Hansson, Ludvig
"Dynamic In-game Advertising: Not loved but Certainly Tolerated"
Retrieved 2020-04-02.Raatikainen, Olli
"Dynamic In-game Advertising in 3D Digital Games: A Threat and a Possibility".
Retrieved 2020-04-02. According to the Entertainment Software Association in 2010, 42% of gamers said they play online games one or more hours per week. Game playing is considered active media consumption, which provides a unique opportunity for advertisers. The principal advantages of product placement in gaming are visibility and notoriety. A single in-game advertisement may be encountered by the player multiple times, and advertisers have an opportunity to ally a brand's image with that of a well-received game. Billboards, storefronts, posters, apparel,

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...

weapon A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

s, fliers, sponsored product placement, and the interplay between the player and these elements in the game allow for a great degree of virtual advertisement. Examples of marketing in video games include

brand integration Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

, embedded marketing, recruitment tools,

edutainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainmen ...

, and traditional

. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', in-game advertising is expected to reach $7.2 billion in 2016. Unlike television commercials and digital ads, which can be avoided by using DVRs and

ad-blocking Ad blocking or ad filtering is a software capability for blocking or altering online advertising in a web browser, an application or a network. This may be done using browser extensions or other methods. Technologies and native countermeasure ...

software, advertisements embedded within video games cannot be bypassed. A more recent example of in-game advertising is Google's placement of video ads between levels of games. These ads are usually branded inline, and

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately $ ...

reports that they have the potential to gain fast traction i
Google's AdMob Service

Static in-game advertising

Static in-game advertisements are embedded into the video game program. Static ads can be used in the story-line of the game and players can interact with them. The creation of the ads can take from a month or years to reach the public. These ads do not require players to have access to an Internet connection in order to display the campaigns. Limitations include ads becoming outdated or irrelevant as consumer habits change. Because these ads cannot change once released to the public, they also lack the ability to be customized based on player demographics. Examples include billboards advertising for (and product placement of)

Bawls Bawls (marketed as BAWLS Guarana) is a non-alcoholic, highly-caffeinated soft drink. Created in 1996, the citrus-and- cream soda-flavored beverage leans heavily on the caffeine and natural flavor of the Amazonian guarana berry. Packaged in uni ...

energy drink in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, and billboards for Adidas sportswear in

FIFA International Soccer ''FIFA International Soccer'' is a 1993 List of association football video games, association football video game developed by EA Canada's Extended Play Productions team and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for the Sega Mega Dr ...

Dynamic in-game advertising

Dynamic in-game advertisements are embedded in online video games that can be changed at any time by the game programmers.Hansson, Ludvig
"Dynamic In-game Advertising: Not loved but Certainly Tolerated"
Retrieved 2020-04-02. Examples of this type of advertisement would be virtual billboards and updates that introduce new items into the game like clothing brands to dress characters or different cars. Dynamics ads are different from static games because companies can provide ads for specific audiences or demographics after the video game has been purchased by the consumer. This way companies can follow the consumer habits and provide ads that can address a certain context. Game developers then can dynamically change the virtual ads spaces embedded into the game to display the ads.Raatikainen, Olli
"Dynamic In-game Advertising in 3D Digital Games: A Threat and a Possibility".
Retrieved 2020-04-02. Players have a limited interaction with these ads compared to static in-game ads. These ads required active Internet connection for the game company to showcase the ads. Dynamic ads can accommodate time sensitive campaigns and can be shown immediately. These ads can also provide data to show how well campaigns are doing unlike static in-game ads.

Advergames

Video games that are expressly commissioned to promote a product or service are referred to as "

", a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words''Wired'''s "Jargon Watch" column in 2001. Advergames have been developed for different platforms including company

websites A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wiki ...

gaming consoles A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a ...

, and more recently,

mobile applications A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on des ...

and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

platforms. With the growth of the Internet, advergames have proliferated, often becoming the most visited aspect of brand websites and becoming an integrated part of brand media planning. The advergames sector reached $207 million in 2007. The earliest custom video games featuring integrated brand messages were developed and distributed on floppy disk. These games were distributed for free, often bundled with other products from the company advertised for. The first floppy disk advergames were developed to serve dual purposes—as promotional incentives that drive response and as media that deliver awareness. American Home Foods

Chef Boyardee Chef Boyardee is an American brand of canned pasta products sold internationally by Conagra Brands. The company was founded by Italian immigrant Ettore Boiardi in Milton, Pennsylvania, U.S., in 1928. History After leaving his position as head ...

issued one of the earliest floppy-disk advergames. Some brands, like

Kool-Aid Kool-Aid is an American brand of flavored drink mix owned by Kraft Heinz based in Chicago, Illinois. The powder form was created by Edwin Perkins in 1927 based upon a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack. History Kool-Aid was invented by ...

and

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...

, created early advergames on gaming platforms. They created advergames for the Atari 2600 and gave out promotional copies. The first in-box CD-ROM cereal box advergames are General Mills's ''

Chex Quest ''Chex Quest'' is a non-violent first-person shooter video game created in 1996 by Digital Café, originally intended as a Chex cereal promotion aimed at children aged 6–9 and up.Thompson, Stephanie. "WatersMolitor Promo Links Chex and AOL." '' ...

'' (promoting the

Chex Chex is an American brand of breakfast cereal currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally produced and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, using the name Chex starting in 1950. The Chex brand went with corporate s ...

brand) and General Mills's ''All-Star baseball'' (starring Trix Rabbit and his friends playing baseball against Major League teams and stars). Commercial examples include advergames funded by

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up co ...

, NFL,

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, and Burger King. Political and military examples of below-the-line (BTL) advergames include recruitment tools like ''

America's Army ''America's Army'' is a series of first-person shooter video games developed and published by the U.S. Army, intended to inform, educate, and recruit prospective soldiers. Launched in 2002, the game was branded as a strategic communication device ...

'', intended to boost recruitment for the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, and '' Special Force'', intended to promote

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

resistance to the state of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Educational advergaming is closely related to the

Serious game A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The "serious" adjective is generally prepended to refer to video games used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, he ...

s initiative and falls under either Edumarket gaming or

. Examples include '' Food Force'' (made by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

's World Food Program) and '' Urban Jungle'', an educational traffic simulation.

Through-the-line advertising

Examples of through-the-line (TTL) advertising in games include "link-chases," ARGs, and

viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...

. TTL marketing is a form of advertising in video games that involve the use of URL hyperlinks within the game designed to induce the player to visit a web page which then contains BTL advertisements. The technique used to tempt the player into visiting the intended URL varies from game to game. In games like ''

Pikmin 2 is a 2004 real-time strategy puzzle video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube home video game console. It is the direct sequel to the 2001 game ''Pikmin (video game), Pikmin'' and is the second game in the ''Pikmin'' series. ...

'', the player is given a cryptic message with an accompanying URL designed to pique their curiosity. In games such as ''

Enter the Matrix ''Enter the Matrix'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or ...

'', ''

Year Zero A year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini (AD) calendar year system commonly used to number years in the Gregorian calendar (nor in its predecessor, the Julian calendar); in this system, the year is followed directly by year . However, the ...

'', ''

I Love Bees ''I Love Bees'' (also known as ''ilovebees'' or ''ILB'' for short) was an alternate reality game (ARG) that served as both a real-world experience and viral marketing campaign for the release of developer Bungie's 2004 video game ''Halo 2''. Th ...

'', and ''

Lost Experience The ''Lost Experience'' was an alternate reality game that was part of the United States, American television drama Lost (TV series), ''Lost''. The game was developed by ABC in the United States, Channel 4 in the UK, and Channel 7 in Australia. ...

'', URLs make up a part of the background of the game such that certain plot details can only be learned by following the link. The knowledge of such plot details are typically not required to complete the game, but deepen the game story-line for players who follow the links. Websites of this nature often lead players on to other links which again lead to further links, thus earning these games the label "link-chases". Although TTL advertising can be an enjoyable experience for players, excessive "link-chasing" can feel obstructive and discourage them from diving deeper into a game's story-line. In another form, the URL might be part of a stage where a player can see it but it does not affect the plot. For example, in Super Monkey Ball 2, there is a stage where you can see clearly written on an obstacle a URL and the stage's name is even the word URL.

Industry impact

Prevalence and efficacy

In 2019, a survey conducted by deltaDNA found that 94% of free-to-play video game developers incorporate some form of in-game advertising. Among those, the most common type of advertisement were rewarded videos, which are videos that players can watch to earn in-game prizes. Rewarded videos are shown to be more effective than forced advertising; players are 23% more likely to buy products and 18% more likely to make in-app purchases when shown rewarded videos instead of forced advertising. The reaction to in-game advertising has been overall positive, with 73% of players being happy with ad-funded games. The effectiveness of advertising in video games is debated by scholars. Brand name recognition in sports game has been shown to be low among college students, although players did retain fragments of the brand names. Another study found that 35% of players could recall advertised brands in car racing games. Interactive in-game advertisements, such as brand products that are used in game, are shown to produce greater brand awareness and more positive brand attitudes than passively added advertisements, such as posters or billboards.

Mobile

Mobile in-game advertisements are

advertisements Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

within

mobile games A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone ( feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

that lead the user to the website or installation page of the advertised product or software upon being clicked. Mobile gaming advertisements can take different forms, including

banner ads A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking ...

pop-up ads Pop-up ads or pop-ups are forms of online advertising on the World Wide Web. A pop-up is a graphical user interface (GUI) display area, usually a small window, that suddenly appears ("pops up") in the foreground of the visual interface. The pop-u ...

, video ads, and interactive ads. Banner ads will display on portions of the screen while the user continues to interact with the mobile game. Pop-up ads will display the advertisement on the entire mobile screen, typically disrupting gameplay; they appear between loading screens or when in-game milestones are completed, only allowing users to close the pop-up ad once a timer runs out. Video ads will display a video advertisement of the advertised products on the entire mobile screen. Interactive ads are a form of pop-up ad that allows the user to interact with the advertisement. For instance, Candy Crush Saga, a

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

mobile game, uses playable ads to advertise their game on other mobile applications and provide potential customers with a demo of their game. In 2019,

mobile advertising Mobile advertising is a form of advertising via mobile (wireless) phones or other mobile devices. It is a subset of mobile marketing, mobile advertising can take place as text ads via SMS, or banner advertisements that appear embedded in a mob ...

contributed $39.9 billion in revenue to the mobile gaming industry.

ESRB

The

Entertainment Software Rating Board The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...

(ESRB) assigns ratings based on a detailed questionnaire about the game's content and a gameplay clip provided by the publisher. Possible rating categories are "Everyone", "Everyone 10+", "Teen", "Mature 17+", and "Adults Only 18+". Ratings are supplemented with content descriptions, such as "Blood", "Partial Nudity", and "Use of Alcohol". All updates and downloadable content (DLC), including both static and dynamic in-game advertising, are expected to be compliant with the game's rating and descriptors, though DLC can be submitted for its own, independent rating if necessary. If any post-release content is determined to be incompatible with the rating of the base game, publishers are required to update all physical and digital displays of the rating. In the case of physical games, where it is difficult to make these modifications once a game has shipped, sanctions and fines may be levied on the publisher. The ESRB also includes an Advertising Review Council (ARC) that oversees the marketing of video games in the United States and Canada. Cross-promotion, including when a video game is promoted within another, falls under this umbrella. The ARC ensures that the game being advertised is accurately represented and is not being marketed toward parties below the suitable age range.

Legislative developments

Academic research

The

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

's Institute for Policy Research researched the use of advergames in marketing to children in the United Kingdom. The report, published in June 2014, suggested that children as old as 15 did not recognize that advergames were adverts and had their food choices influenced without their conscious awareness. Based on these findings, the University called for "urgent government action to protect children from the subconscious effects of advergames."

United States legislation

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

The

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) is a United States federal law, located at (). The act, effective April 21, 2000, applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. juri ...

(COPPA) directs the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

(FTC) to protect the personal data collected from children online. Operators of websites or online services are barred from handling the personal information of children under the age of 13 without verifiable consent from a parent or guardian. Restrictions apply to any website or online service that is targeted toward children or has knowledge that it is collecting data from children.

Do Not Track Kids Acts

Representatives Edward Markey -MAand Joe Barton -TXproposed the Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011 as an amendment to COPPA. The bill would have extended COPPA to prohibit companies from distributing personal and geolocation information knowingly collected from minors for use in targeted advertising. It also expands the restrictions enumerated in the act to both online and mobile applications, which had previously been omitted. Regarding his motivation for co-sponsoring the Act, Representative Barton reflected, "We have reached a troubling point in the state of the business when companies that conduct business online are so eager to make a buck, they resort to targeting our children." Since the death of the 2011 bill, Markey and Barton have continued to spawn similar Do Not Track Kids legislation in both chambers of Congress. These bills were proposed in 2013, 2015, and 2018, though none of them passed through the committee stage.

Targeted advergame marketing

A bill was recently introduced in the Senate that proposes restrictions on the use of information obtained through advergames to market to children. Some games ask users to provide personal information, such as name, gender, and age, then display targeted advertisements based on these characteristics. This bill would prevent companies from using this information to change the game to target certain age brackets.

Examples

Food and beverages

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

M Network M Network was a video game division of Mattel that, in the 1980s, produced games in cartridge format for the Atari 2600 video game system. History In the early 1980s, Mattel's Intellivision video game console was a direct competitor to Atar ...

division released the "promogame" '' Kool-Aid Man'' for the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...

and

Intellivision The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel, Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. I ...

in 1983. The game was originally available only via

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

by sending in UPC symbols from

containers, but later became available for retail purchase. * Purina had a mail-in offer for the Atari 2600 game ''

Chase the Chuck Wagon ''Chase the Chuck Wagon'' is a 1983 promotional video game written by Mike Schwartz for the Atari 2600 and distributed by Purina. It was available only via mail order by sending in proofs of purchase to Purina. In the 1970s and 1980s, popular te ...

'' for customers of Chuck Wagon dog food in 1983. *

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

released an Atari 2600 game called '' Tooth Protectors'' in 1983, also by mail-order. *In 1999, Pepsiman was released by developer

KID Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to: Common meanings * Colloquial term for a child or other young person ** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age * Engage in joking * Young goats * The goat meat of young goats * Kidskin, lea ...

in only Japan for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

. It focuses the player on avoiding obstacles to save dehydrated people by bringing them a can of

. *In November 2006, Burger King began selling three advergaming

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

titles for an additional $3.99 ($4.99 in Canada) each with any

value meal A value meal is a group of menu items at a restaurant offered together at a lower price than they would cost individually. They are common at fast food restaurants. A typical value meal includes a main dish (e.g., burger, wrap), a side dish (e.g., ...

. Known as the

King Games King Games is a series of three advertisement-based video games (advergames) sold at Burger King. The games were sold as part of a promotion during the holiday season from late November until December 24, 2006. All three games were developed by ...

series, these games include ''

Sneak King Sneak or Sneaky may refer to: * DJ Sneak, Puerto Rican born American house music DJ and producer Carlos Sosa (born 1969) * Quarterback sneak, an American football play * ''Sneak magazine'', a British weekly magazine published from 2002 to 2006 ...

'' (

, 2006), ''

PocketBike Racer ''Pocketbike Racer'' is an advergaming title developed by Blitz Games for the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. On November 19, 2006, Burger King started selling it for an additional $3.99 USD ($4.99 in Canada) with any value meal. It is on ...

'' (

, 2006), and ''

Big Bumpin' ''Big Bumpin is an advergaming title from Burger King for the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. published by King Games and developed by Blitz Games. On November 19, 2006, Burger King started selling it with any value meal. It is one of ...

'' (

, 2006). They were all developed by

Blitz Games Blitz Games Studios Limited was a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa. Founded in 1990 by the Oliver Twins, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as ''The Fairly OddParents'', ...

Blitz Arcade Blitz Games Studios Limited was a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa. Founded in 1990 by the Oliver Twins, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as ''The Fairly OddParents'' ...

Division and were the best selling games of the 2006 holiday season. More than 3.2 million copies are believed to have been sold in the US and Canada alone. *

Life Savers Life Savers (stylized as LifeSavers) is an American brand of ring-shaped hard and soft candy. Its range of mints and fruit-flavored candies is known for its distinctive packaging, coming in paper-wrapped aluminum foil rolls. Candy manufacturer ...

launched the web's first major advergaming portal,

Candystand PCH Games (formerly Candystand.com) is a casual game portal owned by Publishers Clearing House and based in New York City. Launched in 1997 as The Candystand, by LifeSavers Company, a division of Nabisco, Inc., it was the first major advergame po ...

, in March 1997. The website was acquired from the

Wrigley Company The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational chewing gum (Wrigley's gum) company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley's is wholly owned by Mars, In ...

by Funtank in August 2008 and hosts advergames for a broad range of brands. *

Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced since 1964 by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The original Doritos were not flavored. The first flavor was Toasted Corn, released in 1966, followed by Taco in ...

Movies and entertainment

Cineplex Entertainment Cineplex Inc. (formerly Cineplex Galaxy) is a Canadian movie theatre and family entertainment centre chain headquartered in Toronto. The company was formed in 2003 via the acquisition of Loews Cineplex's Canadian operations (which included ...

features an advergame open to the public, known as Top Popper during non-contest periods and Peel and Pop during contest periods. In the cinemas, there is a TimePlay advergame that plays before the show. *''

Fortnite ''Fortnite'' is an online video game developed by Epic Games and released in 2017. It is available in three distinct game mode versions that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine: ''Fortnite Battle Royale'', a free-to- ...

'' and

Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Enterprises) is an American show business, entertainment company (law), company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York (state), New York, formed by the merger of #Marvel Entertainment ...

teamed up in 2018 to promote '' Avengers: Infinity War'' by bringing

Thanos Thanos is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin, and first appeared in '' The Invincible Iron Man'' #55 ( cover date February 1973). An Eternal– Deviant w ...

, the film's antagonist, into the battle royale game. A limited-time game mode allowed one player at a time to become Thanos, giving them several new abilities and a regenerating shield.

Cross-franchise promotion

* '' Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games'' (2007) was a collaboration between

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

and

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

that put their mascots head-to-head in a series of Olympic events. The game was developed for both the

Nintendo Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

and the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

and received several sequels. * In 2019, Nintendo announced a collaboration with

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

to debut the tag team of

Banjo and Kazooie Banjo & Kazooie are a pair of fictional video game characters and the eponymous protagonists of the video game series ''Banjo-Kazooie'', created by British video game developer Rare (company), Rare. Banjo and Kazooie were both introduced as pl ...

as a playable fighter in ''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...

''. Players can add the duo to their roster by purchasing it as DLC.

Miscellaneous

* BMW's '' BMW M3 Challenge'' (online, 2008) includes both ATL- and BTL-form advergaming. BMW worked with 10tacle Studios to repurpose the ''

GT Legends ''GT Legends'' is a sports car racing simulator for the PC developed by SimBin Studios (later Sector3 Studios) and published by 10tacle Publishing. It is based on the 2005 FIA Historic Racing Championships for GTC and TC cars of the 1960s and 19 ...

'' game, a race simulation game, to showcase the 2008

BMW M3 The BMW M3 is a high-performance version of the BMW 3 Series, developed by BMW's in-house motorsport division, BMW M GmbH. M3 models have been produced for every generation of 3 Series since the E30 M3 was introduced in 1986. The initial model ...

. * In 2008,

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's campaign paid for billboard ads in the online game

Burnout Paradise ''Burnout Paradise'' is a 2008 open world racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It was also released on the PlayStation Store and via Xbox Live Marketpl ...

to promote his presidential bid. * Adventurize.com launched the first advertising network to display ads inside of

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

servers in 2013. * In 2014, Nintendo partnered with

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

to bring some of the automaker's cars to ''

Mario Kart 8 is a 2014 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It features the '' Mario Kart'' series' game mechanics, in which players drive go-karts using ''Mario'' franchise characters in various race formats. Items placed ...

'' as drivable vehicles via a DLC pack. * In 2014 and 2015, British games retailer

Game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

released a pair of advergames, ''

Christmas Shopper Simulator Game Retail Limited (doing business as GAME) is a British video game retailer, owned by Frasers Group since June 2019. The company's origins lie in the founding of the Rhino Group by Terry Norris and Bev Ripley in 1992. A number of mergers and ...

'' and '' Christmas Shopper Simulator 2: Black Friday'', to coincide with the Christmas shopping season. * In 2017,

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

and

Nissin Foods Nissin Food Products Co., Ltd. is a Japanese food company that specializes in the production and sale of convenience food and instant noodles. History Founding and early years The company was established in Japan on September 1, 1948, by ...

partnered to launch an ad campaign to bring

Cup Noodle Cup noodle is a registered trademark of Nissin Foods and is known as precooked instant noodle with flavoring powder and/or seasoning sauce sold in a polystyrene, polyethylene, or paper cup. The flavoring can be in a separate packet or loose in ...

branded DLC to Final Fantasy 15. Some items included Cup Noodle hats for charterers to wear and a giant fork to be used as a weapon. Players can find a Cup Noodles truck embedded in the game where they can unlock a Cup Noodle recipe.

References

{{Video game genre Advergaming Advergames Advergaming companies Video game types Propaganda techniques by medium

Categories

In-game advertising

Static in-game advertising

Dynamic in-game advertising

Advergames

Through-the-line advertising

Industry impact

Prevalence and efficacy

Mobile

ESRB

Legislative developments

Academic research

United States legislation

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998

Do Not Track Kids Acts

Targeted advergame marketing

Examples

Food and beverages

Movies and entertainment

Cross-franchise promotion

Miscellaneous

See also

References