BandwidthCamp

AdAge has a great article on the deal between EA and Massive/Microsoft that I posted about last week.

And while a few extra million may not seem like much to a $3 billion company like EA, the ad revenue is easy money — that is, it adds to a publisher’s bottom line without adding much to top-line development costs. And in a low-margin business with only $3 to $5 in profit on a $50 video game, even one extra dollar per box is significant.

Console makers make most of their money off accessories, however, you can see why they would go after in-game ads. As the quote above points out, you can add to your bottom line without adding much to your production costs.

AdAge has a great article on the deal between EA and Massive/Microsoft that I posted about last week.

And while a few extra million may not seem like much to a $3 billion company like EA, the ad revenue is easy money — that is, it adds to a publisher’s bottom line without adding much to top-line development costs. And in a low-margin business with only $3 to $5 in profit on a $50 video game, even one extra dollar per box is significant.

Console makers make most of their money off accessories, however, you can see why they would go after in-game ads. As the quote above points out, you can add to your bottom line without adding much to your production costs.

Jeff Carnahan who works at Massive posted on his blog, In Game Ads Blog, last night and has a great rundown on Nielsen GamePlay Metrics Out. There are some interesting numbers in there. I love how we are just scratching the surface of in-game ads.

I hinted at this a few weeks ago. GigaOM Online put up an article about it yesterday (to a degree) and now it seems like the stars are aligning. I look at Facebook and see the next social gaming platform, especially with the opening up of their developer API just over two months ago. As I see it, the only ingredient missing from the mix is that killer gaming applications.

Facebook has the three other factors needed to launch a social gaming platform. It has the community, the infrastructure and the money to support a social gaming platform. I think vision is important as well but without the other three factors your vision is pretty much useless in my opinion. Getting your game to become the “It” child of Facebook is not going to be easy. You are not only competing with other games but 2000+ other applications that are fighting for the attention and profile real estate of Facebook users.

In this series of blog posts, I will address the key elements that are positioning Facebook to become the next social gaming platform; community, infrastructure, and money. In the final part of this series, I’ll look at Kongregate as well as what a killer gaming applications might look like. I’ll be doing a separate review on Kongregate down the road, however, it’s something I felt compelled to look at while writing this feature. I think Kongregate has all the factors that the final part in this series mentions to become the leader in social gaming on Facebook. Who knows, maybe Facebook is already thinking about this for their next update and plan to launch a social game.

Check out the other posts in this series
Facebook: The Next Social Gaming Platform Part 2
Facebook: The Next Social Gaming Platform Part 3
Facebook: The Next Social Gaming Platform Part 4
Facebook: The Next Social Gaming Platform Part 5
Facebook: The Next Social Gaming Platform Part 6

Kotaku is reporting that India is getting into the mobile gaming business for Bollywood, which is their version of Hollywood. Joystiq is also reporting that a new company in India is being setup to promote films through gaming.

The first Bollywood3D game will come out in December. It is tied to a futuristic crime film intermingled with a love story. Deals have already been struck with various studios. Meanwhile, Bollywood3D is opening Silicon Valley offices so it can work closely with chip companies like Nvidia. Pradhan and Daniel have worked both in the United States and India.

I’m glad to see India getting into the gaming business. Bollywood is larger then Hollywood and it was only a matter of time I think. Should be interesting once a few competition enter the field at the same time.