Microsoft and Electronic Arts Announced In-Game Ad Deal
25 07 2007Microsoft and Electronic Arts announced a deal today that will see Microsoft provide in-game advertisements for EA’s suite of sports games, including “NASCAR,” “Tiger Woods” golf, “NHL” hockey and upcoming “Skate”.
Shelby Cox, Electronic Arts’ senior director of in-game advertising, said, “EA is committed to providing both great entertainment experiences for gamers and effective advertising solutions for brands and marketers. Massive has proven its ability to deliver relevant ads in a seamless, nondisruptive way that enhances the realism of the game environment. We look forward to building on the strong progress we’ve made to date.”
Microsoft made some new friends last year when it acquired in-game ad company Massive for $200 million. This set the stage for Google to buy AdScape. The New York Times has a quick run down of the deal as does an official press release from Reuters.
[…] 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. […]