Video games are excellent media for advertisers. People will play their favourite games thousands of times – over years. People love their favourite games.
Video game production is now rapidly becoming cheaper – game engines like Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot and Cryengine have dramatically reduced development costs. And AI-powered tools like procedural content generation, AI-driven game asset creation, and AI-driven playtesting are now starting to rapidly reduce costs by another level.
This reduction in cost unlocks creating entire video games to advertise a single brand. This has been done in the past – for example Burger King released Sneak King, Pepsi sponsored Pepsi Invaders and Horlicks made NutriQuest. But these games were, in the past, expensive to develop and maintain. That is now changing.
It is similar to how Red Bull often sponsors entire extreme sports events like Red Bull Cliff Diving and Red Bull Rampage – making them free for spectators. Similarly firms like Nike and JPMorgan sponsor marathons and races – making them free for participants.
The Current State of Play
Advertising in video games is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
In mobile games, we have interstitial and banner ads – these get in front of the user but do usually disrupt gameplay – especially formats like unskippable video.
We are getting more in-game advertising – where ads are placed in the virtual world of the game. For example, games like NBA 2K and Forza Horizon have billboards with ads from real world brands.
Sponsored content is also growing – where gamers can get free or paid branded content in their game. For example, Fortnite offers gamers branded skins from brands like Nike. Fortnite held an in-game concert which was sponsored. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can get in-game clothing from brands like Marc Jacobs and Valentino. and In Gran Turismo players can drive cars from brands including Ferrari, Porsche and Audi.
Influencers and Streamers are also increasingly collaborating with brands to promote their products. For example, LG collaborated with popular streamers to promote their products.
Branded Games
Branded video games can be highly non-intrusive for users. They don’t need pop-ups or unskippable video. Because the brand is completely integrated into the game – the brand name is usually part of the game title – the user is reminded of the brand and messaging about the brand without needing to be inturrupted.
For example, if a consumer electronics brand wants to develop their brand as being a company that is at the cutting edge of technology – the content of the game might be around cutting edge technology. This with the brand name in the game title, and the brand’s visual identity like their colour palette in the game, associates the cutting edge content with the brand in consumers’ minds.
If the brand can create a game that consumers love – the consumer will play the game repeatedly over a very long time. My favourite games are some of my favourite ways to spend time – and I will play some many times a week for years. That is an opportunity to create real love with the brand who created the game for me and gave it to me for free.
The Technology That Is Changing The Maths
Game engines like Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, Cryengine and GameMaker Studio have dramatically reduced development costs by providing developers with a framework to build from. Developers no longer need to create everything from scatch. The game engine provides them with everything from graphics rendering, to physics simulation, to the handling of user input, to audio, to animation.
Graphics and visual fidelity that has until now been limited to the largest video game creators is now generally available through advanced rendering techniques like Unreal Engine 5’s Nanite (for detailed environments) and Lumen (for real-time lighting) – allowing independent developers to make very realistic graphics. The amazing Hades is a good example of a highly polished game created by an indie developer.
AI-supported procedural generation is allowing game content like environments, levels and characters to be algorithmically generated – massively reducing the time needed to develop each of these manually. Tools like NVIDIA GauGAN generate landscapes from simple sketches. AI-tools like Artbreeder and RunwayML are helping designers create characters, textures and animations from simple inputs.
First-Mover Advantage For Brands
There is an opportunity for brands who can move fast, to develop and release games early – getting attention in a market with little competition.
The Process
Core to making a game that can be successful is the strategy process – working out exactly what the brand’s target audience would enjoy playing, what games are successful in that category, and how to create marketing around the game. The work then moves on to developing the game design and creative – and then developing the game.
