Ncsoft has announced that they have partnered with Double Fusion to provide optional in game advertising in City of Heroes / Villains, with the revenue generated from the ads to be reinvested into the game.

Today we announced our partnership with Double Fusion to provide optional in-game advertising for City of Heroes. I wanted take some time to share some details beyond those in the press release.

In-game advertising is something that we have carefully considered ever since the initial release of City of Heroes in 2004. From our perspective it always came down to a few fundamental questions: Will this technology make our game experience more immersive or less immersive? In other words, is City of Heroes an appropriate environment for it? In-game advertising in other MMOs has sometimes been received as an unwelcome addition, so could we actually find ways to make this a significant win for our customers? And with the plan of reinvesting all the revenue that we make from this, how much will this single (optional in-game advertising) initiative actually allow us to grow our development team?

These are complex questions that can’t necessarily be answered with 100% certainty, but after discussing this for a number of years we believe we’ve found the right partner to bring ads to the game while being sensitive to our community’s needs. I want to make it very clear that we are not “forcing” in-game ads upon our players. Thus, the word “optional” is of key importance. None of our players have to change their game experience in any way if that’s what they prefer. All that you need to do is opt-out via the Options menu in the game.

Read more here.

 Is actually a great idea.

   The world setting is perfect for it and i dont believe will break game immersion as much.

   Plus looking at the track record of the writers from missions, story arcs and so on  am looking forward to see the funny and witty wording the billboards ads will bring to the CoX world.

   Also that means more revenue for Ncsoft  which  in turn will bring more  Free  Issues and content (in my opinion) to the players

Win=Win  situations for both

Not at all excited about the news but at least they give the players an option to turn it off.

As long as its in game billboards, etc I don't mind. I just don't want "IN YOUR FACE" advertising on the login pages.

Whatever they have to do to make the game better without charging me more is fine with me to  a limit.   I agree I don't want in your face adverts.  

The keyword is optional. As long as one can choose whether they want to view the adverts or not, everyone wins.

im not a big advocate of ads in games in fact I despise them. nothing worse than seeing streaming ads of axe, prison break posters (see swat 4 for major example) R6 vegas did this, but Ill admit the single player was pretty memorable but i wasnt happy to learn it too had ads, or else I would of threw it back in the face of the best buy manager and demanded my money back. funny to is the fact it has small print. but anyways im getting off track here.

the only sunshine on this storm is the fact that they make it optional, its not forced onto the player who is paying $14.99 for a ad free environment. i think they are intrusive, demanding, and downright guady. will this improve NCsofts bottom line and bring better content for the game? only time will tell, but I must commend them on allowing it to be optional. at least i have a choice in the matter so ill give them kudos for that. and if it indeed brings more higher quality content, who knows it may very well work, and NCsoft proved that t does. but once again only time will tell, Ill have to sit back and watch a bit.

The only way I'd every allow/accept in-game ads is if they substantially lowered the monthly fees, or even dropped them to F2P.  I don't mind them in AO, since I'm a froob there, and I consider ads there the perfect "price" to pay for playing for free.

If CoH becomes F2P with ad supported revenues, then I'll reinstall the game today.

Oy.

revenue generated from the ads to be reinvested into the game

LOL, yea right, next thing I'll probably hear is some fake story about a famous rapper turning mormon.

So... When you buy the CoH/CoV collection you cant try the free month that is included without paying for a gamecard first, or giving them full access to your credit card... And now they want full monthly fee for watching ads and commersials ingame. Pay to be be a marketing victim... Good work

I think thats enough junk for one company, thank you very much.

Keeping it fiction will be very fun.

We've all seen the same boards up for years...but now there will be more creativity out there.

I hope the advertisers know the game so that the boards will be relevant in each zone.

As long as they are smart about it, it could be a fun addition.

The way some people act about in game ads, I wonder how they're even able to watch television or drive down a main street in town.  They're just ads, and they don't bite. 

What I'd like to see is for the billboards and other in game ads (pop machines, etc.) to be destructible so we could destroy them.  After a few minutes, they could reappear.  Now that would be cool, and it would also catch the attention of the target audience. 

Anywho, more money = good for the game.

On a side note...     The ADS ARE COMING!!!  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! 

I've said this was a good idea since I started playing in May/June 2004.  I'll be happy to allow for it.

If they are going to make more money via advertisements, then they should lower the monthly subscription cost to the players. There's no way for the players to know that this extra income is being put back into the game without some concrete evidence, like say, major patches coming every 12 weeks instead of 14 weeks (just as a stray example). How do we really know this extra money is being put back into the game? We just have to blindly trust them? No, I think most players would be in favor of advertisements if it directly saved them money as well. If the company is getting richer, they should pass some of that onto the players. Like having players pay 14 or 13.50 a month instead, to make up for the invasion of their game. Something like that would make more sense.

Originally posted by Valance

If they are going to make more money via advertisements, then they should lower the monthly subscription cost to the players. There's no way for the players to know that this extra income is being put back into the game without some concrete evidence, like say, major patches coming every 12 weeks instead of 14 weeks (just as a stray example). How do we really know this extra money is being put back into the game? We just have to blindly trust them? No, I think most players would be in favor of advertisements if it directly saved them money as well. If the company is getting richer, they should pass some of that onto the players. Like having players pay 14 or 13.50 a month instead, to make up for the invasion of their game. Something like that would make more sense.

  Well, if the developers got advertisements in-game, and THEN lowered the monthly cost, that would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn`t it? The reason they are doing this is for more money for the game specifically. To get money from in-game adds and then lose that money by lowering subscription costs would be downright rediculous, and a waste of time. (No offense).

 Anyways, I'm kind of for an against this idea of in-game adds. As long as they keep it relevant to the game, I'll have it on all the time if it gives the dev's money, but if it strays... for example... you're walking through the hollows and see a "Gatorade... Is IT In You?" billboard. Then I would turn it off. But I don't think the devs would even allow that. On a side note, if I was playing the CoV training mission, and saw a billboard that said "Prison Break... Coming this Fall" I would probably laugh at the irony there alone. Not that the billboard is rediculously stupid. I'd also shut it off right after that.

 So basically, I am extremely glad that they are taking the gaming experience so seriously to the point where we can shut the adds off. For that fact alone, I'm going to at least give it a try.

Originally posted by Harafnir

So... When you buy the CoH/CoV collection you cant try the free month that is included without paying for a gamecard first, or giving them full access to your credit card... And now they want full monthly fee for watching ads and commersials ingame. Pay to be be a marketing victim... Good work

I think thats enough junk for one company, thank you very much.

Yet if this was some other company they would most likely force you to view the ads, not give you the option. Please explain to me exactly how this will negatively affect you with the option to turn the ads off?

Uh?  I see peoples complaining...but I hardly know if these complains are legits or not.

When I resub (eventually), I will experience it and then judge it, as afterall, you can turn them off if they annoy you, which, shouldn't be needed unless they somehow manage to be intrusively annoying (like a purples-neon-glowing hard campaign).

Honestly, I feel I will just let's them be and run by...unless they are intrusive, in which case, I will turn them off, which would be a minor inconvenience.  But if they are done as the anti-alien scum in-game advertising, or the R.I.C. publicity, or the Cryptic publicity, they would definitely remain on.  As these ads could adds to the good feeling of the game.  Worn out McDonald/Coke sign so it is not an annoying red, that would be great and merely add to the game (Pepsi would require less worning out, as blue is less aggresive than red).  I am confident that the artistic devs would have the necessary clues, I am just unsure if they would be listened to.  Ads must not ruins the in-game ambiance.  Many ads would need a "worn out" look, to fit in the area where they are.

I would only have 2 complains with NCsoft CS, and considering I overplay the game a LOT, this is better than ANY competitor.  (1- Was unable to play on release of CoV because of a bug with pre-order, so I play 2 days before, then wait 11 days.   That was harsh and uncalled for, 2- They are slow to restore deleted characters.)  Again, beside these 2 tiny points, I don't see anything to complain at their CS.  TR cancelled no problem.  AA cancelled no problem.  CoX restored and cancelled over half a dozen times, no problem.  DR, no issues whatsoever.  I would award NCsoft a gold medal, not the platine (not perfect), but a gold.  Which is better than ANY MMO company out there.

Originally posted by BatJeff

for example... you're walking through the hollows and see a "Gatorade... Is IT In You?" billboard. Then ....

To those looking to dictate how the added money is spent?  They've already told you what it's intended for.  Also, they're considerate enough to allow it as an option for those who don't care for it.  That says much about NCSoft and I applaud them for it.

I think this is a great idea.  I mean, really, anything to make sure that they can come out with more content and keep the servers up, but besides that, I've actually looked up at the billboards myself and thought about the fact that there aren't any real advertisements there.  Plus, they're going to be hero and villain related and you can turn them off if you decide it's ruining your game experience, or you just don't want to help the game.  So it sounds great to me.  Just too bad the April Fool's joke wasn't real.  Without the turning off sound completely thing, I think most people would've liked that. :P

On a side note, I find it funny that people are looking for any excuse to say that they're doing something wrong.   They don't come out with enough content - people complain.  They find a way to make revenue that's not invasive so they can come out with that content - people complain.  People will complain no matter what, I suppose, but they really ought to either grow up or stop posting because no one wants to hear it - that's what's intrusive.

Originally posted by Deathstrike2

The way some people act about in game ads, I wonder how they're even able to watch television or drive down a main street in town.  They're just ads, and they don't bite. 

What I'd like to see is for the billboards and other in game ads (pop machines, etc.) to be destructible so we could destroy them.  After a few minutes, they could reappear.  Now that would be cool, and it would also catch the attention of the target audience. 

Anywho, more money = good for the game.

 

On a side note...     The ADS ARE COMING!!!  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! 

They want to add "optional advertising", well then they need to make an optional payment plan to go with the adds.

Sure I'll turn on some ads and be spammed with Power Drink and McDonlads ads, but it's taking a slightly corrupt concept, like paying to play every month, and adding some extra smarmy super sauce to it.

There are some great articles on Gamespot and Gamespy with some industry insight as to how some professionals feel about the fact that with the increase of in-game advertizing, the prices of the games haven't gone down.

CoH is showing it's age and I'm willing to bet that they aren't going to add anything major to the game. This is a ploy to get some add revenue to fund the company. Mark my words, there won't be any major additions to the game. Sure they'll port over power sets that work for different ATs and maybe throw in one or two sets that have been getting developed for awhile, now, but don't be foolish... it's not gonna suddenly breath new life into an old game.

But as long as we have blind little fanbois out there that are more than willing to bend over and take one in the rear, companies will continue to do these kinds of things.

Originally posted by Deathstrike2

The way some people act about in game ads, I wonder how they're even able to watch television or drive down a main street in town.  They're just ads, and they don't bite. 

What I'd like to see is for the billboards and other in game ads (pop machines, etc.) to be destructible so we could destroy them.  After a few minutes, they could reappear.  Now that would be cool, and it would also catch the attention of the target audience. 

Anywho, more money = good for the game.

 

On a side note...     The ADS ARE COMING!!!  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! 

Baaaaa.

Go ahead, keep being a sheep. 

Go back to sleep.

Oyjord.

Originally posted by Kryogenic

 

It's not a question of being subjected to ads. It's being subjected to ads in a game with a monthly subscription fee.

 

They want to add "optional advertising", well then they need to make an optional payment plan to go with the adds.

Sure I'll turn on some ads and be spammed with Power Drink and McDonlads ads, but it's taking a slightly corrupt concept, like paying to play every month, and adding some extra smarmy super sauce to it.

There are some great articles on Gamespot and Gamespy with some industry insight as to how some professionals feel about the fact that with the increase of in-game advertizing, the prices of the games haven't gone down.

CoH is showing it's age and I'm willing to bet that they aren't going to add anything major to the game. This is a ploy to get some add revenue to fund the company. Mark my words, there won't be any major additions to the game. Sure they'll port over power sets that work for different ATs and maybe throw in one or two sets that have been getting developed for awhile, now, but don't be foolish... it's not gonna suddenly breath new life into an old game.

But as long as we have blind little fanbois out there that are more than willing to bend over and take one in the rear, companies will continue to do these kinds of things.

And as long as we have sunshines like you, the world will still be filled with things to make us chuckle.

Could be worse.

EA could have bought CoX instead.

I don't mind it so much, as it'll be done in a non-intrusive manner. Would be nice though that it tracks how long you have the option turned on. Maybe as an incentive have a couple of badges that you can earn for how ever much time you have it on. That way the player can get some immediate benefit while the extra ad income makes its way into the game.

Online games have a lifespan. They last as long as they're profitable for the parent company. If adding passive billboard ads make CoX profitable to NCSoft for a while longer, that's fine with me.