Ads are coming to the CoX universe.
NCSoft’s deal with Double Fusion would replace the fake billboards that dot the scenery of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles with genuine, revenue-generating advertisements. The ads should go live some time this summer, but Clayton stresses that it’s up to the player whether or not the ads are visible.
“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,” he wrote in a post on the City of Heroes web site.
Seems fine to me. And CoX (vs WOW or LoTRO or other fantasy/sf games) is perfect for such a thing. Thoiugh I’m not sure who’s going to want to advertise over in the Rogue Isles.
So why would anyone want to show the ads (stay opted in)? Because NCSoft will only get revenue when they are opted in, and the proceeds to go CoX development. Again, nothing wrong with that.
I have no problem with this.
Actually I am shocked that it took them this long to do something like this with all the fake billboards and store fronts. To me it would seem to be a no brainer to have had some real companies (other than Cryptic having a billboard in RI) pay for some store front and billboard adverts just to make it seem more real other than trying to figure out which company’s adds were getting spoofed on the fake spots.
Plus, if the new billboards are as entertaining as the fake ones it might make a nice change of pace.
Y’know, some smart companies might opt for specialized ads just for the setting. That would make a lot of sense.
Best Dev Quote of the Day
“Amusingly enough, while we have the system in place and ready for testing, we haven’t actually sold any of the ad space to date…so we couldn’t legally use any real life ads or companies to illustrate what these adds might look like in game.
So we created fake ads to replace the already existing fake ads to illustrate how real ads might replace the fake fake ads. ”