Quake Wars gets in-game ads

By Games Industry.biz Published 20 June, 2007

Cash used for on-going support.

Splash Damage has revealed that PC shooter Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will use in-game advertising to help pay for the costs of the game after release, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting.

"For the last four years, we've put all of our effort into making Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. So, we're not planning to ship this game and walk away," said Neil Postlethwaite, MD of Splash Damage and producer on the game.

"We want to keep supporting ETQW in as many ways as possible. We'll be maintaining the persistent stats servers and the community site, and contributing to support ETQW with updates and improvements.

"To help cover this level of on-going support without passing the costs on to the gamer, ETQW will feature appropriate advertisements in select locations of our levels," he revealed.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is based on id Software's FPS franchise, and is developed by Splash Damage for PC, with Xbox 360 and PS3 versions also due.

Publisher Activision is yet to announce which specific in-game advertising company will be taking care of the advertising business within the game. Postlethwaite assured users that no personal information will be stored without their knowledge.

"The company providing the ad system does not and will not store any personal information or data that otherwise can be used to identify you," he said.

News comes from every angle over on GamesIndustry.biz.

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Comments (49) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tomo #1 5 years ago

    As long as it's not CS Source subtle plastering I don't mind at all. I think it would probably function alright with the Quake Wars atmosphere anyway.

  • Salaman #2 5 years ago

    Hmmm a bit wary of how this will turn out.

  • Pogle #3 5 years ago

    I know the splash damage guys, nice bunch, but that didnt stop me from cancelling my pre-order. Games are an escape, ads mean that escapism is undermined. Simple as that for me.
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 13:43

  • espy #4 5 years ago

    I'm pretty sure Splash Damage care about their game very much, and will take precautions against ads that don't fit or disrupt the style. At least I hope so. And if the game is good and the ads result in prolonged support, then why not.

  • DUFFKING #5 5 years ago

    As long as this means decent content and support without ads jumping out at me, ok.

  • sickpuppysoftware #6 5 years ago

    Argh the strogg are coming! Baracade the city! Wow buy one get one from on chicken nuggets at Tesco. Argh my skin!

  • SeesThroughAll #7 5 years ago

    The Strogg drink Pepsi!

  • useyourloaf #8 5 years ago

    CS:S doesn't have ads

  • monkey_man #9 5 years ago

    I wonder if there are stats on how many people shoot at in-game ads?

  • FmCUK #10 5 years ago

    Genius monkey_man. Cost-per-hit ratios for advertisers.

  • Tomo #11 5 years ago

    > CS:S doesn't have ads

    Does so.

  • Fuser #12 5 years ago

    Well I wont bother buying this then - I hate ingame advertising. I blatant advertising/product placement in films, but seriously this sort of thing really takes you OUT of the game experience......

  • lambtron #13 5 years ago

    "Argh the strogg are coming! Baracade the city! Wow buy one get one from on chicken nuggets at Tesco. Argh my skin!"

    lol.

  • Dizzy #14 5 years ago

    Are they going to use brands and/or products from the far future?
    Edited by 2 at 20/06/07 @ 14:07

  • Pike #15 5 years ago

    Goddamned commies protesting about ads in games.

  • L0cky #16 5 years ago

    Commies? How so?

  • Ryuken #17 5 years ago

    Ok, hopefully that means no new content we have to pay extra for (booster packs *shivers*).

  • dredd97 #18 5 years ago

    probably have an entire level set in side a tesco now...

  • Turambar #19 5 years ago

    >> CS:S doesn't have ads

    >Does so.

    Not on any server i've ever played on.

  • skillian #20 5 years ago

    Oh man. Disappointing news.

    You'd hope this means the 360 version will gets lots of free extra content too, but I won't hold my breath.

    Oh, and CS:S doesn't have in-game ads. They are in the original Counter-Strike.



  • Azazel #21 5 years ago

    Mr Strogg: "Hi, I've just travelled thousands of light years across the galaxy to wage a genocidal war upon the human race... It's Miller time!"

  • zuljin #22 5 years ago

    @skillian
    http://ww w.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...

  • Ceatlan #23 5 years ago

    See this eurogamer article for ads in counter striker source :

    [link url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76347 ]http://ww w.eurogamer.net/article.php?art...[/link]

    Beaten to it :-)
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 14:35

  • Carlo #24 5 years ago

    'select locations' = everywhere we can squeeze them in.

  • DUFFKING #25 5 years ago

    Check the screenshot gallery, those are counter strike 1.6 shots, NOT source shots

  • mcwildcard #26 5 years ago

    I wonder how many times I heard:
    "Well I'm not buying Battlefield 2142, if I pay for a game, I shouldn't have to put up with adverts! I'm going to wait for QW instead"

    Gutted!

    Meantime I've been enjoying BF2142, while the tinfoil hat brigade have been missing out and waiting for a game that is 'afflicted' with in-game advertising also.

    NB: You don't even notice what few adverts appear, it's a storm over nothing.

  • LazyDan #27 5 years ago

    Funny. I'm sure there have always been persistent stats, and certainly community websites, and support via patches and updates since the days of Quake and the original Unreal Tournament.

    They never charged monthly subscriptions or advertised in-game back then, and bandwidth has only gotten cheaper since those days.

    The maths doesn't add up I tell you!

    It's greed and we're falling for it.

  • ave #28 5 years ago

    "We'll be maintaining the persistent stats servers" noooooooo

  • zuljin #29 5 years ago

    @DUFFKING
    The article is about Counterstrike Source, and the gallery is entitled "Counterstrike Source". I'm just the messenger here...

    EDIT: You're right it is just 1.6. Eurogamer wrong? *gasp*
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 15:01

  • peak_performance #30 5 years ago

    The ads and the persistent stats system are two things that really puts me off of this game.

    It's more about principle than minding them in-game.

  • zozart #31 5 years ago

    Valve don't have ads in their Source games, but they have given the community:

    - Lost Coast
    - 8 CS:S maps
    - HL2DM (with maps)
    - New technologies like HDR, the dynamic pricing and the new radar

    All for free.

    Id: I don't buy it. If Valve can do all this for free, why do you need to have ads? Oh yeah, greed!
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 15:32

  • zuljin #32 5 years ago

    @zozart
    All of those things you mentioned are not free. Do you honestly think programmers / artists / producers are just working overtime for free for you?

    The simple difference is that the cost was incorporated into the initial price of Half life two.

    No such thing as a free lunch.

  • skillian #33 5 years ago

    @ zuljin: They are free to the end-user, and that's the point. Half-Life 2 was not more expensive than any other game (though it was more successful, and maybe that's the point here).

    Fact is, Valve have built up a reputation for treating the customer well, and that has enabled them to sell more games and getter better programmers, artists etc.

    ID and Epic also built a similar reputation on the PC, but with the advent of next-gen consoles are in the process of losing it for short-term gain.

    Which of the ID/Epic approach or the Valve approach is the more financially successful remains to be seen, but I'm sure most gamers can agree that Valve's approach is currently much better for us :)

    Edited by 2 at 20/06/07 @ 16:03

  • zuljin #34 5 years ago

    @skillian
    "They are free to the end-user, and that's the point. Half-Life 2 was not more expensive than any other game (though it was more successful, and maybe that's the point here)."

    That is a very flawed comparison. You cannot compare two price points of games without also comparing the resources put in and the gains associated. Thats like saying Ferraris are over priced because BMWs are so much cheaper. And the BMW is even better because it gives you a free cup holder!

    Extreme example I know... Pls forgive.

  • skillian #35 5 years ago

    I don't really understand your point.

    HL2 was the same price point as all other games, unlike a Ferrari and a BMW.

  • zozart #36 5 years ago

    @zuljin

    If you want to go back that far, the development costs of HL2 also incorporated the creation of a brand new engine (Source), whereas Quake Wars is using the Doom 3 engine and might even be using other assets from games like Quake 4 (why bother remaking every single Human/Strogg material etc). HL2 was completely new and was developed over a looooong timespan.

    If it came down to it, I reckon more resources went into HL2 (which included CS:S, the SDK and all the other modding tools included in the initial price).
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 16:27

  • skillian #37 5 years ago

    Absolutely!

    Loads more resources went into making HL2 (and HL2:DM, CS:S, Lost Coast and all the freebie maps and updates) than has gone into making ET:QW.

    In your analogy, HL2 is the Ferrari, yet Valve are charging you BMW prices (hell, compared to most games and their accompanying DLC, they're charging Daewoo prices).
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 16:31

  • zuljin #38 5 years ago

    @zozart
    "If it came down to it, I reckon more resources went into HL2 (which included CS:S, the SDK and all the other modding tools included in the initial price)."

    I highlighted the fatal flaw in your argument. Ultimately, I do not believe that any games company aims to make a larger percent profit per game than any other, although I do admit that on occasion unexpected profit will be re instituted into the game.

  • jimlad #39 5 years ago

    someone will probably find a way to block the adds

  • ExplodingClown #40 5 years ago

    I'm surprised they haven't started having clothing logos on character skins.

    I remember one of the characters in 'Kingpin' having a Diesel branding on their shirt - maybe the human soldiers in Quake Wars will sport Nike body armour, Oakley helmets, etc etc. Come to think of it, I'm stunned it hasn't happened already.

    It must be said, whatever the commercial ramifications of product placement/in game ads, Pogle hits the nail on the head. It's tiresome and breaks the immersion horribly: Sam Fisher's chewing gum, anyone? I mean, was his halitosis tipping off those nasty evildoers to his otherwise stealthy presence or what?

    It's alright in games based on professional sport, which already whores itself to advertisers - sorry, 'sponsors' - and things like Need for Speed which are based on an activity already notable for rampant consumer fetishism. But what kind of ads aren't going to stick out like sore thumbs in QW? Might as well just have "vi@gr@" and "Enlarge Your Penis!". It'll be worse than those damn graveyards in RPGs where every tombstone says something 'funny' about a member of the Dev team. Stop ruining my escapism!

  • Freek #41 5 years ago

    The Valve analogy makes no sense.
    The HDR stuff added to HL2 was simply the result of the Source Engine being kept up to date in order to license it out.
    Lost Coast was also the result of that, it was not meant for you, it was meant for developers to showcase what the engine can do. They just happened to release it to the general public to gain some extra buzz.
    The level packs are also not free, they're incorporated in the price of the game. Games like CS:Source and DoD were initially released with only a few maps and modes, with additional content to be released later since the games were still in development. This is to keep people playing and thus to keep having a reason for new people to buy the games.

    Valve had allot of good will but they blew it all away by implementing the worst in game advertising ever imagined in CS.

    Hopefully Id will learn from that and do it in a more sublte considered way.
    If they don't they'll only be hurting themselfs as there's plenty of FPS action to be had these days. If your game is shit, people will just move on.

  • zozart #42 5 years ago

    "I highlighted the fatal flaw in your argument. Ultimately, I do not believe that any games company aims to make a larger percent profit per game than any other, although I do admit that on occasion unexpected profit will be re instituted into the game."

    Oh yes yes. I'm not going to spend hours researching the time and money spent on HL2 compared to Quake Wars. Instead I made an educated guess based on the fact that HL2 took longer to produce and needed a new engine built from scratch. Those two factors alone suggest that HL2 was a more expensive project.

    I'd also say that it's probably easier for Valve to do all this due to them having sold 12 million copies of HL/HL2 in addition to all the revenue from mods and such.

    Don't forget that even back in the early days of HL1 Valve were throwing out free content like TFC, DMC, Ricochet, etc, so I'm sure it's also part of the Valve mentality (there must be a reason they are henceforth the only third-party developer who have said that their 360 DLC will always be free).
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/07 @ 18:59

  • DUFFKING #43 5 years ago

    To be honest this doesn’t bother me one bit, providing it doesn’t interrupt the game to advertise then it's no different from using fake ads.

  • cobracotton #44 5 years ago

    mmmmmmmm zombies......... In australia (mate) we have four ad breaks per episode of Simpsons...Advertising is bad it should be limited it brings no benefit to mortal man aka the target aka "consumers" and just cos some of you Zombies say meh whatever it doesn't bother me, you think its ok for the rest of us to have our brains turned to mush... in summary

    Just Do it....

    Edited by 1 at 21/06/07 @ 02:59

  • zuljin #45 5 years ago

    @zozart
    The whole point is tho that it is not an educated guess. Id spent a lot of time working on this MegaTexture technology, does that make up for the time spent developing an engine? To be honest I haven't got an effing clue... And I'm a programmer. There really is more to a game than a graphics engine, not to mention the fact that Source is licensed, meaning other games use it, and Valve also get money that way.

    I stand by my point, which is that I seriously doubt this move is governed by greed. To continue silly analogies, Oprah gave away free cars on her show. Does that mean all other chat show hosts are stingy so and sos?

  • andromeda #46 5 years ago

    it really does depend on the how the ad fits into the context. Could work surprisingly well in some cases.
    Nowt wrong with the odd intel core 2 ad in a fps.let's not get snobbish, we're all geeks anyway and most have/want this tech under the bonnet.
    I for one, trust ID on this.
    It's just the likes of Ubisoft and co that concern me ;-)

  • dredd97 #47 5 years ago

    'I for one, trust ID on this.
    It's just the likes of Ubisoft and co that concern me ;-)'

    sorry but why would you trust ID on this for? they'll sell the advertising space to whoever offers the most cash....if you think the ads will be carefully selected to fit into the concept of the game, then perhaps your deluded...
    ID will do whatever the ad men want, because it's ok to have principles, but even those can be bought....

  • reality_cheque #48 5 years ago

    I think the idea of a city with no form of advertising visible is pretty unrealistic, so as long as it's done like Crackdown (billboards where you would EXPECT billboards) I'm happy. TBH I didn't even realise the car advertised in Crackdown was a real car until someone on the forums mentioned it :D

    The strogg don't drink caffine based drinks, they're engineered to produce their own. Which is why the war was started by a covert Pepsi/Coke joint ninja strike team...

    *tin foil hat*

  • Verwandlung #49 5 years ago

    I feel slightly brainraped in a way.
    I still enjoy playing the first quake (love the Trent Reznor soundtrack) and quake III now and then.

    Why would 'they' fuck up something so special with such banality?

    -greed
    -retardation
    -alzheimer



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    Edited by 2 at 30/06/07 @ 23:01