Ubi talks up Splinter Cell in-game ads

By Tom Bramwell Published 13 November, 2009

Using heat maps to identify key spots.

Ubisoft plans to offer advertisers a variety of opportunities to promote their wares within Splinter Cell: Conviction, according to a presentation at a Microsoft event in New York yesterday.

Joystiq reports that Ubisoft will identify popular routes through each level and then use that information to sell high and low profile space to advertisers.

Ubisoft's Jeffrey Dickstein reportedly told an audience at the Microsoft Advertising "Gaming Upfront" event that it would even be possible to advertise during the bits where Sam Fisher - on the tail of his daughter's killers - beats information out of people by smashing their heads in.

We've contacted Ubisoft to ask for more information.

In the meantime, if you want to experience adverts draped around Splinter Cell: Conviction, why not check out our most recent hands-on preview? There are ads galore through there.

Conviction is due out for PC and Xbox 360 on 26th February.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • HermitArcader #1 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • glottis0 #2 2 years ago

    This makes me sad. It breaks my immersion and eventually it will stop games that don't have advertising potential (like dragon age or mass effect) from getting greenlit or funded at all...

  • HermitArcader #3 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • the_dudefather #4 2 years ago

    ok, here is what we do, when you get the game, move sam to a dark corner and look at a wall for about 4 hours, if everyone does this then all the ads will be plastered at that spot were no-one will see them

  • space_ace #5 2 years ago

    so this is the real reason for the delay

  • el_pollo_diablo #6 2 years ago

    Depends what they're advertising. If it's breasts I doubt many players would complain.

  • kangarootoo #7 2 years ago

    I'll wheel out my usual comment on this subject.

    If the ads suit the environment and are presented in a real-world fashion, they might improve the experience.

    If they are high res textures pasted on the side of pyramins and log huts, they will be rubbish.


    And this "heat map to flog ad space" business is not new tech by any stretch.

  • Springchicken #8 2 years ago

    This time, Sam Fisher forces his captives to chew on Airwaves.

  • Meho #9 2 years ago

    I'll wheel out my usual comment on this subject.

    Hey, Ubi: FUCK YOU!!!

  • TheBard #10 2 years ago

    Nice. So the game will cost twenty bucks less, right? Because it is ad-supported, right?

    What? No? What do you mean, no?

  • brider #11 2 years ago

    I agree with the bard if the game gets realeased a lot cheaper then i'd be all for it but I doubt it will

    Besides most splinter cell games have at least one advertisment in them remember sc1 when sams chewin on a pack of Airwaves

  • Genome #12 2 years ago

    If I see ads for real products in urban environments in SC:C, it won't break the immersion because I expect to see it there.

    If I see them plastered inside factories and out in the terrorist ice bases or what have you, Ubisoft has failed. Sadly, it looks like this is the way it will work, with them talking about placing it in popular routes.

  • aldo_14 #13 2 years ago

    Mission #4

    "Sam, that female guard has been drinking RED BULL which has GIVEN HER WINGS. You'll need to use THE LYNX EFFECT in order to TANGO HER and THIS SPACE $450.00 ONLY"

  • Rubarack #14 2 years ago

    If an ad is tastefully done then it's pretty much failed as an ad, so there's no way these will ever be placed in such a way as to enhance the immersion rather than detract from it.

  • WinterSnowblind #15 2 years ago

    If it's done well, I don't mind. I quite like seeing billboard ads, etc, in games where it's appropriate.
    But here I just keep seeing images of Sam holding up a bottle of Pepsi in the middle of a torture scene and delivering same cheesy line about the taste.

  • Collymilad #16 2 years ago

    My rule on ads is: If it could be there in real life (e.g. ads at the side of the track on racers, billboards or open world, on bus stops etc) and it fits in with the time the game is set, then it's fine.

    Otherwise, FO.

    Stuff like the Pepsi machines all over bionic commando sucked balls, as it was obvious they had put in far more than there would have been otherwise and they were also obviously placed. They were meant to be in rubble but they had conveniently fell at exactly the right angle to be in your face, every time. *shakes head*
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 12:54

  • dingo75 #17 2 years ago

    I have no problems to smash the head of a bad guy through a billboard!

  • kongzi #18 2 years ago

    After a torture scene, Sam hands the victim a box of HANSAPLAST(r).

    In the next installment Sam will be able to make marketing calls to his enemies like " are you happy with your long distance service provider/insurance/wife/car?". This will piss them off and confuse them as well as mark them for the mark and execute. He also finally discovers anti-depressants a gives up the search for his daughter because he realizes prozac is much better.

  • Bravestinsane #19 2 years ago

    My want for this game significantly from getting it no matter what the cost too, i don't know if i want it anymore.

    These adverts better not be in my face the whole damn game if it is no purchase for me. On top of that if they are funding it through adverts the damn game better be cheaper than normal retail price.

  • BabyJesus #20 2 years ago

    Splinter Cell Double Agent was bloody good!@Zed

    Anyway, I'm going to fuck with their system and go the route that doesn't take me past ads.

    POWER TO PEOPLE
    I won't really..

  • YourMessageHere #21 2 years ago

    Where it comes to the 'billboards used as scenery, cans of drink used as level props' sort of in-game advert, I don't mind it in principle, but in practice it's done so poorly and inappropriately in almost every case, usually completely screwing with the concept of immersion, that I have no faith in them ever doing it well. For example, if I'm playing a level set in Japan, the ads need to be in Japanese, and the drink cans need to be drinks likely to be sold in Japan. Rather than, for example, the Intel ads in BF2142 that tried to sell processors for gaming and thus totally failed to be appropriate to the setting, or indeed the super incongruous ads for the Royal Navy all over Vegas in R6V2. How about giant billboards that say 'HELLO PLAYER_1 BUY MORE COKE WHEN YOU STOP PLAYING THIS GAME'?