Quote:


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.

Having said that, I should make it clear that we are extremely
protective of our City of Heroes game experience. Only contextually
relevant ads or branding that the development team approves will go
into the game. We will be very careful not to break the immersion and
feel of Paragon City or the Rogue Isles. Additionally, we are a Teen
rated game by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) and we
will not be displaying any "mature" ad content like alcohol, tobacco,
etc.



So, how far do we plan to take these optional in-game ads?
Initially, we are limiting ads to the exact same fictitious billboard
placements that are already in the game. To get a better idea of this,
check out these screenshot examples.

We estimate that this will go live some time this summer. After
that, what are our plans? We are definitely looking at how this feature
is received by you, the community. If it makes sense, and keeps the
same level of quality and immersion we believe the initial
implementation does, we may look at other avenues in the realm of
optional advertising. There are a whole lot of really fun ideas to
consider, but the core game development of City of Heroes is by far our
highest priority. Another interesting opportunity that the optional
in-game advertising technology presents us is dynamically displaying
other billboard content. We can swap in new signs that we create much
more easily, and we can even display player-created content! This
provides a cool new area for community contests, recognizing great
player art, etc. In fact, we are inviting any interested players to
submit their own advertising materials in our defined horizontal,
vertical and square sizes (see all of the specific requirements here). We will use some of these to test the new optional ads on the Training Room (test servers).



So beyond all of this, what benefit does leaving optional in-game
advertising “on” bring to the players? Why should you not opt-out? All
ad revenue dollars go directly to the further development of the game,
which means more great content than ever before! As we have made it
pretty clear lately, with the acquisition of City of Heroes from
Cryptic Studios last November, we are entering a major phase of
reinvestment for the game (and brand). Our development costs are
ramping up in a major way as we look to literally double the team this
year to accommodate big plans for the short, medium and long term.
Optional in-game advertising is another revenue stream that helps us to
accomplish all of this at no additional expense to our players.
Ultimately, we leave it up to you, the players, to decide which
experience you prefer.