New York — Massive Inc., Microsoft Corp.’s in-game advertising subsidiary, announced a multi-year ad partnership with “Guitar Hero” and “World of Warcraft” game publisher Activision and its corporate sibling Blizzard Entertainment, a company specializing in Web-based multiplayer games, to provide ads for 18 of its titles and for Battle.net, its online game service.
In doing so, it has landed the big kahuna — J. J. Richards to lead Massive’s overall operations.
As part of the agreement, Massive said Wednesday it will provide dynamic in-game ads for up to 18 Xbox 360 and PC titles, which means the ads change over time and can be targeted based on a gamer’s location, including the latest version of Guitar Hero: World Tour, James Bond: Quantum of Solace, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, AMAX Racing, and Tony Hawk.
Earlier, the two companies have operated together on numerous occasions with titles like Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, running over 330 campaigns with more than 225 advertisers.
Massive, which negotiates all ads for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming console, will also be the exclusive advertising service provider for Blizzard’ Web sites and for Battle.net in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea and Australia.
Gamers widely utilize Battle.net to play “World of Warcraft,” “StarCraft,” and other games together. “Warcraft” has more than 11 million subscribers worldwide.
In the meantime, the Blizzard partnership represents the first time Massive will work with the MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) giant, which is behind the ever-popular World of Warcraft. Also, under the deal, Massive will provide ads to both Activision’s line of games and the Blizzard Entertainment division.
Blizzard COO Paul Sams make sure to note that this deal does not include in-game advertising, commented: “Massive understands and respects our stance against advertising that might detract from gameplay or offend our players.”
Massive, which is presenting its annual partner event in New York today, also announced that JJ Richards, general manager of platform services for the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft, is now the division’s chief.
Previously, Richards served as Xbox Live’s general manager.
“I have been closely involved with Massive for the past couple of years and have seen the amazing growth firsthand,” says Richards. “I’m stepping into this role at a great time for Microsoft and the advertising and gaming industry, and look forward to working with our publishers to create in- and around-game advertising opportunities for any advertiser’s media plan.”
In a statement, Richards said that the company would provide ads to Blizzard’s Battle.net online game service. To backup the partnership, Massive is teaming with video game advertising representation company Intergi to manage web-based ads and reach Blizzard’s audience of core gamers.
The pact with the video game industry’s largest publisher is a big one for Massive and a blow for rivals, which include IGA Worldwide, Google’s AdSense for Games, NeoEdge Networks and Double Fusion. Double Fusion announced this week that it had signed in-game ad deals with THQ, Sega, Eidos and Midway. Massive announced its own deal with THQ a week ago.
In-game ads are inserted at various places in a video game. In an urban game, for instance, advertisers can put their own branded ads on storefronts or billboards, much like product placement in movies. Massive and other companies have innovated in recent years to make those ads dynamic. Every time a gamer views the billboard, for instance, the ad piped in via an internet connection may be different.
Massive’s most famous ad to date was one placed by Barack Obama’s presidential campaign inside Electronic Arts’ Burnout Paradise racing game.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.