In-game advertising: A whole new game?

If you're a hungry gamer, the only command you need remember is "/pizza."

Sony recently inked a deal with Pizza Hut to allow players of the incredibly popular EverQuest II, a massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), to order pizza from Pizza Hut while playing the game online. Gamers just type "/pizza," and the EverQuest engine brings up a browser window where they can order their pies. No more stopping in the middle of the action to pick up the phone and order, no more logouts to go pick up a pizza. It's a gamer's dream come true.

No financial details of the deal were released, but the partnership between the top pizza chain and the top online gaming property represents one of the first substantial advertising deals in the gaming industry. And considering games such as EverQuest have hundreds of thousands of subscribers from the coveted 18-24-year-old demographic, you can be sure advertisers targeting this demographic will watch this experiment closely.

There's been talk about putting ads in games for a long time now, but few companies have pulled off true integration. Instances of product placement and games based on movie properties, sports franchises, and hot automobiles have been a staple for years. But the Pizza Hut/Sony deal is something different: true interactive integration between a game and an advertiser.

Read the article: www.clickz.com