While going through my extended reading list, I (completely accidentally, I admit) ran into an interview with Valve's Doug Lombardi, on a big CS site, called..well..CS-Nation. Apparently, Valve and IGA Worldwide have started working together in order to bring ads to Counter-Strike. The ads will not be optional and they'll be tested in CS 1.6 only at first.
Somehow, in the back of my head, I always pictured Counter-Strike to be the perfect environment for ads. The maps are relatively small and the rounds system insures that players will be in one of a few fixed locations every few minutes. The spawn points are sure traffic areas.
Of course, ads in HL/HL mods aren't exactly a new concept. We can actually trace this back to Quake 1 or even earlier in time. With the advent of level editors, the likes of what was once called Worldcraft (now Valve Hammer Editor), map makers have made a point of hiding their logos in the level and sometimes even additional information (ie: email adressess, clan websites, homepages, etc). Of course, this rarely gained them any more than some recognition or popularity. Of course, even the "original" maps have their share of logos and other assorted plugs, with Lombardi mentioning the gamehelper.com bits in the Dust2 map.Now, Valve's taking it further:
The interview is quite interesting, even if you're not particularily fond of Counter-Strike as a whole. Read it here. As a final observation, I couldn't help but notice how mr. Lombardi managed to wrap the interview on a somewhat "hopeful" note:
Of course, ads in HL/HL mods aren't exactly a new concept. We can actually trace this back to Quake 1 or even earlier in time. With the advent of level editors, the likes of what was once called Worldcraft (now Valve Hammer Editor), map makers have made a point of hiding their logos in the level and sometimes even additional information (ie: email adressess, clan websites, homepages, etc). Of course, this rarely gained them any more than some recognition or popularity. Of course, even the "original" maps have their share of logos and other assorted plugs, with Lombardi mentioning the gamehelper.com bits in the Dust2 map.Now, Valve's taking it further:
Doug Lombardi: Advertising is a new and evolving part of the entire gaming industry. We’ve watched for the past few years as some of the biggest players in the software industry (Google, etc.,) have bootstrapped their efforts with advertising-supported business models on the Web. We felt that now is the right time to try advertising in one of our games.This particular director of marketing has done his homework well, as his next answer shows it:
Doug Lombardi: We make these kinds of decisions with our entire community in mind, not just the people who play Counter-Strike. Our very first Counter-Strike experiment was actually a business-related one: Bringing the game to a retail audience when it was already available on the Internet as a free download seemed to the community like a pretty questionable choice — but it’s worked out well with the community becoming larger and stronger.
As another example of ways that an advertising model may benefit the CS community, for a long time we’ve looked for new ways to let mod authors make money. Funding a game development project is currently a chicken and egg problem — you can’t get funding without having already built a great product, and you can’t build something great without money in the bank. If this experiment with advertising in CS 1.6 is successful, it may turn out that we’re able to help the next round of successful mods get off the ground because of ad revenue.
The interview is quite interesting, even if you're not particularily fond of Counter-Strike as a whole. Read it here. As a final observation, I couldn't help but notice how mr. Lombardi managed to wrap the interview on a somewhat "hopeful" note:
CS-Nation: Beyond the advertisements, are there any other immediate plans for upcoming updates for either CS1.6, CS:CZ, or CS: Source?
Doug Lombardi: We just introduced the new dynamic pricing system to CS: Source, and we’re watching how that test plays out before we decide to extend it. Meanwhile, we’re working on some changes to the weapons in CS: Source (pistols, specifically) based on what we’ve learned from the pricing experiment. We’re also working on some new voice chat features which will eventually apply to both versions of the game. We’ll talk more about those things later.
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