Video game publisher Midway Games Inc. has struck a multiyear deal with advertising company Double Fusion to place ads in upcoming games played via online connections.
Midway will build Double Fusion's ad-serving technology into video game titles that will play on next-generation consoles such as Microsoft Corp.'sXbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s (6758.T) PlayStation 3, under the new deal announced on Thursday. The games will include "Stranglehold" and others now in development.
Double Fusion's sales force will sell the ad campaigns, which will regularly update.
Such "dynamic" ads, which can appear in the form of signs or billboards, streaming audio and video or 3-d objects like soda bottles or cars, complement so-called "static" ads which are written into game code and do not change over the life of the game.
In-game advertising can help offset increasing game development costs while giving advertisers a way to get back in front of the young male audience that has shifted away from traditional media to the Internet and video games, said United Talent Agency director Jonathan Epstein, who is on Double Fusion's board and represented the company in the deal.
Midway expects the first game under the Double Fusion deal to ship at year-end.
Double Fusion competes with video game advertising company Massive Inc.