"What, me worry?"

/obvious

But how will Bobby milk the population like Guitar Hero 3 with its strong messages like "not selling out" but also featuring Axe Body Spray advertisements?

@Coldbrand: Maybe they'll have a subversive new alien race in this that tries to undermine corporate takeover of the universe but looks like the Hamburglers?

Starcraft II is gonna be awesome.

You heard it here first.

uh..........................ok

I don't like this guy. Sometimes I've the feeling he is the new spokesman of Blizzard. Since the "marriage" of the two Company's he do really everything to be the new center of business.

@jasoncourt: Good feedback.

@peAr_nectAr:

I think you're onto something....

Please.

In game Ads......

......Starcraft II.

NEVER EVER on the same sentence again, please.

/me run to the hospital

Clearly a case study in the unproductive approach of corporate bidness.

Seriously already. Kotick needs to shut the hell up already, he has no say in what blizzard does they are competitors as far as everyone except the stockholders are concerned. Now if he didnt come out sounding like an a-hole all the time and actually spoke with some intelligence like say Mark Rein (even if we dont agree with his points all the time) It just makes the CEO seem like such a douche bag that its no surprise why activision games are exploited beyond milking it.

"More money! More money! Gotta please shareholders! Must make more money!! In game ads! Yes! That's the key!!!"

//Alarm goes off, doctor rushes in, checks Kotick.

"He's going into greed. Get me 10ccs of anti-suit meds STAT!"

this guy is an open sore. i hate this mess we are in. anyone know a way out of the hell we are all spiraling into?

This, combined with their accusation that Harmonix is "copying" their Guitar Hero franchise, just furthers the average gamer's belief that Activision executives don't know a damn thing.

i wouldn't mind in game advertising so long as it stays with the games style(you shouldn't see car advertisements in WoW for instance), but a ford mechanostrider(the gnome mount) would be acceptable.

in terms of starcraft some things would need to be "future'd up" in my opinion(though the science fiction anime film "Macross: do you remember love?" had regular coke-a-cola cans as litter) for example soda cans being advertised should look futuristic.

Like Blizzard NEEDS the ad revenue.

Sweet bloody jesus people, when I first read this story the only thing that came to mind was the battle net adds. They have had adds since SC1, I don't know how people could have mistaken what he said. Well, I guess I could, but jesus, talk about jumping the gun.

Me? I want in-game advertising in SC2, because that would be, frankly, unintentionally hilarious.

Perhaps the native fauna of planets will include "Gillete Monsters" or something of the sort, and it will be just like in Burnout Paradise where not only does the advertisement van for Diesel and Gillete products impede my attempt to go over 2,564 mph with my sweet GT Concept, but when I do inevitably hit the van I can go "FUCKKKKKKKKKKK YOUUUUUU" to the advertiser in slow-mo.

Seriously... ads on a Vegas billboard in Rainbow Six are appropriate advertising. Ads in Starcraft inherently can't be, unless they're for Zerg Repellent or maybe Anti-Decompression Gel.

@evirustheslaye: holy crap dude no. stop. do not pass go. do not collect 200$.

Seriously, don't give an inch. Conceding to these money grubbing companies will be a travesty.

Ford Mechostriders? Are you seriously that indoctrinated with the belief that you don't have the right to enjoy ANYTHING without being subjected to advertising?

You have to work for an advertising company or that market helps pay your bills in some way to even think there would be any benefit whatsoever with friggin ads in games. No benefits plus plenty of cons. Sounds like a winning situation for gamers!

Give me a break wow Ford Mechostriders, lmao.

Gingers creep me out.

ads in sc2 = fail

@ehlaren:
You know, that actually wasn't that crazy an idea.

Ideally we could get away from ads but realistically they keep the world running. How many websites simply wouldn't exist if they couldn't run off advertising revenue?

Big devs are getting bigger and the small devs do have their avenues through DLC but they need money too.

HOWEVER if they are going to do in game ads then that game should not come at full price. That or there should be some additional value (and lots of it) if the game is at full price; to bring a balance to the equation.

They could even release some games, at a reduced cost, with ads and the full priced games without (lots of software companies do it). Free offline play with ads, etc. they are plenty of business models that could be tossed around.

Geez, why do CEO's just outpour their doucheness bable? There needs to be a change of CEOs in this country. The majority of them are in just because they know how to build up something but never follow through, that is the worse person. All ambition and no follow through.

diaf if Starcraft 2 gets ads. Bring back the way games used to be.

@ParadoxControl: Judging by how Burnout Paradise with their advertisements went, I wouldn't be suprised if the Terrans were sporting some AXE stickers on their battlecruiser wings.

I don't mind game advertisements so long as they fit in the game's style. If you're playing on a colonized Terran world then it might be ok to see some billboards or advertisements around, so long as they fit within the game. I don't want to hear the wraith pilots talking about Axe or see them sporting some ad on their wings.

They're not going to throw up corn ball ads in-game, let's not get our knickers in a twist kiddies. I could see sponsored tournaments, DLC, etc... but i'd fear not in terms of actual gameplay. And FYI, game pubs/devs don't make millions off of in-game advertising, the market isn't there yet. For now it helps out here and there with the game budget.

The Axe ads in GHIII were pretty mellow in my opinion, and to be honest i didn't really care as i wasn't paying attention to the surroundings, i was pay attention to song. Tacky in-game ads are bad for everyone, but when done right, they can add to the realism of a game...

I want Starcraft II. I am waiting for that game so I can build a new PC capable of playing it.

AHAHAHAHA!!!

Like someone else said, what a douche. Just makes my stomach turn to wake up everyday and find out that the industry is being run by morons like him. In-game ads in STARCRAFT??? Clearly, as a CEO of a company that bought Blizzard, he did no fucking research on his purchase target.

That said, in-game ads DID work well in Wipeout XL. But not since.

So... what, two or three of you actually read what he said? He specifically speaks about the advantage SCII has in that it is a short session game. Why is that an advantage? Because it means that there are frequent times when the player is not in game, and is instead in battlenet looking for a game, waiting for a game, etc. And here is where you will see advertisements and banners, etc. Just like you have before.

Forgive a CEO for calling that in-game advertisement, since, you know, it's in game. It's not like there's a term such as "in-gameplay" advertisement that he could have used to head off this rampant reactionary madness.

They might as well put them in there. I just noticed last week that GH3 has in-game ads. Unbelievable...especially in a game where you don't have time to look at the background.

Thanks, Blizzard! In-game ads suck ass.

He is very well attuned with the new merge seeing how Blizzard pushes out several games every year :/

If you are gonna give us In-game Ads, how does that benefit the gamer, will the prices in our games be reduced?
if you are gonna put game ads on a game, at least give the consumers something, in return.

thank goodness blizzard will still be able to provide high-quality games despite merging with a lesser entity. =P

What the fuck kind of ads COULD you put in StarCraft II?

Battle.net is in-game and Kotick knows very well what he's talking about. It's sad that so many Kotakuers can't grasp such simple and obvious things. I'm sure Kotick is now crying in a corner, that you called him an idiot, because of your own stupidity.

Zerg drink Pepsi, as i recall. Thats why they rush so fiercely.