No longer just a games console - Where does advertising fit in?

These days, gaming platforms like the Xbox, the Wii and the PlayStation are used for more than just gaming. They’re used for a variety of purposes from video chat to catch-up TV. Soon, gaming platforms may be used for virtual banking, shopping and test driving cars. With this increasing use of gaming platforms, can the medium be adequately monetized with advertising? Or are games platforms exempt from advertising?

The first generation of the Xbox was, very simply, a games console. The Xbox 360 however has voice command capabilities, Xbox Live, Xbox marketplace where you can purchase and download new games, it can access Netflix, can play DVDs and can be used to watch catch-up TV. The Xbox One, its successor, can be used to watch live TV, has a digital recorder to record gameplay, allows multitasking, can be used to Skype and much more. Games console like the Xbox are becoming a multimedia platform, used instead of using conventional television, landlines, DVD players and stereos.

The Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset due for commercial release next year, could be used for virtual banking, virtual shopping, and virtual test driving of cars. It has also been suggested it could be used to keep astronauts sane in space, among other things.

But with these developments in uses for games consoles, there seems to be a lack of advertising space within the platforms. Some advertising is done in-game for the company that has made the game, but nothing else. A minimal amount is done in recommendations on the desktop of the Xbox before entering the game, but no sufficient advertising. While games on phone and tablets are rife with ads, console games seem to be very much lacking. There are also no adverts for watching DVDs on a games console and minimal ads on catch-up TV apps, and none if the show is downloaded.

So how can this lack of advertising be solved? Or should games consoles remain ad free? It is important to consider whether the introduction of ads will cause gameplay issues for users and whether it will turn away custom to have ads integrated into games and into the console. It is also difficult to see where ads could be placed in a games console. Perhaps on the loading pages, and on the home screen. But game makers may be reluctant to introduce ads for other companies on their loading screens. The home screen may be a more realistic choice, but it is a limited form of advertising on consoles.

Really, games console cannot remain ad free for long. Eventually, adverts will come to games consoles, whether they are frustratingly placed or not.