Investors Want In Game Ads, Valve Is Blocking Them

00:23:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGJCV6A6jTI

Resumen

TLDRThe video explores the growing trend of advertising in video games, particularly in the context of Steam's recent policy changes. It highlights the financial pressures on game developers to monetize their products, especially in free-to-play models where only a small percentage of users make purchases. The speaker discusses Steam's guidelines on advertising, which prohibit certain practices like gating gameplay behind ads and rewarding players for watching them. The video also examines examples of in-game advertising and product placements, emphasizing the need for vigilance regarding the balance between monetization and player experience. The speaker suggests that while some forms of advertising may be acceptable, they should not disrupt gameplay or immersion. Overall, the video encourages viewers to be aware of the evolving landscape of game monetization and its implications for players.

Para llevar

  • 🎮 The rise of advertising in video games is becoming more prominent.
  • 💰 Game developers face financial pressures to monetize their products.
  • 📜 Steam's advertising guidelines have been reorganized for clarity.
  • 🚫 No gating gameplay behind ads is a key rule for Steam.
  • 📈 In-game advertising can be acceptable if it doesn't disrupt gameplay.
  • 👀 Players should remain vigilant about monetization practices.
  • 🤝 Investors influence game monetization strategies significantly.
  • 🛠️ Developers may create their own ad networks in the future.
  • ⚖️ Balance between monetization and player experience is crucial.
  • 🔍 Awareness of advertising trends in gaming is essential.

Cronología

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video discusses the growing trend of free-to-play games incorporating advertisements to monetize their user base, particularly focusing on the 95% of players who do not spend money. It highlights the potential for targeted ads to generate significant revenue, especially in the mobile gaming market, which is projected to reach $100 billion by 2025. The conversation shifts to Steam's recent policy changes regarding advertisements, clarifying that Steam is not banning ads but rather reorganizing its documentation to emphasize existing guidelines.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Steam's updated documentation clarifies that developers cannot gate gameplay behind ads or reward players for watching them. Instead, they are encouraged to use Steam's built-in monetization options or create downloadable content (DLC). The video argues that this is a positive move, as it prevents the negative design implications of ad-supported gameplay, which are prevalent in mobile games. The discussion continues with the implications of Steam's policies on the gaming industry and the potential for developers to explore advertising as a revenue stream.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The video delves into the specifics of Steam's advertising policies, explaining that while direct monetary exchange for advertising on the storefront is prohibited, cross-promotions and bundles are allowed. In-game advertising is also permitted as long as it feels integrated into the game and does not disrupt gameplay. The video provides examples of how some games have skirted the edges of these policies, raising questions about the enforcement of Steam's guidelines and the potential for more in-game advertising in the future.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:23:46

    The final segment discusses the broader implications of advertising in gaming, particularly the pressure from investors for companies like Electronic Arts to explore advertising as a revenue source. The video warns that while Steam's current policies are beneficial, there is a risk of increased advertising and product placement in games if companies prioritize profit over player experience. The speaker emphasizes the importance of aligning incentives between developers, platforms, and players to ensure a healthy gaming ecosystem.

Ver más

Mapa mental

Vídeo de preguntas y respuestas

  • What is the main topic of the video?

    The video discusses the potential for advertising in video games, particularly focusing on Steam's recent policy changes regarding ads.

  • What are the financial pressures on game developers?

    Game developers face pressure to monetize their products, especially in free-to-play models, where only a small percentage of users make purchases.

  • What are Steam's guidelines on advertising?

    Steam's guidelines prohibit gating gameplay behind ads, rewarding players for watching ads, and abusing platform features for monetization.

  • What examples of in-game advertising are discussed?

    Examples include product placements in games like Final Fantasy 15 and NBA 2K's unskippable ads during gameplay.

  • What is the significance of Valve's policy changes?

    The changes suggest Valve may be more willing to enforce advertising guidelines, impacting how games monetize.

  • How does the video suggest players should respond to advertising in games?

    Players should remain vigilant and consider the balance between monetization and their gaming experience.

  • What is the potential future of advertising in games?

    The video suggests that advertising could become more prevalent, especially if developers create their own ad networks.

  • What is the speaker's opinion on in-game ads?

    The speaker believes that while some forms of advertising can be acceptable, they should not disrupt gameplay or immersion.

  • What is the role of investors in game monetization?

    Investors often push for increased revenue through ads, influencing corporate decisions on monetization strategies.

  • What is the overall message of the video?

    The video encourages awareness of the evolving landscape of game monetization and the implications of advertising on player experience.

Ver más resúmenes de vídeos

Obtén acceso instantáneo a resúmenes gratuitos de vídeos de YouTube gracias a la IA.
Subtítulos
en
Desplazamiento automático:
  • 00:00:00
    well everyone our Lord and savior Gabe
  • 00:00:01
    is making news again so imagine this you
  • 00:00:03
    run a free toplay game 5% of your users
  • 00:00:06
    are buying things regularly .5% of them
  • 00:00:09
    are buying even more things like of
  • 00:00:11
    course those multi hundred League of
  • 00:00:13
    Legends skins that you buy to flex on
  • 00:00:15
    those godamn purse but um there's a
  • 00:00:18
    problem right if you're running this
  • 00:00:19
    freet to-play game what about the other
  • 00:00:22
    95% of people I mean sure they can be
  • 00:00:25
    bots in your West world to make it feel
  • 00:00:28
    alive for the people are respect
  • 00:00:29
    spending money but what if you sell them
  • 00:00:32
    targeted ads and make way more money
  • 00:00:34
    loads of games do mostly of course in
  • 00:00:36
    mobile game ads are estimated to be A1
  • 00:00:38
    100 billion Market in 2025 but most of
  • 00:00:41
    the games that we play don't really do
  • 00:00:43
    that yet which is why today's story
  • 00:00:46
    actually does matter I mean you know
  • 00:00:48
    where it's going we're going to talk
  • 00:00:49
    about the steam thing turns out the
  • 00:00:51
    steam thing is not what was initially
  • 00:00:52
    reported so you know you'll get value
  • 00:00:54
    there but uh loads of pretty legit games
  • 00:00:57
    are considering ads RuneScape is one of
  • 00:01:00
    them right we we covered that and even
  • 00:01:02
    in Jag X's responses to the whole drama
  • 00:01:04
    they said they're still considering ads
  • 00:01:06
    supported stuff to go a bit bigger
  • 00:01:08
    Electronic Arts and the absolute mench
  • 00:01:11
    the Weaver of corporate sloppy
  • 00:01:15
    Andrew Wilson CEO he responded to
  • 00:01:18
    investment analysts and he said that uh
  • 00:01:20
    for ads they've got people looking into
  • 00:01:23
    it because of course he would say that
  • 00:01:25
    he's talking to analysts analysts who
  • 00:01:27
    work for firms it's all about investment
  • 00:01:29
    and what what do the investors want they
  • 00:01:31
    want the revenue to go up they want
  • 00:01:33
    profitability to go up therefore they
  • 00:01:35
    will want ads so even if Andrew Wilson
  • 00:01:38
    himself personally is actually one of us
  • 00:01:41
    in the inside doesn't really want ads
  • 00:01:43
    he's got serious Financial pressure and
  • 00:01:46
    some would even say responsibility to
  • 00:01:48
    action on those ads and it's in that
  • 00:01:51
    context that all of this reporting on
  • 00:01:53
    Steam went down right now steam is pc pc
  • 00:01:58
    is growing steam is growing with it if
  • 00:02:00
    you cannot do something on Steam you are
  • 00:02:02
    in trouble as a game that means that
  • 00:02:05
    valves policies matter to our industry
  • 00:02:07
    they matter basically because they shape
  • 00:02:09
    the possibility space and as this Amazon
  • 00:02:12
    executive noted as well even with their
  • 00:02:15
    what 250X the resources whatever you
  • 00:02:18
    can't Dethrone steam valve actually
  • 00:02:21
    matter so let's investigate what's
  • 00:02:23
    happened I've also got a truly novel
  • 00:02:25
    experience to share it's boot Dev who
  • 00:02:26
    have sponsored today's video you see
  • 00:02:28
    there you can learn the coding
  • 00:02:30
    engineering and career skills to break
  • 00:02:32
    into backend web development it's like
  • 00:02:34
    an average salary of a hundred grand
  • 00:02:36
    work from home and a lot of really sick
  • 00:02:37
    stuff but with quite the twist because
  • 00:02:40
    their founder is a massive gamer and
  • 00:02:42
    that's why boot is different it's an RPG
  • 00:02:44
    quests levels XP boss battles realtime
  • 00:02:47
    leaderboards and an active Discord
  • 00:02:48
    Community almost I guess like having
  • 00:02:50
    your programmer MMO Guild it's really
  • 00:02:53
    cool and when you're learning a new
  • 00:02:54
    skill that kind of thing matters and the
  • 00:02:57
    skills You' be learning are backend web
  • 00:02:58
    development using Python and and go
  • 00:03:00
    across a wealth of content that cover
  • 00:03:02
    the fundamentals and even deeper
  • 00:03:04
    learning topics like really getting into
  • 00:03:06
    algorithms which by the way is real fun
  • 00:03:08
    you'll build projects for your portfolio
  • 00:03:10
    and you'll Dodge two massive problems
  • 00:03:12
    one tutorial hell you know where you
  • 00:03:14
    just Bounce from place to place randomly
  • 00:03:16
    in the internet without a cohesive path
  • 00:03:18
    and two getrich quick style boot camp
  • 00:03:21
    hell because Boot is actually realistic
  • 00:03:24
    it's got the sauce you can see that
  • 00:03:26
    through their UI their Vibes how they've
  • 00:03:28
    structured everything and they're just
  • 00:03:30
    playing better than the rest and you can
  • 00:03:31
    find that out for yourself with 25% off
  • 00:03:33
    your first purchase at boot. bnews it's
  • 00:03:37
    no risk you can browse their content do
  • 00:03:39
    demos and a lot more for free and when
  • 00:03:40
    you do buy it's a 30-day money back
  • 00:03:42
    guarantee so steam has essentially
  • 00:03:44
    reorganized their backend documentation
  • 00:03:46
    they've taken advertisement rules and
  • 00:03:48
    they have moved them into their own
  • 00:03:49
    section and just given them a more
  • 00:03:51
    prominent position and contrary to loads
  • 00:03:54
    of headlines this is not a new policy
  • 00:03:57
    and it is not valve outright Banning
  • 00:03:59
    adver vertisements though you could say
  • 00:04:02
    that because these rules are now being
  • 00:04:03
    displayed more prominently maybe that
  • 00:04:05
    indicates valve are going to be more
  • 00:04:07
    willing to actually enforce them now the
  • 00:04:09
    guidelines themselves are crystal clear
  • 00:04:11
    but of course uh there's the specific
  • 00:04:13
    wording there is then the spirit of a
  • 00:04:15
    policy and then there's what actually
  • 00:04:17
    happens now the guidelines are no gating
  • 00:04:19
    gameplay behind ad walls no rewarding
  • 00:04:22
    players for watching advertisements and
  • 00:04:23
    no abusing steam platform features like
  • 00:04:26
    bundles or store Page shoutouts to make
  • 00:04:29
    money as an example imagine I'm a
  • 00:04:31
    developer I've got a decently successful
  • 00:04:33
    game some other publisher wants you know
  • 00:04:35
    a stronger launch for their game I say
  • 00:04:37
    to them hey I'll give you 10 grand and
  • 00:04:39
    I'll also you know I'll give you a shout
  • 00:04:40
    out on our steam page valve don't want
  • 00:04:42
    people doing that which obviously does
  • 00:04:44
    make sense that would be you
  • 00:04:46
    circumventing steam's Discovery
  • 00:04:47
    algorithm and selling space on your
  • 00:04:50
    steam page which basically would be you
  • 00:04:52
    selling at inventory on their storefront
  • 00:04:55
    while cutting them out of the deal which
  • 00:04:57
    uh you know not really the D thing
  • 00:05:00
    now the documentation suggests that
  • 00:05:01
    developers you know if they don't want
  • 00:05:03
    to do ads that they either use steams
  • 00:05:04
    built-in monetization options or just
  • 00:05:07
    you know go and do DLC now this is good
  • 00:05:09
    Obviously good nobody wants an app store
  • 00:05:11
    hellscape where you watch an advert to
  • 00:05:13
    continue your vampire survivors run that
  • 00:05:15
    would suck it actually makes the design
  • 00:05:17
    of games worse and it sets up loads of
  • 00:05:19
    awful awful incentives and it only flies
  • 00:05:22
    in Mobile because people are not only
  • 00:05:25
    used to that model they're also
  • 00:05:27
    literally trained to not buy premium
  • 00:05:29
    apps which means that if you want to be
  • 00:05:30
    viable well if you can't beat him join
  • 00:05:32
    him even if it is a game like vampire
  • 00:05:35
    survivors which can let you watch an ad
  • 00:05:37
    to continue now for today's story we got
  • 00:05:39
    to handle the specifics because as I
  • 00:05:40
    alluded to steam simply moved
  • 00:05:42
    documentation this is people noticing a
  • 00:05:44
    documentation move not really a breaking
  • 00:05:46
    news story unless valve actually does
  • 00:05:49
    start to enforce things and as we're
  • 00:05:51
    going to get into H there's some things
  • 00:05:54
    that really really do stretch credulity
  • 00:05:57
    and that's because it's not a band
  • 00:05:59
    against all form terms of advertising
  • 00:06:00
    it's a policy about what type of
  • 00:06:02
    advertising is okay because make no
  • 00:06:05
    mistake steam does have approved
  • 00:06:08
    advertising and now we're going to talk
  • 00:06:10
    about it we're going to talk about how
  • 00:06:12
    companies may be bending the spirit of
  • 00:06:15
    the law steam's actual stance and
  • 00:06:16
    advertising is far more permissive than
  • 00:06:18
    most people know and it's in three
  • 00:06:20
    distinct areas right and this defines
  • 00:06:22
    what you will see in Steam so let's
  • 00:06:23
    break down each of them first on the
  • 00:06:25
    storefront steam does allow for cross
  • 00:06:28
    promotions and bundle without Monetary
  • 00:06:31
    Exchange so you cannot basically sell
  • 00:06:34
    advertising on your store page but you
  • 00:06:37
    can do a deal with another publisher
  • 00:06:39
    another developer to bundle your games
  • 00:06:42
    together right and this is very very
  • 00:06:44
    very commonly done as an example let's
  • 00:06:47
    just say uh there's a game like frost
  • 00:06:48
    Punk now let's say you have a game that
  • 00:06:50
    would appeal to a lot of frost Punk
  • 00:06:52
    players maybe there's a good
  • 00:06:53
    relationship between your Publishers so
  • 00:06:55
    in that case maybe there would be a
  • 00:06:57
    joint deal people would be able to pick
  • 00:06:59
    up for punk as a part of a bundle that
  • 00:07:00
    would also include your game and that
  • 00:07:02
    would be a win-win for both developers
  • 00:07:04
    but the important bit is the financial
  • 00:07:06
    upside on both sides is through steam's
  • 00:07:09
    Pipeline and not via a sale that cuts
  • 00:07:13
    steam out of the process which by the
  • 00:07:15
    way I mean that almost sounds like it's
  • 00:07:16
    valve trying to I don't know do skull
  • 00:07:18
    duggery no that's completely completely
  • 00:07:21
    reasonable and fair from valve's part
  • 00:07:23
    and obviously where paid advertising is
  • 00:07:24
    totally okay is uh when it's outside of
  • 00:07:26
    steam obviously valve would be mad to
  • 00:07:28
    say no to external traffic that's off
  • 00:07:30
    steam but what about on Steam inside
  • 00:07:33
    games steam's position on in-game
  • 00:07:36
    Advertising essentially boils down to
  • 00:07:38
    make it feel part of the game don't make
  • 00:07:41
    it be interruptive their policies
  • 00:07:43
    explicitly permit real Brands and real
  • 00:07:46
    products in games and their examples are
  • 00:07:48
    things like sponsors in racing and
  • 00:07:49
    Sports Games characters wearing real
  • 00:07:51
    Brands and skating games which totally
  • 00:07:53
    makes sense but the policy as written
  • 00:07:56
    actually does need permission from the
  • 00:07:58
    brands right and that's uh that's kind
  • 00:08:00
    of neat it's not just about ads it's
  • 00:08:01
    about Brands being there and that's
  • 00:08:03
    obviously I think a smart way for valve
  • 00:08:05
    to protect themselves against say an
  • 00:08:08
    angry brand seeing themselves in a
  • 00:08:10
    controversial game cuz look steam's not
  • 00:08:12
    going to check and a developer is
  • 00:08:13
    probably not going to ask for permission
  • 00:08:15
    but the point basically is valve has the
  • 00:08:16
    bit of paper that they can point to
  • 00:08:18
    saying well um the developer tactically
  • 00:08:21
    said that they did have permission they
  • 00:08:22
    broke our rule but where it gets more
  • 00:08:24
    I'm going to say spiritually gray
  • 00:08:26
    because you know games are art is inter
  • 00:08:29
    great at advertising in other sorts of
  • 00:08:31
    games being a sports game is fine but
  • 00:08:33
    this policy does mean as an example that
  • 00:08:35
    the Final Fantasy 15 cup noodle brand
  • 00:08:37
    promotion which involved a an in-game
  • 00:08:39
    cup noodle Quest that that's completely
  • 00:08:42
    fine now what would not be fine perv
  • 00:08:44
    vales rules is an unskippable cup noodle
  • 00:08:47
    advert in Final Fantasy 15 say that
  • 00:08:50
    would be needed to unlock that Quest or
  • 00:08:53
    would be as you load from one zone to
  • 00:08:55
    another that's kind of the point here
  • 00:08:57
    gray areas can be found and today I have
  • 00:09:01
    got clear and direct examples of big
  • 00:09:04
    games that get away with breaking the
  • 00:09:07
    spirit of the policy because here's the
  • 00:09:09
    thing what is the difference between an
  • 00:09:11
    unskippable ad and A Game's camera
  • 00:09:14
    looking at something that is a paid
  • 00:09:16
    brand placement for an extended period
  • 00:09:18
    of time what is the difference I'm not
  • 00:09:20
    really sure what we're seeing is that
  • 00:09:22
    full games are testing what they can get
  • 00:09:24
    away with and there are two particularly
  • 00:09:26
    interesting cases that did violate the
  • 00:09:28
    latter of vow law NBA 2K had unskippable
  • 00:09:31
    ads during TV style segments and
  • 00:09:33
    Assassin's Creed Odyssey had uh little
  • 00:09:35
    bit of a whoopsy with a full screen
  • 00:09:38
    store promotion appearing mid gameplay
  • 00:09:40
    where technically to continue gameplay
  • 00:09:42
    you need to move past that ad now these
  • 00:09:45
    were in both cases clear mistakes of
  • 00:09:47
    things firing off when they weren't
  • 00:09:48
    supposed to I will be charitable but
  • 00:09:52
    certainly there's going to be a lot of
  • 00:09:53
    people who will think were they just
  • 00:09:55
    trying to nudge the Overton window a
  • 00:09:56
    little bit more to get like more in-game
  • 00:09:58
    advertising things okay I mean in the
  • 00:10:00
    case of NBA 2K from take to interactive
  • 00:10:02
    I bloody well think so anyway that NBA
  • 00:10:05
    story happened in 2020 which was the
  • 00:10:07
    same year that steam introduced this ad
  • 00:10:09
    policy that being said we cannot
  • 00:10:12
    establish a causal link between those
  • 00:10:14
    events though it does raise a bit of an
  • 00:10:15
    eyebrow more importantly though is that
  • 00:10:18
    both games are now on Steam living
  • 00:10:20
    happily today with their forms of uh you
  • 00:10:23
    know promoting their own things in game
  • 00:10:24
    and it does show us where the line is
  • 00:10:26
    that things have to be diagetic and
  • 00:10:28
    skippable but to find in a rather narrow
  • 00:10:30
    and mechanical way if they're
  • 00:10:31
    technically not disruptive even if you
  • 00:10:34
    of course find them to be an immersion
  • 00:10:36
    breaking disruption it's fine now these
  • 00:10:38
    are just the tip of the iceberg and
  • 00:10:40
    oddly enough we've got hideo kajima to
  • 00:10:43
    thank for this fun thing what you're
  • 00:10:45
    looking at is of course a lingering shot
  • 00:10:48
    of Monster Energy cans in death
  • 00:10:50
    stranding and hey I do like some Boomer
  • 00:10:53
    juice a we monster Ultra very good to
  • 00:10:55
    get you going in the morning but does
  • 00:10:58
    the camera lingering on a shot of paid
  • 00:11:01
    product placement constitute an
  • 00:11:03
    unskippable ad right I mean imagine I
  • 00:11:06
    just I happen to have a Doctor Pepper
  • 00:11:07
    here okay not paid by Dr Pepper now
  • 00:11:10
    imagine that to continue watching this
  • 00:11:12
    video I just held this Dr Pepper up in
  • 00:11:14
    front of my face for like 30 seconds and
  • 00:11:17
    that I had received money for for this
  • 00:11:19
    right that would be a bit of an
  • 00:11:22
    unskippable ad right I mean yes you
  • 00:11:24
    could fast forward but I think you get
  • 00:11:26
    my point that would be weird that
  • 00:11:28
    wouldn't be paid product placement like
  • 00:11:30
    let's just say imagine I'm one of those
  • 00:11:32
    guys who does a podcast and has an
  • 00:11:33
    energy drink and my energy drink is
  • 00:11:34
    sitting
  • 00:11:35
    here that would be different right and
  • 00:11:37
    that's kind of troublesome and death
  • 00:11:39
    stranding because there's actually way
  • 00:11:41
    more product placement in it as well
  • 00:11:43
    like sunglasses clothes and a Norman
  • 00:11:45
    Reedus TV show like not a little in
  • 00:11:48
    Universe um Sam Bridges thing no a uh a
  • 00:11:52
    literal TV show that Norman Reus the
  • 00:11:55
    dude was in by AMC sort of promoted in
  • 00:11:58
    death St ing now I'm not doing this to
  • 00:12:00
    bash kajima like dude Cooks up some real
  • 00:12:02
    wacky cool I'm totally down for
  • 00:12:04
    that but the point is we should think
  • 00:12:06
    about this and yes Mr Kima could totally
  • 00:12:10
    get away with it because well he's he's
  • 00:12:12
    kind of got that following right and uh
  • 00:12:14
    if he does the Monster Energy promo it
  • 00:12:16
    feels a little different to say Andrew
  • 00:12:18
    Wilson of Electronic Arts if he was to
  • 00:12:20
    do similar and we were to see what I
  • 00:12:23
    think is the next stage of in-game
  • 00:12:26
    monetization so make no mistake games
  • 00:12:29
    will want to implement everything that
  • 00:12:31
    they can you've just seen with product
  • 00:12:34
    placement a gray area that can feel like
  • 00:12:37
    an unskippable ad and certainly an
  • 00:12:39
    immersion breaking ad that is totally
  • 00:12:41
    okay and normal in a full-priced paid
  • 00:12:43
    game more is going to happen let's go
  • 00:12:46
    back to Andrew Wilson and EA to avoid
  • 00:12:48
    being caught in the midwit Trap of only
  • 00:12:50
    reacting to headlines we should first
  • 00:12:52
    think about the first principles here
  • 00:12:54
    advertising is one of the cheapest ways
  • 00:12:56
    that a developer can make more money
  • 00:12:58
    video games take years to make content
  • 00:13:01
    DLC takes whole teams so do Cosmetics of
  • 00:13:05
    course we've generally seen less and
  • 00:13:07
    less full dlc's more and more Cosmetics
  • 00:13:09
    because of uh money right the cost of
  • 00:13:12
    Revenue now 500 gems or a revive in
  • 00:13:17
    return for 13c advertisement that costs
  • 00:13:19
    just about nothing to implement and it
  • 00:13:22
    is surface to the player right at their
  • 00:13:25
    pain point right when they want that
  • 00:13:27
    revive or those 500 100 gems steam
  • 00:13:30
    Banning that is absolutely a good thing
  • 00:13:33
    but advertising within games is still
  • 00:13:36
    fine because there is a difference
  • 00:13:38
    between the word of the law and the
  • 00:13:40
    spirit of the law be it politics be it
  • 00:13:43
    games we should think about that now
  • 00:13:45
    Andrew Wilson of Electronic Arts was
  • 00:13:48
    mentioned in the intro of today's video
  • 00:13:49
    and I did that for a reason now the man
  • 00:13:51
    has got a knack for corporate speak I
  • 00:13:53
    mean he he actually called future game
  • 00:13:55
    content this is a quote future
  • 00:13:57
    Innovation creativity I don't know about
  • 00:13:59
    you my fellow Gamers I do like uh to
  • 00:14:01
    consume some future Innovation
  • 00:14:03
    creativity anyway anyway he talked about
  • 00:14:05
    the need to do advertisements
  • 00:14:06
    thoughtfully in their big titles and I
  • 00:14:09
    think that's obviously him giving a wink
  • 00:14:10
    to everyone saying I know that if we
  • 00:14:12
    this up you'd be very angry but it
  • 00:14:14
    is quite funny because he says that over
  • 00:14:16
    history right they have had to be quote
  • 00:14:19
    very very thoughtful about advertising
  • 00:14:21
    in the context of our play experiences
  • 00:14:24
    which is great but his very next line
  • 00:14:27
    opens with the word but Wilson then
  • 00:14:29
    emphasizes the billions of hours that
  • 00:14:32
    are spent on electronic arts' games and
  • 00:14:34
    he says that they expect advertising to
  • 00:14:36
    be a meaningful growth driver for them
  • 00:14:39
    and that they do have people working on
  • 00:14:40
    it and if you're wondering then what
  • 00:14:42
    does that mean does that mean
  • 00:14:43
    unskippable ads well I would say there's
  • 00:14:45
    a real good example actually and it's on
  • 00:14:48
    Discord which we all use right you'll
  • 00:14:51
    see those sponsored quests that appear
  • 00:14:53
    at the bottom of your sidebar you'll do
  • 00:14:55
    some sort of optional ad thing and
  • 00:14:57
    you'll get a Cosmetic in return and you
  • 00:14:59
    see this is all about psychology it's
  • 00:15:00
    all about framing Choice architecture
  • 00:15:02
    that kind of thing Discord does ads in a
  • 00:15:05
    way that is designed to not feel like an
  • 00:15:07
    ad or is at least designed to feel a
  • 00:15:09
    little bit more like a game because it's
  • 00:15:11
    Discord it's for gamers if you're going
  • 00:15:12
    to do an ad make it feel like it's a
  • 00:15:14
    Discord ad an effort is went in people
  • 00:15:16
    will then accept it more obviously
  • 00:15:18
    though Discord is free so it's more than
  • 00:15:20
    okay for them to do that but a AAA doing
  • 00:15:22
    that kind of thing would be awful and I
  • 00:15:24
    think it will happen Sony giving me a
  • 00:15:26
    free skin for linking my account is kind
  • 00:15:29
    of perfectly fine and yeah we've got
  • 00:15:31
    things in the past like double XP
  • 00:15:33
    coupons from your junk food right buy
  • 00:15:35
    your Totino pizz roll Gamers live up to
  • 00:15:38
    The Stereotype and that's something that
  • 00:15:39
    goes from the outside world into the
  • 00:15:41
    video game world but what about it going
  • 00:15:44
    the other way round where you maybe have
  • 00:15:47
    an incentivized ingame store link that
  • 00:15:50
    takes you to a store Page to purchase
  • 00:15:52
    something bu an at and then if it
  • 00:15:55
    validates your purchase you get a reward
  • 00:15:57
    in the game so so be it that or an
  • 00:15:59
    encroachment of paid product placement
  • 00:16:01
    obviously in a way that goes Way Beyond
  • 00:16:03
    a brand collab we're going to see more
  • 00:16:05
    of this but to understand how and who
  • 00:16:08
    benefits we got to think about valve and
  • 00:16:10
    if they would ever get a cut because at
  • 00:16:12
    the end of the day what will Define
  • 00:16:13
    their store policy is what they will
  • 00:16:16
    benefit from so steam the consumer thing
  • 00:16:18
    that we use and Steam Works the set of
  • 00:16:19
    developer tools have many things but
  • 00:16:22
    they don't have an ad platform right
  • 00:16:24
    they don't have an ad platform and when
  • 00:16:25
    we see brand promotions those are often
  • 00:16:28
    very spoke deals B2B right but let's run
  • 00:16:33
    the clock forward and have a bit of an
  • 00:16:35
    understanding of things so I want you to
  • 00:16:37
    consider this major game players partner
  • 00:16:39
    with or develop their own advertisement
  • 00:16:41
    networks that then lets Brands purchase
  • 00:16:45
    ad inventory across their video games
  • 00:16:47
    just like those Brands already do on
  • 00:16:50
    Facebook and YouTube right that is how
  • 00:16:53
    the majority of the advertising business
  • 00:16:55
    goes these days now if that happens in a
  • 00:16:59
    game valve would not see any money from
  • 00:17:01
    that so imagine you have your Discord
  • 00:17:04
    style quests but it's something that you
  • 00:17:06
    get an XP boost for in a new Call of
  • 00:17:09
    Duty game right where maybe in the Call
  • 00:17:11
    of Duty store every single day there's a
  • 00:17:13
    brand partner Quest you can click in
  • 00:17:15
    that brand partner Quest and maybe the
  • 00:17:17
    case is those are distributed to players
  • 00:17:20
    based on your own player profile right
  • 00:17:22
    because it would be targeted advertising
  • 00:17:24
    which they could obviously do you have a
  • 00:17:25
    Call of Duty account they know lots
  • 00:17:27
    about you they know where you're from
  • 00:17:28
    where you're playing etc etc that would
  • 00:17:30
    be absolutely humongous business and
  • 00:17:33
    trust me I know how this business Works
  • 00:17:35
    given you know YouTube as a whole thing
  • 00:17:38
    now in a world where Steamworks ads
  • 00:17:40
    exists well that is something that valve
  • 00:17:43
    could build and the developers could use
  • 00:17:45
    that would make everybody a lot a lot of
  • 00:17:48
    money just like say you've got Unity the
  • 00:17:51
    game engine and for a very long time
  • 00:17:53
    Unity the game engine that would be used
  • 00:17:55
    to make video games that you or I would
  • 00:17:57
    really enjoy playing was kind of losing
  • 00:17:59
    money in all of that and what they were
  • 00:18:01
    making money on was mobile games that
  • 00:18:03
    were using the unity ad Network
  • 00:18:06
    obviously that led to quite a few messy
  • 00:18:08
    incentives and uh well at the very least
  • 00:18:11
    a lot of videos for us but to the big
  • 00:18:12
    players this is an opportunity for
  • 00:18:14
    transformational growth in a recent
  • 00:18:16
    video where we discussed the rumors of
  • 00:18:18
    GTA the new one costing $100 one of the
  • 00:18:21
    things that we found in the research
  • 00:18:23
    process was that consumer spending on
  • 00:18:25
    like premium console games was actually
  • 00:18:27
    in real term flat now obviously we're
  • 00:18:31
    buying lots of other things but if you
  • 00:18:33
    buy another thing that's not a video
  • 00:18:35
    game the video games industry doesn't
  • 00:18:37
    benefit from that if however you are
  • 00:18:40
    putting your time and your attention
  • 00:18:41
    into a video game and then you are
  • 00:18:43
    watching advertisements be that for a
  • 00:18:46
    new wallet a new phone whatever it may
  • 00:18:47
    be that you might want well now the
  • 00:18:50
    games industry can benefit from that and
  • 00:18:53
    they will try everything that they can
  • 00:18:55
    remember the moneymaking schemes like
  • 00:18:57
    the nft games right it wasn't just some
  • 00:19:00
    weird web 3 Crypt Bros doing that there
  • 00:19:03
    was a lot of them but it was also EA
  • 00:19:06
    they talked to investors about oh we're
  • 00:19:08
    investigating this we're taking it very
  • 00:19:09
    seriously Ubisoft did as well Ubisoft
  • 00:19:11
    got further than most Square Enix had
  • 00:19:14
    quite a few lcow moments with their nfts
  • 00:19:17
    now some of that is because of investor
  • 00:19:20
    pressure what investors would want
  • 00:19:21
    whenever Andrew Wilson says we're very
  • 00:19:23
    thoughtful but it's a lot of money we
  • 00:19:26
    got people looking into it he is saying
  • 00:19:28
    that because because that's what
  • 00:19:29
    investors will want to hear there is
  • 00:19:30
    pressure to make that work from the
  • 00:19:31
    investors just as there is pressure to
  • 00:19:33
    make AI work and of course pressure in
  • 00:19:35
    the past to make the nfts work of course
  • 00:19:37
    for valve though that would be a bit of
  • 00:19:39
    a problem and valve did indeed block the
  • 00:19:41
    nft games that's because number one I
  • 00:19:44
    think they were smart they knew that was
  • 00:19:46
    not going to go down well and valve
  • 00:19:48
    doing that was absolutely a consumer
  • 00:19:51
    good now in one way you could say it's
  • 00:19:53
    anti-competitive because a storefront
  • 00:19:55
    basically helped murder the adoption of
  • 00:19:58
    a really bad Trend and you could say
  • 00:20:00
    that in the most free version of a
  • 00:20:01
    market the nft games would happen and
  • 00:20:03
    they would just fail because we all
  • 00:20:05
    thought they were lame but still we we
  • 00:20:08
    ended up not going through that because
  • 00:20:09
    valve was the 500 ton gorilla and it
  • 00:20:11
    said no we're not doing that and it was
  • 00:20:13
    good for us but there is another reason
  • 00:20:15
    they wouldn't be making any money from
  • 00:20:16
    that right it would be circumventing
  • 00:20:18
    steam's current monetization features
  • 00:20:21
    they would far rather have a system like
  • 00:20:23
    say rust where you've got an in-game
  • 00:20:25
    player Marketplace and it's using steam
  • 00:20:28
    I mean about csgo knives some of those
  • 00:20:30
    knives are just really boring
  • 00:20:32
    Commodities but some knives wow they
  • 00:20:35
    generate in a way that can look very
  • 00:20:37
    unique one would almost say actually
  • 00:20:40
    unique who who who really knows about
  • 00:20:42
    the fungibility but effectively in nft
  • 00:20:44
    and uh you can see those having massive
  • 00:20:47
    trading volume in terms of quantity and
  • 00:20:49
    revenue on their Marketplace and to be
  • 00:20:52
    clear I am not saying this to say that
  • 00:20:53
    valve is evil and is pursuing money no
  • 00:20:56
    it's a goddamn business of course it's
  • 00:20:58
    doing that right that's fine and the
  • 00:21:00
    best way for me and you and valve to be
  • 00:21:04
    happy is actually for our incentives to
  • 00:21:06
    be aligned if valve's profit motive is
  • 00:21:09
    aligned with our desire for good video
  • 00:21:12
    games then it's going to be happy and
  • 00:21:14
    sustainable and because valve is a
  • 00:21:15
    platform and a storefront that captures
  • 00:21:17
    broad market growth they're going to
  • 00:21:20
    care about the biggest of the big
  • 00:21:21
    picture and that means the developers
  • 00:21:24
    putting in mobile game unskippable ads
  • 00:21:27
    that would be bad for the state a Val's
  • 00:21:29
    overall Market they would stand to lose
  • 00:21:31
    it would be bad for us we don't want
  • 00:21:32
    that in our games that would be bad for
  • 00:21:34
    valve and it would be generating money
  • 00:21:36
    in val platform without giving valve a
  • 00:21:38
    cut which would be bad and that would
  • 00:21:40
    mean that our incentives would not be
  • 00:21:42
    aligned that means my incentives your
  • 00:21:44
    incentives Valves and the developer
  • 00:21:46
    Publishers and so in this case the
  • 00:21:48
    alignment of incentives is good but if
  • 00:21:50
    valve ever decides to do a valve ad
  • 00:21:55
    Network like say Google AdWords then the
  • 00:21:58
    incentives would be different I hope and
  • 00:22:00
    I do actually believe that valve just
  • 00:22:03
    does not have an interest in going in
  • 00:22:04
    that direction what I will say is watch
  • 00:22:06
    out doubling down on premium be that
  • 00:22:09
    premium you know gacha
  • 00:22:11
    Cosmetics as Riot are doing is happening
  • 00:22:14
    right now okay that's pressing up the
  • 00:22:17
    really premium stuff but there's all the
  • 00:22:18
    gains at the bottom right all the gains
  • 00:22:21
    that will come from ads that will come
  • 00:22:22
    from Paid product placement we have seen
  • 00:22:25
    in AAA games that actually unit
  • 00:22:27
    economics are becoming a real problem
  • 00:22:30
    and these games that are expensive to
  • 00:22:32
    make are struggling struggling to earn
  • 00:22:36
    back money and to be worth the squeeze
  • 00:22:39
    and that means they're going to find
  • 00:22:41
    every bit of lwh hanging fruit that they
  • 00:22:44
    can to drisk what valve Bann 5 years ago
  • 00:22:47
    is good that they have now made that
  • 00:22:49
    more prominent in the documentation is
  • 00:22:51
    good because it does suggest they're
  • 00:22:53
    more willing to enforce it and that
  • 00:22:54
    means today's story is a win but as I
  • 00:22:55
    laid out we should be vigilant we should
  • 00:22:57
    think and we should all try to think in
  • 00:22:59
    terms of those first principles what are
  • 00:23:01
    the basic economics and what are the
  • 00:23:02
    incentives of the individual decision
  • 00:23:05
    makers be that the corporate entities or
  • 00:23:07
    even just the people at the top like Mr
  • 00:23:09
    Wilson who has got to say things that
  • 00:23:13
    investors will like and investors like
  • 00:23:15
    ads and if you'll excuse the joke
  • 00:23:17
    YouTube actually wants to show you a few
  • 00:23:19
    more they've currently got snipers
  • 00:23:21
    pointed at me so I literally have to say
  • 00:23:23
    you should watch this video about
  • 00:23:24
    OverWatch 2 next so that they can show
  • 00:23:26
    you ads but also it's actually really
  • 00:23:27
    interesting video and I don't want
  • 00:23:29
    YouTube snipers to Gap me so please help
Etiquetas
  • Steam
  • advertising
  • video games
  • monetization
  • in-game ads
  • Valve
  • game developers
  • free-to-play
  • player experience
  • investors