The Tension Between Intrinsic Ads and Brand Integrations in the Gaming Advertising World

The gaming world is divided into two camps when it comes to advertising: those using programmatic adtech with intrinsic in-game ads and those developing more immersive brand integrations in games. The two sides now compete for marketers’ gaming budgets, leading to rising pressure. Epic Game’s Tim Sweeney recently criticised in-game ads, but others in the industry agreed with him, and many major in-game advertising partners are saying similar things. However, it’s worth noting that bespoke branded game worlds and in-game items require more pre-development and updates to be effective – making it harder to scale up – whereas intrinsic in-game ads can easily be placed programmatically. Separate gaming advertising budgets will eventually address this conflict, much like brands divide up their spending for sports sponsorships and Super Bowl commercials.