It looks like seeing a McD’s or an actual Coke Machine might not be too far fetched in the next generation of games as a method of advertising for companies.
the results are encouraging to advertisers, showing that 69% remember seeing certain ads as they play. More interestingly, Nielsen Entertainment found that gamers actually like in-game ads, as they provide added realism.
The upside of ingame advertising is that the money made off the advertisements will decrease the risk publishers have to take with their own money when they decide to make a game, and might make them more willing to experiment on different types of gameplay and whatnot, as long as a sponsor is giving up the money to cover a portion of development costs to have their product appear throughout the game, and the redundancy and positioning of products could easily be built into many story lines in current games, as long as they don’t get too crazy, it could be a good thing, though I doubt it will reduce the cost of games for gamers.
Source: Wall Street Journal.