British government starts pushing social distancing via in-game ads, Ars Technica

As governments around the world urge their citizens to “stay at home, save lives, ” the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is using in-game advertising to get that message in front of a younger audience of video game players.

The messaging is already appearing through in-game banners in Codemasters’ Dirt Rally 2.0 , which will be offered as a free PlayStation Plus title this month. Rebellion titles like Sniper Elite and Strange Brigade , meanwhile, will display the message before the start of each game. And King’s Candy Crush Saga will insert the PSA amid the usual interstitial advertising for millions of free-to-play players.

“At Codemasters we came to realize that technology within our games, which enables the remote updating of banners within the virtual environment, could be repurposed to assist with the coronavirus communication effort, “Codemasters VP of Business Development Toby Evan-Jones said in a statement. “It’s fantastic to see conversations already being sparked amongst our community.” Public service announcements in games aren’t a completely new phenomenon, as anyone who remembers the arcade-era “Winners Don’t Use Drugs” campaign can attest . The Scottish government was putting drunk-driving PSAs into Xbox (titles) (as early as) . More recently, the US Ad Council gave out free in-game T-shirts to Guild Wars players to promote a nationwide suicide prevention campaign. Still, using video games for public health messaging has taken on added urgency as officials urge citizens to avoid unnecessary trips and large gatherings to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus . “Getting through the crisis will require a collective national effort, and every generation has a role to play,” the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport notes in an announcement . “Young people spend more time playing video games than the rest of the population, which is why in-game messaging represents a creative, targeted, and immediate way to help reinforce the government Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives message, to gamers . ”

Contextual in-game advertising exploded in popularity in the mid – ‘ (s) as publishers saw a potential new revenue stream from always-online gamers. Research suggests that even subtle environmental advertising in video games can have a significant impact on players . Being immersed in a virtual world “disrupts counter-arguing among individuals who might otherwise resist real-world influence attempts,” according to (a) University of Connecticut study .