Needless to say, such a software would dramatically widen the possibilities. Aside from newly-completed games, older titles also stand to benefit from this. As for the ever-growing casual games industry, let’s just say it was mentioned as a target ever since the development team was assembled.
According to Double Fusion, the fusion.runtime technology uses the same back-end systems and sales force as the fusion.sdk solution. The fusion.runtime engine is added to the games through a simple patch and after that the game goes to advertising heaven. The publisher is fully in charge of where and when to place the ads into the game.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the new technology would be what the developer refers to as “just-in-time advertising”: “if an advertiser wanted to put a branded 3D blimp in the sky across multiple titles for a Fourth of July promotion, and there were no pre-existing blimp placements, publishers using the fusion.runtime technology that wanted access to those advertising revenues would be able to easily place the blimps in their games, and have them disappear after the ad campaign was completed”, the company states.
Basically, the fusion.runtime technology should spell good news to everyone. Developers and publishers are provided with a new way to cash in on the game (and popular games are sure to fill up bank accounts this way). In the mean time, gamers might end up with significantly cheaper (or even free) games or monthly subscriptions. Ubisoft had already listed three of its games as ad-supported free downloads, so there must be room for much more in the future.
Still, I can’t help but wonder when will appear the first tools designed to disable the in game-ads.