The Next Frontier: Gaming and its Impact on Digital Advertising

E3 2013, arguably the world's largest international gaming convention, finally brought the clear light of day onto the next generation of gaming – the 8^th generation to be exact. Sketchy details and rabid rumors were either dispelled or brought fame to a faction of rumour mongers as they hit the right notes on what was to be or not to be.

Apart from the massive and repeated PR gaffes that has enshrouded the Xbox One since it's release – and seemingly placing the Xbox One as an inferior product in the eyes consumers and industry observers - in reality Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 are more similar than dissimilar. They both share similar hardware infrastructure with an almost identical 8-core CPU/APU from AMD, they both carry a blu-ray drive and offer similar levels of interactivity into the digital space with cloud computing and social gaming at its forefront.

More critically, both consoles offer a gesture-driven interactivity akin to Tom Cruise's 'futuristic' actions in the movie 'Minority Report' via cameras that capture all your movements, even when you're lazily slouched on the sofa. Something that Microsoft tried to adapt onto the computing space with touchscreens and Windows 8, fairly unsuccessfully so far though. On these consoles, the adaptation of that technology is way ahead.

And this is where it gets interesting. While clearly a gaming console at it's heart, both these machines are in reality powerful computers designed to turn the TV screen into a portal that is only limited by technological limits of the digital space.

These are next-generation devices that will integrate the living room into the digital space; that will integrate devices, technologies, entertainment and social media - via gestures and voice commands - and deliver it to us in the comfy confines of our living space.

The way ahead is an integration of mobile devices – smartphones and tablets – with our TV screens.

Microsoft has already introduced SmartGlass that will integrate the Xbox 360 and Xbox One with Windows, Android and IOS devices.

Sony, on the other hand, already has Remote Play that transmits video and audio from Playstations to their portable gaming devices. A PlayStation APP is also in the works. Similar to SmartGlass, it too will integrate the PlayStation 4 with Android and IOS devices, allowing you to game anywhere, anytime, on your platform of choice, and opening up a world of possibilities.

What does this mean for digital advertising?

Microsoft has already announced NUads, a form of advertising that integrates voice, facial recognition and gestures, to deliver tailored advertisements on the consoles. Early polls has shown a much higher level of engagement via these ads. Microsoft has gone as far as to say that it will 'reinvent' TV advertising.

I'm sure the Sony isn't far off from using the Playstation 4 in a similar sense as it has all the tools to do so as well.

Off the top of my head, it seems a pretty exciting time for both gamers and advertisers. Imagine slashing your way through a horde of zombies in Resident Evil or Dead Rising for example. After hours of challenging play, you find yourself safely in a building. Nestled indiscreetly in the building is an Apple store. And as a reward, you can now purchase the latest iPhone at a discounted price. Integration via mobile device means you can now do this immediately via an online store or via coupons that can be redeemed. Such rewards for efforts could be mutually beneficial for both advertisers and game creators, and opens up even more avenues for product placements, something that perhaps can be tapped upon more in the multi-billion dollar gaming world.

Via Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, user account details have already been collated in the registration process. The choice of games and media that a user consumes will be able to be tracked as well. And this offers advertiser the opportunity to offer targeted ads to relevant demographics. Win-Win.

This is just a brief and, somewhat crude, raw thoughts on what it could be, what it could spell for the future of gaming and advertising. But clearly, once crystallised, just like how smartphones have opened up a whole new world of advertising, the release of these consoles is perhaps the soft evolution that could eventually herald a whole new-age of advertising, and make the TV relevant once again in the digital space.