Question about game revenue

[ThePhantomOak]

I was reading about Dust514, and had a thought:

While Dust514 is focusing on micro transaction for revenue, and EA is putting a "used game" type fee on buying used games...the producers and developers seemed to be focused on getting money out of consumers (not that it is bad)

These companies KNOW exactly how many people are playing, for how long, and when (at least online), and have a pretty good idea what age group, sex, etc... that is an advertising firms wet dream.


Why dont they sell ad space on a rotating basis, and just include the updates in game updates periodically.

For example, Rainbow 6 had Axe as an advertisement; why not just build the game so that ad is replaceable? A game like MW or Battlefield gets a few million unique people who are highly track able, just sell some space for rotating ads.


It is a HUGE part of how cellphone games make profit and growth, so why would a company that has servers just eating up revenue not use it? It would be a constant stream of additional revenue after the product is first sold. At no financial cost to the consumer or developer (ie they would not have to build DLC, or try and sell it)... It makes the producer and developer money in a steadier stream than DLC, or access fees for a used game would, and has a HUGE potential for revenue for any online game.


Just wondering why this is not a bigger part of the business model for consul games...


(edit: The story that got me thinking about it http://www.develop-online.net/featur...important-game )