Hiya!
Let’s face it: Street Fighter V’s ad system sucks and looks terrible. You’ll see the sponsored advertisement blasted on the screen before you get into a match, even when entering the Training mode. The ads are plastered on the characters in awkward places.
As of this writing, Capcom is just promoting the Capcom Pro Tour with their new ad system. But I can already tell this is just a harbinger of things to come. In the future, these Capcom Pro Tour ads will be replaced by actual sponsored products. We’ll probably be seeing things like a Snickers tattoo on Guile by the end of the year! Mark my words!
While I really hate them, I don’t believe Capcom will be getting rid of them despite the public outcry. It’s another huge revenue stream for them and they’re going to milk it for everything it’s worth! Since I’m going to have to live with these ads popping up in the game, at least Capcom can make it more worth my while to bear with these ridiculous ads in the first place!
So, here are five ideas on how to make them a little more bearable! They’ll still suck but at least they’ll be just a bit more sufferable!
Create specific ad outfits for each character
Look Capcom. Simply plastering your iconic characters with stickers is just pissing off Street Fighter fans (and most of the gaming community in general). One of the biggest issues I have are the often insulting positions of these stickers. Why the heck would Dhalsim desecrate one of the dead children of his village by placing a Capcom Pro Tour sticker on their skull of your necklace. Why would M. Bison, the Shadaloo dictator who taps into an evil power called Psycho Power, wear a giant Capcom Pro Tour logo in the middle of his chest like a goddamn superhero? It’s just ridiculous!
Instead of violating your characters’ recognizable look and features, why not give them different outfits that are “ad friendly”? Oh, and you shouldn’t charge fans for these new outfits. They’ll have to be free! Also, try to make them interesting that they actually look like outfits I’d like to dress these characters as. You’ve already dressed Chun-Li in more outfits than I can count! I’m very sure you can dream up a different outfit for the rest, especially with the incentive of ads revenue to push you guys!
Giving each character a unique and specific “ad friendly” costume does a couple of things. You preserve their defining outfits and don’t make them look like shills for one. The second would be giving fans some kind of incentive with the option of making their character look cool. Well, as cool as someone plastered with a logo on their outfit can be, anyway.
Ease up on the number of ads on the outfits
Another thing that makes the ads on the characters look dumb is the number each of them have. Technically, the way each character is painted with these ad spaces is realistic because we do see that kind of thing in sports like boxing, MMA and… NASCAR. But this is a video game, not boxing, MMA or NASCAR! You even gave “ad friendly” belts on characters who didn’t have enough empty space on their regular costumes! It feels like overkill!
A little more subtlety would go a long way! Instead of splattering the ads all over the characters to get the most out of them, limit the number of ad spaces on them to maybe two or three. I even thing three is pushing it as it is. It would be obnoxious but not nauseating as the case may be with the horrendous number of ads each character has on them!
Create “limited time” sponsored events within the game
Another complaint I have with Capcom’s placement of ads in Street Fighter V is how demeaning it is to me as a paying customer. I already bought the game on Day 1. I also spend a good chunk of change on other things like Season Passes and extra costumes. And that’s not enough money for you, Capcom? Now you want to insert commercials in my game that I bought as well as supported with the number of extra stuff I purchased?
Fine, if you’re going to do that, at least incentivize these ads. I’m not just talking about the measly amount of Fight Money you give me per ad (but we’ll talk about this later). I’m thinking much bigger than just Fight Money.
Instead of just these ads supporting the base game which we players have already paid for, make the ads pay for free trials for new stuff. For example, you have a new character for Season 4 coming out. Well, you can make it so everyone can try out that new character for the first month… as long as you agree to view the ads. This will definitely make viewing ads more agreeable because at least the sponsors are giving fans something in return for viewing the ads!
Give more Fight Money for ads
Capcom, you’re really stingy regarding the amount of Fight Money you dole out. I remember the first time the game came out, I was swimming in Fight Money because all I had to do was do go through the Stories for each character and complete all the Normal Survival modes as well.
But once that well dried up, it became so grindy to earn Fight Money. There are Daily and Weekly challenges as well as winning online matches. Then came the ads, which are supposed to be an alternative stream of Fight Money income.
But the amount of Fight Money for the ads are laughably miniscule! You only earn a maximum of 12 Fight Money for an online match. And considering that the stages, specifically the Capcom Pro Tour stages, that have the ads you have to buy adds another level of greed here because you’re actually have to pay Capcom to enable ads!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. 4 Fight Money per ad just isn’t worth it, Capcom! Make each ad pay out around 20 Fight Money at least! It’s still a pittance considering stuff in the game costs an extravagant amount of Fight Money already! But 4 Fight Money is downright insulting!
Rewards/discounts/freebie codes within the ads
I’ve been watching the Capcom Pro Tour and most of the tournaments. Those have ads and I don’t mind them that much. They’re usually bookends to the breaks anyway so they’re not intrusive in the least. Also, at least those ads are video game related. I’m not sure if future Street Fighter V ads will have that luxury, though.
But another thing that I like about these ads is that they give discount codes to viewers. I’m not sure how many people actually use these codes but, since they always have a new code for each tournament, I’m guessing people do use them. I’m not sure what kind of discount/freebie we can get from Mountain Dew but I hope it’s going to be something good.
Yeah, this last one is pretty lame but I just want the advertisers to try their hardest to earn the ads that are already in the game I bought!
Even with these suggestions, people are going to detest the ads, Capcom. But I know you really want that sweet, sweet ad revenue so try, at the very least, consider these ideas. Even if you do implement all of these ideas, I’m still going to hate the ads. But at least I’ll only vomit in my mouth a little bit less.
Byee!
How do you think Capcom can improve the in-game ads of Street Fighter V (besides removing them altogether)? Let me know in the comments section below!
3rd World Geeks 