So it begins, two empires come together to conquer all. Microsoft announced today that it will be placing ads into Electronic Arts Inc. sports franchises, starting with Madden 08. Don’t expect to see the ads just be confined to the football title, Microsfot and EA have already confirmed ads for Skate, Tiger Woods, NHL and NASCAR.

It looks like a lot more emphasis will be put on in game ads as Google, Microsoft and others push the nvelope to deliver dynamic ads in our video games. But more importantly what will this all mean to the consumer?

From the article on CNN:

The deal comes as Massive faces increased competition from Google, which bought game ad service Adscape for a reported $23 million in March, and from privately held companies such as Double Fusion.

“We need to build an overall network and this is a major stepping point to have us do that,” Van Arsdale said in an interview with Reuters.

Massive acts as a broker between companies that want to get their ads in front of gamers, and game publishers eager to tap new sources of revenue to offset higher development costs for flashy new titles that can cost $20 million or more to make.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. In-game advertising was worth just $50 million in 2005, but that is expected by many analysts and industry executives to balloon to $1 billion over the next few years.

The $30 billion global video game industry is also one of the fastest-growing entertainment sectors, thanks to new home and handheld gaming machines and a rush among publishers to win over nontraditional buyers like women and seniors.

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