Google has agreed to pay $23 Million for in-game advertising company Adscape Media and their technology for advertising within video games. Adscape has a patented system called AdverPlay which allows trackable ads to be embedded within video games. It’s an interesting twist on the increasingly popular product placement form of advertising, similar to how you might see Carmella Soprano buying SnackWells or Oprah giving away free Pontiacs.

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You have to wonder: who really wants to see an ad popping up while you’re blasting away aliens in Halo? On the other hand, there may be a huge market for advertising supported teaser games, or perhaps ads for bail bonds placed within games such as Grand Theft Auto . The concept has certainly been big with movies and TV shows. It’s an interesting medium, though likely to be out of the reach of most smaller advertisers.

More from the official Google blog. You can also read the accompanying press release.

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