Tractors are commonly sold to farmers at agricultural fairs and advertised in trade press. But machine builders are getting desperate for a slice of a far more unlikely advertising vehicle: the Farming Simulator videogame.
The developer, Giants Software, now receives hundreds of inquiries a year from manufacturers of equipment, from tractors and combines to trailers, balers and planters, about how they can appear in the game, where players create their own virtual farm.
Farming Simulator is big enough that some companies are even releasing products at the same time the game is updated. Look up Göweil news and you’ll likely find details of all nine products in the Farming Simulator update pack released last week as coverage of its real-world haybalers.
The Swiss-based Giants told the Observer that interest from manufacturers provides you with enough revenue stream to cover your game development costs. “At first, we had to ask manufacturers to put it in the game,” said Wolfgang Ebert, the Giants’ marketing manager. “Today, we have to consider who we can integrate and what benefit the game has – we have many, many brands waiting to be included.”
Players start with a barn, some equipment, and some dirt. They need to grow food, sell it, expand their farm and buy better equipment.
Part of the appeal of the Farming Simulator series, like Microsoft Flight Simulator or Formula One racing games, comes from the realism of the experience. However, aspiring racers and drivers are unlikely to be able to afford a jumbo jet or racing car, while there are plenty of farmers who have bought one of the 25 million copies sold who can potentially field test a new tractor. in the game. making it a much more valuable marketing tool.
Companies now share detailed engineering drawings of their product with Giants so it can be simulated, a very sensitive matter, according to Martin Seidel, Giants managing partner. “We definitely have to have good relationships with everyone, because we have a high level of trust,” he said.
Giants has resources to include around 500 products in the PC, Xbox and PlayStation games, and 130 in the portable version, so the opportunities are limited. Players should be able to buy a three meter cultivator early on, or a nine meter version later.
“The really interesting thing is above 30 feet, and that’s what everyone wants to advertise,” Seidel said. “It’s up to me and my colleagues to be patient and negotiate.”
Seidel and Ebert were coy about how much money changes hands, but said their focus remains on the players. “Our main business is game development,” Seidel said.
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Last September, Finnish firm Valtra announced its Q-series of tractors at the same time Giants released an update to Farming Simulator 22. “We’ve been collaborating since 2014 and see if our schedules match up, and that makes things cooler,” he said. Pamela Engels. , Senior Manager of Communications and Digital Marketing at Valtra, in Finland. “So early on, farmers will be hearing about the Q-series, and that same day the gaming community was able to discover it.”
Many games have included advertising and product placement for some time, from mobile phones to junk food. H&M sold clothing add-on packs in The Sims, and Sony managed to advertise PlayStation on pitch boards in Fifa 19, even on Microsoft’s Xbox version.
But interest in Farming Simulator goes beyond product placement, Engels said, and is an “established” part of Valtra’s marketing mix. “We see people really interested in it, players discussing the features of the machine and how to equip it. It’s not product placement anymore.”
Does Valtra use player feedback to inform its designs? “No,” said Engels. “But you’ve given me a great idea.”
