Valve, IGA settle in-game advertising dispute

Software publisher Valve and in-game advertising firm IGA Worldwide have reached an amicable agreement in the dispute over fast food adverts placed in online game Counter Strike by the Engage In-Game Advertising service.

Engage In-Game Advertising officially launched last month with a campaign for the Subway fast food chain which was powered by IGA Partners' radial network. Using third party maps, servers and mods, it placed in-game billboard ads in Valve's Counter Strike.

The campaign was highlighted as a successful debut for the firm, specifically targeting the difficult to reach 18-34 year old male audience and reaching 31,000 unique games with over 19,000 'eyeball hours' of exposure after three weeks. However, it appears the campaign was implemented without permission from Valve and sparked a 'behind the scenes' legal wrangle.

A joint statement from Valve and IGA declares that: "an amicable resolution of differences regarding in-game advertising in Counter-Strike" has been reached, which "also absolves IGAâs advertisers and IGAâs advertising agencies from any liability."

The statement continues: "Like all commercial advertisements, ads in games such as Counter-Strike require permission from the intellectual property (IP) owner," suggesting that although this particular incident has been resolved without too much difficulty, Valve does expect proper notification and negotiation if IGA or any other interested party is to utilise its IP for in-game advertising campaigns in the future.