What does research say about games?

The US market of advertising games is said to increase from 77 million in 2002 to 230 million in 2007 - Deloitte Corporate Finance

35 minutes of gaming significantly increase purchasing intentions and brand awareness - York Reports

60 percent of Americans regularly play games - IDC

Players' average age is 29; they are no longer teenagers playing in their bedrooms! - Horizon Media

35 percent of gamers claim that advertisements in games help them to make purchasing decisions, while 50 percent of gamers who play often like advertisements of real products appearing in games. - Nielsen Entertainment 2004

Gamers do not want to live in a "virtual world" of a game; they prefer this reality to have as many characteristics of the real world as possible.
Value of the in-game advertising market in USA is said to reach 526 million USD in 2009, while the market of advergames is supposed to increase to 312 million USD - Yankee Group, May 2005.

Do we recommend? Do we listen to recommendations?

57 percent of people admit that recommendations of friends help them to make a decision to visit a website.
92% of people admit that they have recommended a website or promotion to at least one person after they received similar recommendation earlier.
65 percent of people above 35 years old admit that they rely on their friends' recommendations to learn about new websites.
Almost all companies that use marketing based on recommendations intend to allocate much more money in this form of advertising in the future.
Source: Jupiter December 1999