The golden calf goes square

Video game publishers are increasingly realizing that advertising — versus paying out-of-pocket — is the way casual gamers prefer to support the games they play, reports ClickZ.

That everyday consumers prefer ad-supported entertainment to models they must pay for is not necessarily news.

Sites like AddictingGames bring in most of their revenue from advertising attached to the games they put online.

AddictingGames' SVP Dave Williams says ads account for up to 65 percent of the revenue from that site. The same goes for Shockwave.com, which he also oversees.

With fewer people paying for games they download, developers and publishers are looking for ways to bake ad-support into their offerings.

Ad-supported games hosted online also enjoy repeated impressions — and thus, increased likelihood of revenue generation — amongst hardcore free gamers.

And it isn't merely advertisers enjoying idle wealth; depending on the popularity of their games, developers are beginning to cash in too.

Sites like WildTangent, which makes games available online, are transitioning developer compensation from single-payment rights purchases to ad revenue share models.