Ask Justin Townsend, CEO of IGA Worldwide, what he thinks of Microsoft's acquisition of Massive Inc., a major competitor in the fast-growing industry of in-game advertising, and he'll offer a cool, optimistic view: "I think this is a positive for the industry because it lets people know this is a growing business," Townsend said.

Is Townsend worried about Microsoft shutting out IGA and other Massive competitors doing business on the Xbox 360 platform? Nope. "There are enough opportunities for in-game ads on other platforms like the PC, PlayStation, mobile games and casual games for us," he said. "Plus, there have only been about 1.8-million Xbox 360s sold in North America, so it's not that large of an audience."

What about security concerns regarding anti-ad gamers who plan to hack the advertisements out of their favourite titles? Townsend happily points out that Massive was already hacked (last August, two SWAT4 players posted instructions on their Website that turned the ads off), and boasts that IGA has made security its number-one priority with 1,000-bit encryption.

Townsend takes his security claims a step further with the following statement: "No one can mess with our software at all," he said.

It's a bold declaration, no doubt, and one that may invite a fair share of trouble from hackers hungry for a challenge. But that's the kind of game Townsend wants to play. With Massive Inc. now a part of the Microsoft empire, IGA looks to take over as the leading independent in-gaming advertising network. The company recently struck up a deal with Atari to run its upcoming PC game Test Drive Unlimited (TDU) for IGA's in-game ad network. As a result, IGA will place branded content within the game's advertising spots, such as billboards.

Townsend is clearly excited about the opportunity. "We're not going to have any problems filling the ad spaces along the tracks for TDU," he said. "I think when it comes to in-game ads, everyone is familiar with the notion of product placement that they've seen used in TV and movies. This is just taking the concept to the next level."

And Townsend said overall interest around in-game ads is growing. "Last year, we were used to seeing low six-figure budgets for in-game advertising, but this year we're looking at multi-million dollar campaigns," he said. "I don't think we've reached the tipping point yet, but we're getting close."

An example of an in-game ad from SWAT4