You heard right. Developer NCsoft will be partnering with Double Fusion to put in-game advertising in their subscription-based MMO. Before anyone decries the state of gaming, it's important to note they are thinking about this somewhat moralistically.

In-game advertising is something that we have carefully considered ever since the initial release of City of Heroes in 2004. From our perspective it always came down to a few fundamental questions: Will this technology make our game experience more immersive or less immersive? In other words, is City of Heroes an appropriate environment for it? In-game advertising in other MMOs has sometimes been received as an unwelcome addition, so could we actually find ways to make this a significant win for our customers? And with the plan of reinvesting all the revenue that we make from this, how much will this single (optional in-game advertising) initiative actually allow us to grow our development team?

chautemoc via coh.com »