Microsoft has announced some serious in-game advertising within a range of games from Electronic Arts, such as Madden, Nascar, Tiger Woods golf, NHL hockey, etc.

This move is actually a try to gain an early lead over rivals, as apparently gaming-ads are quite a business. The main rival in gaming-ads is allegedly Google as they’ve bought game ad service Adscape for $23 million in March.

$30 billion worth global game industry is an ever-growing sector and although in-game advertising was worth only $50 million in 2005, some analysts expect it to skyrocket to $1 billion in next couple of years.

More here.