There are several steps in creating a successful branded game for the console. First, the product has to be a good match for the demographic. If it targets senior women, "it might not make a good console game," Acharya said.
Once the veracity of the brand has been determined, game creators should adhere to certain rules, according to Lazzaro.
"You want to simplify the world," she said. "Inside that world, you want to provide interesting choices. Then you want to make sure that you amplify the player's behavior -- don't win pennies, win millions of dollars; don't just drive a car, drive it on top of cars."
Lazzaro added that games derive interest from the decisions, not the art, so often there's a disconnect between how lovely a game looks and what the player actual does within it.
Other types of game advertising have gotten marketers' attention while being extremely lucrative for the makers of games. Besides the $2.25 billion casual games industry, as reported by the Casual Games Association, research firm eMarketer said that in-game ads will be worth $1.9 billion in 2011. And both dynamic and static in-game advertising can boost a retail game's profit by more than 50 percent, Parks Associates said.
Meanwhile, console games don't always translate into direct monetary increases, and the cost and time to create branded games -- one year versus six to nine months of development for a regular game -- could turn some marketers off.
"Burger King had a unique distribution system with its stores. For others, the question is, how do you distribute?" Crispin Porter + Bogusky's Benjamin added.
But the benefits of advergames go beyond sales and profits by strongly branding a product or company. "They tend to have marketing programs designed around them," Acharya said. So games become part of a multi-pronged campaign that includes traditional advertising as well as other methods that further increase interaction with consumers, such as signing up to receive SMS or email promotions about the brand or game.
Branded games are here to stay, especially as they move to multiple platforms. The Xbox may be dominant, but mobile advergames are hot. Dr. Pepper recently announced a branded game for the iPhone, while Burger King will spin its success into downloadable cellphone games with partner Mobliss, a mobile content provider.
Online games are set for encroachment by brands as well. Oscar-winning actor Forrest Whittaker has lent credibility to Mountain Dew's online game/virtual world "DEWmocracy," while Benjamin said Crispin Porter recently worked with Mattel to create online old-style football games branded with Coke Zero.
"Consumers are participating," he said. "It doesn't feel forced on them -- it's entertainment."