Sony has announced a partnership with in-game advertising compant Double Fusion, to deliver adverts on the PlayStation 3.

Double Fusion will work with publishers and advertisers to create effective marketing programs for brands targeting PS3’s gamer demographic.

"PS3 is open for the ad business," said Phil Rosenberg, senior vice president, SCEA.

"We are very excited about hosting contextually relevant and well-crafted creative advertising on PS3. PlayStation is taking a major role in enabling this fast-developing sector that is positive for the games medium."

Sony believes the PS3 provides advertisers with a "direct avenue to reach the highly targeted, sought after gaming demographic".

DFC Intelligence forecasts that sales for the current generation of game systems, including portable devices, will pass the 180 million mark by 2011, which is certainly a comfortable figure for the in-game advertising market to grow on.

In fact, the worldwide in-game advertising industry is expected to grow 1,150% to $971.3 million between 2006 and 2011 according to the Yankee Group.

“We have already received tremendous support from publishers who want to incorporate ads into their PS3 games, across all of the regions of the world,” Jonathan Epstein, president and CEO of Double Fusion, said.

“We are very excited to work with SCE on this and SCE’s participation strengthens the in-game advertising ecosystem.”