How a video game has revolutionised the way farmers are buying tractors

theguardian.com:

Tractors are commonly sold to farmers at agricultural fairs and announced in the trade press. But machinery makers are falling over themselves to get a slice of a much more unlikely advertising vehicle: the Farming Simulator video game.

The developers, Giants Software, now receive hundreds of queries a year from manufacturers of equipment – from tractors and combine harvesters to trailers, balers and seed drills – about how they can feature in the game, where players create their own virtual farm.

Farming Simulator is important enough that some firms even launch products at the same time as the game is updated. Search for news about Göweil, and you’re just as likely to find details of the nine products in the Farming Simulator update pack released last week as coverage of its hay balers in the real world.

Giants, based in Switzerland, told the Observer that interest from manufacturers provides it with enough of a revenue stream to cover the costs of game development. “In the beginning, we had to ask manufacturers to be included in the game,” said Wolfgang Ebert, Giants’ marketing manager. “Today, we have to consider who we can integrate and what benefit there is to the game – we have many, many brands waiting to be included.”

Players begin with a barn, some equipment and a little land. They need to grow food, sell it, expand their farm – and buy better gear.

Part of the appeal of the Farming Simulator series, like Microsoft Flight Simulator or the Formula One racing games, comes from the realism of the experience. Yet would-be pilots and drivers are unlikely to be able to afford a jumbo jet or a racing car, while there are plenty of farmers who have bought one of the 25m copies sold who can potentially field-test a new