If the game did indeed get much cheaper I wouldn't mind a few ads in the loading screens.
The point is not to make games cheaper. Games are priced at whatever price the market will bear. The point is increased revenue for publishers, and by extension their shareholders. Allow me to repeat: "take advantage of the game 'Down-Times': TitleScreens, Loading, Pause, Game Over"
Game down times are already annoying enough. They detract from immersion, and game enjoyment, and to add insult to injury, are in many cases superfluent. You want to make them more artificial by adding real world advertising?I don't think you'll have a lot of luck with that.
Product placement is already in games. All the laptops in F.E.A.R. are alienware. Matrix - Path of Neo, has lots of Intel Extreme and nVidia in-game branding. It's cool the first time, even the second time. But after 100 it starts getting a little boring. Besides which - good luck getting a company who want to be associated with the bad guys. Converse - helps terrorists run away.
No. I didn't think so either.