EA plans advertising in games again and it’s already backfiring badly

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Advertisements in full-price games? The reactions of gamers to this idea do not indicate enthusiasm

Advertising is everywhere, even in games. In most cases, however, ads are limited to either advertising banners in the game world or boxes in the main menu. Publisher Electronic Arts now apparently wants to go further. At a investor conference they spoke of wanting to focus more on profits from advertisements in games in the future.

What is EA planning?

After being asked what his attitude to advertisements in more traditional AAA games is, EA CEO Andrew Wilson explains:

It’s still very early on that front. Throughout our history, we’ve made sure to be very judicious about advertising in the context of our games. But […] advertising has the opportunity to be a meaningful driver of growth.

We will be very careful when we start doing this. But we have internal teams right now looking at how we can do very thoughtful conversions in our games.

What exactly the publisher has in mind is not specified. But it is clear that plans are already being forged how advertising can also be implemented in full-price titles

This is not EA’s first foray in this direction. The fighting game UFC 4 already featured trailers for the series The Boys, which were removed after massive protests.

Community reacts with ridicule

For many players, Andrew Wilson’s statement fits in with EA’s bad reputation in the community as a greedy and ruthless publisher. The reactions on Reddit look like this:

If there’s one company I trust to be careful and considerate when introducing advertising in video games, it’s EA.

Parafault

I don’t pay money to see advertising

Sure_Ad_3390

What the hell are they going to advertise in Jedi 3? Blue Milk?

HankSteakfist

Some players have already imagined what ads in games could look like in the worst case scenario:

In view of the CEO’s declaration that he wants to be particularly careful, however, such an intrusive implementation of the ads seems rather unlikely.

Almost nobody wants to see ads while playing games or watching movies. Most commercials are not as absurd and funny as the beer advertisement in the first Star Wars film. Read our news item above to find out how Obi-Wan Kenobi suddenly opens a freezer full of refreshing drinks