EA Apparently Exploring The Idea Of In-Game Ads In Traditional AAA Titles

Because of course they are

EA. Proving that yet again, they are just a big fat joke. I will not. I will not. Purchase a game with ads in it. That plain and simple.

I'm not even surprised at this point. There is no bottom for these large AAA publishers.

Maybe it's time to drop an A or two if they're getting too expensive to make.

Of course EA is among the first major studios to explore this option, but all the same, I get the feeling this is going to become a lot more prevalent what with the rising cost of game development.

The only "in game" ads i will accept are buildings with signs, o street signs that revered to the advertising.
Like a clothing store, restaurant etc or a bilboard with different adds.
But not as youtube has. Will never buy a game that has that.

EA Sports: Ads in a game

EA sports = EverlastingAd sports

Protagonist: "All my life I wanted to be a hero like my father, since that day he le- "This game is brought to you by G-Fuel. G-Fuel, the drink for gamers!" -ft. I'll do all I can to defeat you!

Antagonist: Such bold words for one who's about to di- "Get the proper groom you need with MANSCAPED for men. That's MANSCAPED!" -e.

YouTube-style ads is what games with an always-online requirement have led us to. I hope that's not really what they mean, but I think that's what they mean.

I think quality games can be made without all the expense. Look at how many instant classics came out in the N64 era. Most AAA games are a massive disappointment and rarely satisfy in actual quality gameplay. I’m not convinced gameplay is any better now than it was back then.

dont remember when was the last time I bought an EA game, prolly on the og xbox...

Yep if it was going to be anyone, it would be EA

You know how in Ready Player One, Nolan Sorrento, the evil scum-sucking CEO of a big company, wanted to do the exact same thing with the virtual world of OASIS? I don't care if there was a different CEO at EA when that book released, I stand firm in my belief that Nolan Sorrento was based on Andrew Wilson.

We have gamers right now looking at how do we stop playing EA games for good after yet another turn off

The only way I would ever buy a game with ads is if it's product placement like in movies.

Only in America...

EA Games: Ruin Everything...

Ads already ruin my browsing experience (the amount of times I've given up reading an article due to a significant lack of 'real estate' left on my screen is unacceptable), my YouTube viewing experience with numerous ads in even the shortest of vids, and now they I've invaded my Prime viewing as I am now expected to pay MORE for Amazon to cease them. So why the heck not let them come in and ruin my gaming pleasure too 😔

In fear of sounding dramatic, this is another slip in the erosion of customer power in the exchange of products. We used to take for granted that we bought a product and that was it, we were given access to the content inside. Now, since integrating the internet into gaming as a medium we have progressively lost quality in what is delivered to us. Microtransactions, loot-boxes, always-online DRM, broken games to be fixed in patches, physical media with nothing but a ghost of a game that needs a download to function, battle passes, and so many more.

Now they could suggest that we will have to endure watching an ad every time we boot up a game. Maybe some people would be fine with it. "Just a five-second ad before I start up a game... what's the harm." However, we have learnt that the slippery slope is anything but a fallacy when it comes to greed. Soon companies would make longer ads, put them in more locations, and use your internet history on your computer to make tailored ads for what they think you want particularly.

Maybe the companies will say that they put in ads to reduce microtransactions. But the second ads become normalised, they'll make a game with both in it, and now it's normal to watch your Raid Shadow Legends ad before forking out $20 to get the 0.05% chance to receive a skin of Darth Vader in their next looter shooter game made off the back of creatively starved, overworked programmers and artists.

Oh, right. EA.
Yeah no. I'll never simp that hard.

@Supaguy I'm guessing it would look like "watch this ad or pay to get this cosmetic item" at first. It's about player choice!
It's incredible to me what people will put up with.

@KayFiOS interesting. Makes you wonder what human archetype they built Andrew Wilson from.

FIFA (whatever its name is now) is free on ps plus this month and you still can’t get me to add it to my library EA. As somebody said if EA do it others will follow suit. I’m glad I’m old enough to have enjoyed gaming for 40 years before it goes down the crapper.

I think having this idea in the first place is not a "thoughtful implementation" 🤣

"Microsoft are getting all the bad press. Quick, announce something deeply unpopular!!!"

Next time anyone says Nintendo are behind the times, slow to keep up with trends, too conservative, Nintendo will Nintendo...

...just keep quiet please. It's becoming increasing frustrating they get lumped in with these billion dollar corporations when folk are talking about piracy when anyone with eyes knows this isn't how they operate.

I hate saying this, but I said this was the direction some companies wanted to go in. I'll admit i thought it would be Microsoft first. I bet they are glad someone else did it first to take the heat. They can just 'follow the industry.' And how does that work. The industry is eating itself with dodgy practices yet Nintendo has the most profitable period in it's history?

Gah...I could rant...infact I think I just did lol.

I’d imagine it’s going to be hoardings, shop signs, trucks etc.

But if they place 30 second ads ingame, they shouldn’t charge anything upfront. Similar to the average mobile phone game model.

Not keen on anything that will interrupt the gameplay, but things like KFC in Crazy Taxi or Dole bananas in Monkey Ball I don't mind.

Typical EA. If it’s a AAA free game fair enough but not if I’m paying $60. Product and branding placement maybe but not ads

They really don't want people to say nice things about them huh

Ask Capcom how much folks loved that idea.

They’ve already tried obtrusive ads with UFC a few years ago and got chewed out for it. Same with 2K putting in unskippable ads on NBA2K, both after launch.

I knew they wouldn’t give up on the idea, assuming that’s what they’re talking about (which must be the case, product placement in games isn’t a new thing- even Nintendo has had it in multiple games)

Ugh, might as well add the intermission-type ads while they're at it. Just imagine, you're playing a game and then all of the sudden the game suddenly cuts off and you're forced to watch a 30 second ad....out of nowhere...constantly, like, every 5 minutes or something.

You know what, let's just throw in commercial breaks into our games as well.

FUDGE RIGHT OFF! This is why I don't watch regular TV, barely watch YouTube and don't play mobile games!

And at then end of the day, people will still buy FIFA and other EA games.

I can't even remember the last time I played an EA game. Guess that's not gonna change anytime soon

@dojmin I think mine was Burnout Paradise, the first time, when that came out on X360... That's quite a long time ago, and I've not particularly been avoiding them.

@Ooyah "Your blade is not sharp enough to defeat this boss. You need to upgrade to the Wilkinson Sword."

I am currently exploring the idea of continuing not purchasi g any titles by EA.

It's not a very deep exploration, mind you. I can't remember the last time an EA title was interesting to me. This certainly isn't giving me any incentive to see what they have on offer.

I'm heavily invested in retrogaming for a while now. Not looking back. Back around OG Xbox, Gamecube, Dreamcast, games were fun, unique, brimming with creativity and complete too.

Modern AAA gaming is a joke. I love my Switch, mostly for Indies, but that's about modern gaming for me.

AAA = ads, ads, ads!

@AgentGuapo
Pikmin 2's in-game ads were fun.
Seeing real static ads on racecars, or around arenas just makes them more accurate to life.

"Stop everything and watch this video?" nope.

Extremely Abysmal = EA

Anyone remember the ads in Burnout Paradise?

I don’t think I’ve ever bought an EA game in my life and become less and less tempted by every passing day

@JohnnyMind Way I see everything going, Corporate AAA are going after big ip, will cut dev teams with AI allowing to run leaner teams, slap everything on cloud and ask folk to subscribe to various tiers of services, offer microtransactions, adverts and just milk the whole process. They'llk have a continuous revenue stream with various pricing points they can tweak to ensure they hit their YoY,. It's going to be grim. And if Nintendo are slow to follow these industry leaders...then so be it lol!

The CEO of EA should be fired for keep ruining gaming industry with stupid ideas.

@larryisaman They also inserted Obama ads in Burnout Paradise when he was still relevant.

@JohnnyMind I get you. Until I'm convinced otherwise that you are wanting your cake and eat it, I'm not totally with you...but I do get where you are coming from. (I do overthink stuff like this lol.)

When I read this I just started laughing my head off. That's how ridiculous it is.

When you thought you couldnt hate them any more..

On paper, in theory, I wouldn't mind adverts included in a non-distracting, non-immersion breaking fashion if it meant studios stop trying to make live-services stick. Like as part of a in universe radio or what not.

In reality, I wouldn't trust EA or those who want to sell their products via in game adds to be able to do that. They would want full screen, impossible to ignore nonsense like 2k did. It requires far more humour than those types of people can muster.

I’m glad Nintendo makes better decisions, EA is proving to be one of the most money-centered companies. They’re not focused on how good their products will be, they’re focused on how much money they can get.

That is opposed to Nintendo, who (obviously) wants money, but tries to make a consumer-friendly and high quality game.

AAA games, sure. But what about AAAA?

Keep it limited to things like Norman Reedus drinking Monster and it's fine but once you do mobile-style ads in the Sims I'm done.

@PrettyPatrick Prettyyyy Patrick!

Ad algorithms in games - what a stupendously horrific idea! I’d expect nothing less of an EA shareholder. People motivated strictly by greed should have zero say in creative decisions. But rather than smack the question down, how does CEO Wilson respond? “Oh yeah, we’re already working on it.”

I haven’t bought an EA game since Madden ‘92 and I don’t expect that trend to change anytime soon…

@Samalik Sure, but that’s a more tolerable form of advertising in games. If it’s not impacting the gameplay then fair enough, but presumably the desire expressed here is to have YouTube style unskippable ads inserted into full price games. Hell to that

Haha sure, they can try.. But I highly doubt it'll be succesfull. Anyone remember the AC Mirage disaster a few months ago? Ubisoft claiming ''it was just a mistake''?

Oh well, with a bit of luck it will create so much backlash that EA will go bankrupt. Most likely won't happen - but one can dream.

What does EA still have in the "traditional" front? The only games they've released this generation that aren't already predatory live service drek have been licensed, and Dead Space.

In the meantime: Rockstar comes up with fake brands, buy domains and create whole marketing for them to put in next GTA.

The problem is that it will affect game performance as they are probably streamed from a website in game.

When the web site is overloaded, the game can stutter because it can't load the ads fast enough.

I remember buying EA's Tiger Woods series with the motion controls on the Wii. Those games were expertly produced to create a super-realistic experience and were also packed with content. It was clear the developers were solely focused on creating the best game possible.

And since then it has been all about bleeding gamers for every penny in their pockets. And so when they say, "We'll be very thoughtful as we move into that," my interpretation is that roughly zero percent of that thought will be about the gamers or the experience.

There are already far more games than I could possibly have time for, so never playing an EA game again wouldn't be a huge loss.

Just turn load times into ads like back in the PS1 and 3DO days. As long as it doesn't hamper the game in any ways it should be okay.

I agree with everyone else, I would never ever buy a game with ads like YouTube or even the intrusive Google ads. It's fine if they're part of the layout, like a billboard, building, tech device and so on, otherwise no way!

Please just f*** off EA!

I don't understand why so many are so obsessed with implementing ads. Everything does not need to have ads added on to them...

I'm apparently exploring the idea of not playing, let alone buying, EA video games anymore.

@Chlocean prettttty Patrick!

It's interesting playing games from a couple of gens ago that had ads incorporated, and of course they've never been patched. Like Burnout Paradise comes to mind, with billboards advertising stuff from then. It's like a time capsule.

Might as well change their name to Electronic Ads.

You guys are against this but once they start putting in ads, late adopters (i.e. younger gamers) and people who'll grumpily put up with it to play their favourite games will just get used to it. Ads in games will be normal. Just like ads on websites, youtube, streaming service, your smart TV, your smart toaster, podcasts or billboards or on telephone polls, on the sides of buildings, train stations, buses, streamed into your dreams from Skynet. There's no escape. Those of us who remember the world before will slowly die away.

Everyone at EA raising a glass: To evil!

This is ridiculous. If you agree, be sure to hit that "heart" button and subscribe! Also, hit that bell so you'll be the first to see new comments from me!

*The creator of this comment received cash or products from various corporations for this comment.

I have so many thoughts.
1. Didn’t they just save a literal BILLION dollars by not using the FIFA name?
2. Is it considered AAA when they just tweak rosters each year?
3. Hey, at least when you’re at the bottom, the only way to go is—oh wow. They really did it.
4. Market forces are supposed to correct for these things. If companies say that the math doesn’t work unless they do something that will make us unhappy (AI, NFTs, ads), then they are obviously baking assumptions into their calculations that they don’t have to bake in. Perhaps as gamers, we should suggest a max budget for a game akin to the salary cap in basketball? A game can’t exceed $50 let’s say. Or perhaps it cannot exceed $1 million x the MSRP.
5. Currently “old school” means like you like 2-D, maybe pixel art, maybe chiptune. In 10 years, old school will mean that you like games on physical media that are finished when they come out which don’t have any season passes, no loot boxes, and no microtransactions. So Mario Odyssey will be considered “old school.”

Further, I keep noticing how everything in life is ads now. When you’re already their customer, it’s never good enough. Buying a product? Buy the extended warranty as well! Eating at our restaurant? Download our app as well! Clicking search on Instagram? It takes no time at all to load a blank search box, but we won’t do that until we first spend a few seconds loading overstimulation from the people who pay to have their garbage injected into your eyeballs. None of these are technically ads, mind you. It’s just that our world is such that so much non-ad “engagement” is also marketing. It’s insidious.

Isn't this the same bunch that went overboard with microtransactions on that star wars game? Pathetic.

"People don't hate us enough, how can we become even more reviled?"

I love EA they are my favourite publisher. So innovative and always putting the player experience first and profits second. God where would gaming be without EA?! I hope we never find out.

@Thomystic Yeah, I agree. But I also think there will be a breaking point where people will just truly have enough of ads - and just go back to games, movies or other older pieces of media that don't have them.. therefore breaking the modern games and movies to a point where they don't bring in enough money anymore.. perhaps then the big CEO's will finally realize that ads are just obnoxious... or so I hope.

On an unrelated note, I love your profile picture. Professor Waddle Dee is a fun little side character in Forgotten Land haha

Seems like companies are so desperate for profits they're willing to ruin their own products to do it. Pretty sad state.

@larryisaman Well, I mean, if you're trying to get AWAY from politics with an over-the-top racing game filled with careless explosions, it can feel kinda intrusive.

Ugh I think I just threw up in my mouth a little…

It's fun when they do it for fictional products, like the play-by-play commentators doing ads for Chork in Triple Play '99.

EA...just...please quit opening your mouth.
Your just making people hate you more and more.

Sure, I can drop EA, too. I've been dropping a lot of publishers recently, and haven't felt the loss whatsoever. I still can't find the time to play all my games.

EA try not to be a bad company (impossible)

@GrailUK Yeah, that's why I don't want the Switch 1 era to end anytime soon. Nintendo haven't delved into the greedy tactics of the PS4/XB1 and PS5/Series X|S eras but Switch 2 may change this.

@quinnyboy58
Yeah, they look pretty but with worse gameplay than many N64 titles.

Outside of Nintendo and some Capcom games, I've basically just started focusing on indie games to avoid things like this. I'm not concerned if companies like EA go belly up, there are already too many games to begin with.

just like 2k does with their games.

It’s no longer indie games and AAA, it’s just games and then the commercialisation and bastardisation of video games.

EA: Eternal Absurdity

Unbelievable. Just make games. Why are you trying to profit off every pixel? It’s fine if done tastefully but it’s definitely sounding like it’ll be full-blown speed bump/eye-wall ads. Watch them do a thing like having you have to speak a phrase into your controller’s microphone to get past the ad and continue to acknowledge that you watched it. Wouldn’t surprise me.

Can’t spell bad without ad.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I played or even owned an EA Games game...

I don't know if this idea will work like they are thinking. Besides the fact that its a bad idea who would advertise and which game types. A lot of companies may not want to associate their products with "mature" blood soaked games. Furthermore the return on investment is short term unless the game is online like fortnite or madden.

Brands that might line up for something like this are:
Mtn Dew
Doritos
Axe Body Spray
Gamestop

Short of having a billboard in game with an ad on it, that’s more in the background like in a real stadium, there’s no way to do this without alienating everyone.

I would be bothered years ago when BioWare was still in its top shape (DA 1 & 2, ME 1 to 3). But now I don’t care, not interested in anything from EA anyway, so Ad away.

@Bolt_Strike well their tagline was: "challenge everything!"

Guys it’s not even about the cost of game development, they’re making record profits. It’s just another little way to make a bit more money.

You can bet that after this they will offer some kind of EA+ account that, for only £4.99 a year (slowly rising to £49.99) you can remove all ads in your games.

It’s called ensh*tification, it’s an official term. You make your base product worse so that people are forced to pay for the premium one…which is now what the base used to be.

Guaranteed Ubisoft will be next. They already “accidentally” did an in-menu ad.

Speak with your wallets people.

If it's got ads in it then that'll bring the games price down? Right...?

Inserting ads will probably mean that after a few years the games will be removed from the store due to licensing expiring

Imagine playing EAs sports games and a commercial add interrupts gameplay and plays

Yeah, let's see how well that goes down.

Billboard ads in an f1 or football game, well kinda fair enough.

Not that it impacts me, I've pretty much abandoned modern gaming in favour of my gamecube library. Back then life was simple and fun..

Instead of talking smack like they always do, they should just remaster several of their older Need for Speed titles for Switch. Any would do, just surprise us. 😄

Finally recieve new Mirrors Edge game
"Faith, listen. The tyranny will never be over until we get this job done."
"What, we're going to sneak in there and cut their throats with our Manscaped™ razors?"
"Funny, but no. I would never sacrifice my smooth, clean shave-even for this. We're going to slip them Mood Gummies™, which are so close the real deal but not outlawed by our oppressive society."
"That's your plan? Won't they be eating so many Flamin' Hot™ Cheetos™ that they'll need a handful of Tums™?"
"Not these ones. With Mood™ you can choose your intensity and its effect. These are the sleep gummies. They'll get them to sleep better than melatonin and have the guards waking up feeling refreshed hours after you've already slipped out."
"Got it. I'm on my way. Toss me my iPhone™."

Wow, EA really wants people to pirate their games ay? The second anyone tries ads in a retail game I'm instantly done. If the industry heads that way, I think I would just stop buying games altogether. Greed has taken root in the world and this is a prime example of that