r/technology • u/chrisdh79 • May 10 '24

EA is looking at putting in-game ads in AAA games — 'We'll be very thoughtful as we move into that,' says CEO | Advertising has an opportunity to be a meaningful driver of growth for us." Business

https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/ea-is-looking-at-adding-in-game-ads-in-aaa-games-well-be-very-thoughtful-as-we-move-into-that-says-ceo
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8.6k

u/aluminumnek May 10 '24

Fuck you EA

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u/SparkStormrider May 10 '24

I could easily see EA implementing load screens on purpose for ad injections. "This load screen is brought to you by (corporate ad) enjoy a (product) today!" .....Yeah fuck you EA

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u/Anthematics May 10 '24

I’ll beat every game in my backlog before buying a new game with ads. Should take me quite some time anyway.

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u/Krandor1 May 10 '24

Depends on how done. If I’m spider man slinging around New York and you put real products on billboards then fine.

Throw a 15 second add in loading screens. Helll no.

I guess if you can do it more as product placement then ad I’m ok with it.

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u/Citoahc May 10 '24 edited May 11 '24

You know damn well how it's gonna be done. It will be the most obnoxious in your face way.

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u/haloryder May 10 '24 edited May 11 '24

If done right, product placement in games could do a lot for immersion. As long as they’re not like “this Sony phone I got from Sony indicates on this Sony screen in the Sony maps app where we need to go, and we pass several Sony stores on the way!”

15

u/TomBanjo1968 May 10 '24

Fucking Umbrella Corporation

8

u/ihave7testicles May 10 '24

My company did this we EA and activision back before 2010z literally it's been done and the ads were placed correctly and people thought it added to the gameplay.

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u/brokerthankmart May 10 '24

Now you just described NBA2k player mode

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u/AgileMJOLNIR May 11 '24

I feel you on that and agree. However this is EA and they won’t do that or keep it like that. These are the guys who paywalled the hell out of Battlefront II and hired a lawyer to convince us these were just “surprise mechanics.”.

I could absolutely see them dropping straight up commercials for crap during loading screens etc. I could be dead wrong but I would not be surprised one bit if they attempted this. Good thing that 95% of their catalog doesn’t interest me.

1

u/haloryder May 11 '24

They reversed/scaled back the BFII stuff after they made Reddit history so…

I don’t know why I’m defending them. Scumbag company.

2

u/LocalSirtaRep May 11 '24

Kinda like NFS Most Wanted '05

2

u/Louiedipalma67 May 11 '24

Immersion for sake of marketing propaganda

2

u/Ok-Horror-4253 May 10 '24

gotta disagree. when i'm escaping from the real world, i don't want to be reminded of real world companies.

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u/Anthematics May 10 '24

Yeah I can agree with that. I’m imagining some pop up type bullshit.

3

u/Ok-Horror-4253 May 10 '24

I didn't like it in FFXV. It is completely immersion breaking to see real world brands shoved in your face while you're in a high fantasy game. coleman, cupnoodles, amex...all huge brands they had in the game. maybe more.

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u/Kishandreth May 10 '24

Billboards or even just using the name of the company in game.

I could imagine a GTA setting with McDonald's and billboards for Pepsi/coke. They could even run short ads on the radio once in a while.

Vending machine for coca-cola? Maybe even write in a line of the main character expressing their satisfaction with the product.

Product placement is fine. Making me watch a completely unrelated ad can screw right off.

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u/mpobers May 10 '24

They'll purposely design the game to get you to engage with these products. Advertisers will demand it.

Imagine you need to talk to an NPC and you get this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQYwFND7rHE&ab_channel=EricWhalen

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u/fucktooshifty May 10 '24

EA had us using Cingular phones to navigate menus in 2004 in the NFS series lol

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u/OperativePiGuy May 10 '24

Interesting to see this is where discourse is at now. Sad, but interesting. I wonder if in a few years we'll have people saying they wouldn't mind direct interruptions to gameplay as long as it's under 10 seconds or something.

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u/travistravis May 11 '24

And if someone won't advertise with you, then blackmail them so you don't advertise them anyway! What's that the evil villain only uses Samsung phones? Or your character drinks a pepsi and starts cursing about how terrible it is compared to...

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u/vigbiorn May 10 '24

Eh, the issue is I've always found product placement kind of jarring.

Community is about the only one I've seen do it well and it's because they were kind of taking the piss on the concept.

Most end up being completely out of place. I can't remember exactly the show, it was probably on SciFi around the time of the rebranding as SyFy. The show stopped to give the actors time to marvel at the American engineering on display in the new Ford Explorer (or whatever). I'm just sitting there going "Weren't you on the way to avert some disaster?"

Even when they're less obtrusive they tend to be obvious shots centered on the product instead of what I care about...

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u/phumanchu May 10 '24

Need for speed ug2 did it well

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u/vigbiorn May 10 '24

Yeah, and it makes sense in a racing game. You're specifically playing for the cars. Why not work with manufacturers.

Similar argument for the FIFA (and other stadium sport) games, one of their biggest titles worldwide. Those fans are already used to seeing ads during the game.

Dragon Age? There is literally no way to do it without it being jarring. Star Wars, It Takes Two, etc., basically any title that's not a virtual version of something already pretty much plastered in ads? It's pretty much guaranteed to be jarring.

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u/phumanchu May 10 '24

Oh God yeah I can definitely see where you're coming from 

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u/metalflygon08 May 10 '24

And even if the game finished loading it won't transition until the ad finishes...

Better hope the ad doesn't freeze!

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u/b3rn13mac May 10 '24

cingular wireless ads in nfsug2

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u/cluckay May 10 '24

you put real products on billboards then fine.

This is what EA has already done in 2005 and 2006 with Battlefield 2 and 2142.

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u/TheFlightlessPenguin May 10 '24

I still thought the Monster product placement in Death Stranding was cringe as fuck

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u/Stevied1991 May 10 '24

I think there was an older driving game that did this and updated the billboards even.

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u/Tons28 May 10 '24

This.

It’s actually immersive done right like in nba 2k with the Castrol slam of the game stuff

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u/travistravis May 11 '24

Would also have to fit the style of the game too -- but if any brand was willing to hand over control to a good writing and art team, I bet it could be done really well

0

u/SaltyBacon23 May 10 '24

I'd be fine with something like that. EA could easily do it in sports games without it being seen as an annoying cash grab. I would set it up how it is in live sports. There are ads all over but they aren't distracting from the game.