Weirdest DLC Sponsorship Ever: SimCity, Brought To You By Crest 128
MojoKid writes "When it comes to creative advertising potential, it's hard to beat a game like SimCity. In most titles, the idea of in-game advertising makes little sense. Sarah Kerrigan doesn't shop at Victoria's Secret, Booker DeWitt is an unlikely fan of Coca-Cola, and the post-apocalyptic setting of Metro 2033 isn't exactly prime McDonald's turf. But SimCity? SimCity is a game where it makes perfect sense to integrate real-world brands. A city filled with familiar logos and advertising is a city that more closely resembles the real world. That's undoubtedly why EA decided to partner with Crest Toothpaste. Yes, toothpaste. And not for in-game advertising, either. The Nissan Leaf DLC that the company launched a few weeks back at least made sense in some context; EV charging stations are going to be an increasingly common site in cities in the future. But the five new SimCity Attractions that the company added in the Crest partnership boggle the mind."
The Escapist points out that this partnership also extends to The Sims Social, one of EA's Facebook games... which is getting shut down in a few months.
Not a good sign for gaming (Score:5, Interesting)
Similar things [wikipedia.org] began to happen just before the big video game crash of 1983. I think it was even Crest proof-of-purchase tags that got you the game.