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EA Weighs Putting In-game Ads in AAA Games (tomshardware.com) 69

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed the company is considering putting ads in traditional AAA games, which players purchase for around $70 apiece. During EA's latest earnings call, Wilson said, "Advertising has an opportunity to be a meaningful driver of growth for us," and that teams are looking at how to thoughtfully implement ads within game experiences.

In-game advertising is not new, with the first recorded instance dating back to 1978. As the gaming industry is expected to grow to $583 billion by 2030, in-game ads are seen as a natural progression. However, player reception depends on the placement and unobtrusiveness of the ads. EA has faced backlash in the past for poorly placed ads, such as full-screen promotions for a TV show in UFC 4, which disrupted gameplay. The company has been experimenting with dynamic ads since 2006, with titles like Need for Speed Carbon and Battlefield 2142 among the first to feature them.
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EA Weighs Putting In-game Ads in AAA Games More

EA Weighs Putting In-game Ads in AAA Games

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  • Shareholders fear customers will leave in droves (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ebunga ( 95613 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:26PM (#64462847)

    Sounds like shareholders are going to push the CEO out over this idiotic mess.

    • Re:Shareholders fear customers will leave in drove (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @03:51PM (#64463487)

      Sounds like shareholders are going to push the CEO out over this idiotic mess.

      Don't be silly. People playing EA games are effectively suffering Stockholm Syndrome at this point. They have been repeatedly fucked over and over again by EA, and keep coming back for more.

      If you think that ads are what will push them over the edge you don't know quite how dumb people really are.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mjwx ( 966435 )

        Sounds like shareholders are going to push the CEO out over this idiotic mess.

        Don't be silly. People playing EA games are effectively suffering Stockholm Syndrome at this point. They have been repeatedly fucked over and over again by EA, and keep coming back for more.

        If you think that ads are what will push them over the edge you don't know quite how dumb people really are.

        Pretty much this.

        I expect that the next generation of Xbox/Playstation will have ads as a service built in so that publishers don't even have to write the code themselves or even arrange their own advertising contracts. Of course this wont be the thing that drives everyone over the edge, but it will be the next step on the march of enshitification (platform decay) that will slowly grind people down enough that more and more will start leaving their consoles switched off.

        The only reason ads in games ha

  • A new 1983...i've been waiting for it for a long time. Maybe this will help.

  • Sure, if you drop the price of your AAA games back down the $50, I'd be okay with it. Price hiking them massively THEN adding ads on top of that is just greedy idiocy.

    • Now adjust for inflation.

      • And market size.

        Price is more than just about inflation.
        • And the cost of development. Games aren't made by six dudes in a garage either now.
          • Some games can be done by six dudes. AAA games with photorealistic cutscenes and scales to millions of concurrent players cannot done by six dudes. Hollow Knight [steampowered.com]was made by three people. The flaw is executives are mandating AAA games only because only making a few million in profit a game is not worth it to them.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by zlives ( 2009072 )

              net profit margin as of March 31, 2024 is 16.83%. (https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/EA/electronic-arts/profit-margins)

              Electronic Arts annual revenue for 2024 was $7.562B, a 1.83% increase from 2023. (https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/EA/electronic-arts/revenue)
              Electronic Arts annual revenue for 2023 was $7.426B, a 6.22% increase from 2022.
              Electronic Arts annual revenue for 2022 was $6.991B, a 24.2% increase from 2021.

              its just pure greed, probably wants to cash out his golden parachute on e

      • ...I think you missed the point. Zoomed right over your noggin. I understand that the boost from $50 to $70 was a inflation and development cost related issue. My entire point, however, was that I would accept ads as a way to cover that additional cost. OR I'll accept the higher upfront cost of games, but no ads. May an angry cactus patch assault their genitals before I'll accept BOTH. They literally just bumped the price of games. They have no excuse beyond blind greed to reach for yet more, if that 'yet m

  • This stuff has been flirted with forever... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    This stuff about in-game ads has been flirted with for a long time. There were actually companies which would "retrofit" older games with their program finding blank textures to throw ads on those.

    Indie and retro gaming just seem to be the place to be these days, although if people wind up going back to Neverwinter nights or old RPGs, we might just see ads appear in those.

    Will the gaming industry have another 1983? Not really. Many stupid gamers of today will be always running to pay scalper prices if a

    • The point of most retro games is that they can't be touched. You've got the media, or a copy from a digital version, and publishers (including new ones that purchased the IP) can't change them. I would say any game that is still online-only or has mandatory digital updates is not "retro".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dbialac ( 320955 )
        I just go with the route of continuing to play older games on my PS3. Years ago I bought a PS4 that died because of a lightning strike and I've never felt the need to replace it as I only played GTA V, which has a infinitely less annoying version for the PS3. I don't play multiplayer, so the constant updates on the PS4 were annoying. Anyway, there are a ton of games for PS1 and PS2 that also work on it. While the graphics may not be as good, what matters is the gameplay and I get plenty of that between the

  • When the development process has become so expensive that a palatable retail price no longer covers the costs, maybe it's time to try something else.

    =Smidge=

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      While this is a popular claim and certainly some games fail to cover their development costs (ironically ads in failed games won't increase revenue). I think what we really see is the general enshitification of everything. Its not that they don't make enough money, its that more money could be made.

    • When the development process has become so expensive that a palatable retail price no longer covers the costs, maybe it's time to try something else.

      Who says they're doing it just to make ends meet?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbialac ( 320955 )
      How much money did Rockstar Games spend developing GTA V? How much money have they made back?
      • GTA is an extreme exception, though. How many such games has Rockstar released in the 11 years since?

        The majority of AAA games are financial losses. I believe that's been the case for a while now, because I remember talk about this in industry circles for what I guess is way more than a decade at this point. It's a lottery that only the biggest publishers can afford to play, and potentially survive.

  • Greed is limitless (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:43PM (#64462903)

    By it's very nature, there is nothing sufficient to satiate greed.

    They will keep pushing until they ruin their product and lose more than they tried to gain.

    • As far as I am concerned, they did that years ago. The last EA game I bought was star wars battlefront, and that was despite it being EA. And yes, it was shit because of all the EA stuff.

    • Death. Not great company.

    • By it's very nature, there is nothing sufficient to satiate greed.

      They will keep pushing until the executives in charge today earn as much money they can before they ruin their product and leave the company, without suffering the consequences of making the company lose more than they tried to gain.

      FTFY

    • I don't think this is fair. Games at $70 today are cheaper than they've ever been thanks to inflation, and also more expensive to produce, and gamers scream to high heaven whenever anyone suggests raising prices. If things are to continue on this way publishers are going to need to find alternative ways to fund development.

      Or just ditch AAA games and go with indies, which made much more cheaply and don't have ads or micro transactions or DRM. Ultimately it's just a question of how much you care about fan

  • Ads, ads, ads, ads... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:43PM (#64462905)
    ...because there still aren't enough ads in the world, right?!

  • Ads are cancer (Score:4, Informative)

    by MpVpRb ( 1423381 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:46PM (#64462913)

    ...and it's malignant and spreading

  • Game-breaking (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:47PM (#64462921)

    Gaming is all about immersion. By adding real ads to games, you break that immersion. The only time ads are acceptable in a game is when they are part of the experience, such as a racing simulator where billboards and car decals might feature ads for sponsors. But if I start seeing ads for life insurance or products on Amazon while playing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor or Battlefield 2042, well... I'm out.

    Not that EA usually cares much about the user's experience. I'm sure they expect players will just get used to it, compartmentalize the cognitive dissonance, and assume the "BOHICA" position.

  • Unpopular opinion (Score:5, Insightful)

    by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:53PM (#64462949)

    Some games actually could benefit from ads. OK, well, not ads per se, but rather product placement.
    A prime example is Euro Truck Simulator 2. I actually added a mod to it which implements real-life company and product names. Hauling a truckload of XBox or encountering branded NPC haulers makes the game feel more immersive.

    RPGs such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Starfield could also implement product placement. Instead of "CAN-uck!" or "Chunks" they could have introduced "Space Coke" or "MacStar" or whatever. These would not be game-breaking changes, rather fall very well within the game itself.

    On the other hand, these would fit very poorly in, say, Baldur's Gate 3 or Diablo 4.

    • Cyberpunk normally depicts a future flooded with ads, but not in a positive light.

    • they could have introduced "Space Coke" or "MacStar" or whatever.

      See this is really what is meant by "thoughtful placement", considering the game and the players interaction with it and integrating into that. Advertising is like 50% subliminal anyway, this Coke induced zeal to protect "The Brand" at all costs just makes everything so boring.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Funny the publisher of Euro Truck Simulator 2 actually did the same thing with billboards for Schneider trucking. I'd also say that for sports games, it probably ads to the realism to have the stadium plastered with ads.

      However I somehow feel like it won't stop with realistic, non-interrupting advertising. Imagine video ads on load screens. Wouldn't that be fun!

      • I don't mind static images on loading screen, if they are made in such a way that they don't break immersion.

    • In Cities: Skylines it feels nice to plop down stores, restaurants and offices for real chains and companies rather than made up ones in the cities you build. In that game the real ones also come from the asset making community and not from the developer.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      RPGs such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Starfield could also implement product placement. Instead of "CAN-uck!" or "Chunks" they could have introduced "Space Coke" or "MacStar" or whatever. These would not be game-breaking changes, rather fall very well within the game itself.

      Fake ads, yes. Real ads, no.

      One of the best things about open world games like CP77, GTA or Saints Row (three of them were good at least) is that the fake ads for fake products were as much a piss take as immersion. Satirical takes on how advertising works or the kinds of products being advertised (GTA's "Rated R for Retarded"). Sometimes going as far as to become social commentary. A in ads for real products and you'll not just break the immersion but make the game worse by killing the humour.

  • It Depends (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rinnon ( 1474161 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:54PM (#64462953)

    Putting aside the popular opinion on ads, I don't have a problem with them when they are tasteful and non-immersion-breaking. If a hockey game features real ads along the walls of the rink... well okay that's pretty immersive. I remember playing Burnout and there were billboards with ads on them around the city. Okay, why not? That's just like any city.

    I mean, obviously if I'm playing Dragon Age and I run across a McDonalds ad... I'm going to ask wtf they were thinking; same with if they just start shamelessly adverting in the menu screen. Admittedly, this is probably more along the lines of what they are thinking, so it will probably suck. I'm just putting it out there that there IS a way to do it without it insulting their customers.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tyr07 ( 8900565 )

      The real problem is you're talking about product placement, which is still a form of advertising, they're talking about digital ads so they can gather information, track interactions and impressions, and update ./ change them dynamically.

      It's going to be a shit show since they'll be adding more workload to the game / system running it to process the extra data gathering, and ads must report data accurately and reliably to be considered effective or worth paying for the ad space, so ads are going to be high

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by unrtst ( 777550 )

        Yeah, I agree. Product placement in games, if done even half way decently, seems like it's not only acceptable, but almost welcome in some cases (ex. instead of fake product names cause they're avoiding registered trademarks).

        On the other end of the spectrum, inserting ads that break from the gameplay would be awful. Somewhere in the middle, loading screens could be ads. Still hate it, but they already break immersion, and we already hate loading screens.

        What I'm find most surprising is the number of people

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

          Depends on the game. Assuming the game you're playing takes place on Earth with normal real human history intact, then I'm the same. I want real world things I know in the game world, instead of a bunch of made-up nonsense. If the game is high fantasy (Skyrim), or based on alternative history (Fallout), then no, I don't want to see real-world brands. GTA6? Sure, throw product placement and ads everywhere I would expect them in the real world.

    • Because if there's one thing advertising agencies and corproate executives are known for, it's an unfailing sensitivity to the sublime, immersive richness of the user experience. We can totally trust them to get that right.

  • and the game stops working then the ad server shut (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:54PM (#64462955)

    and the game stops working then the ad server shuts down?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tyr07 ( 8900565 )

      Probably, we know their going to prioritize system resources to displaying the ad and gathering data, as they need it to be reliable and accurate to get their $$$.

    • It's an EA game. Anything which could cause the game to stop working may be seen as an absolute plus.

  • Quadruple A (Score:4, Funny)

    by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @12:57PM (#64462963)

    So we finally found what what AAAA games are. AAA games with Ads.

  • Will they at least adopt the traditional custom from television and movies, where pirates don't get ads because that feature is reserved exclusively for paying customers?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

      Don't buy games on console and you'll always be able to mod out and/or block the ads of any game.

  • EA floated the idea for Battlefield 2142 before they released that pile of turd. Fear not, EA is not a company to learn any lessons. Remember when everyone cheered when Origins was finally killed officially after being pronounced dead on arrival. Little did most suspect that EA Connect would soon follow and is an even bigger piece of shit than Origins. EA has finally found a way to go back and ruin their entire game catalogue! Thank you EA for continuing to remind everyone why everyone hates you more than a
  • OK, for me specifically, this issue will change my annual games-spend from 0 to 0, which may not be a big deal for the industry. But that is largely because I'm not interested now - and never have been (since I last played an "online" game") - interested in playing games with "online content", because I spent so much of my life several hundred miles from an internet connection.

    But adding adverts to games - well that just increases the number of "no chance" barriers by 1.

    Clearly EA think they've already sa

  • Seriously, where do they get the nerve to charge $60+ for a retread of the same damn games they've been producing for 10+ years and reducing the value proposition in this way?

    EA can go fuck themselves sideways with a running saws-all.

  • Tidepods keep your murder duds bright and clean. But IRL!
    I see you're conquering, why not head into Cheesecake Factory for a dish from the culture of your newest tributes! Hail you, constant gamer! Try our curb-side service.

  • EA just loves piling on things that make me completely uninterested in any of their games.

  • How are they deployed? (Score:3)

    by sixsixtysix ( 1110135 ) on Friday May 10, 2024 @06:31PM (#64463833)
    If it's a billboard or product that would normally go to a fake brand, then sure, all the more realism.
    OTOH, if it's "watch these 2 minutes of commercials before you can play, then they can kindly fuck off.

  • Wipeout XL on the Playstation (and probably other platforms, but that's the only place I've played it - I can't get the PC version to work) was heavily sponsored by Red Bull. It was kind of creepy because they were the only advertiser, so it wound up feeling kind of like a disc you got with a 4-pack. Except, of course, it was one of the most beloved Playstation games of all time, with 60 fps and an extremely great soundtrack, which saved it from mockery.

  • Anyone who buys any shirt from EA, one of the worst companies in the world, deserve all the shit they get. Vote with your wallets, people!

  • Then the games should be free. No more of this "fee-to-pay" nonsense.

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