Almost exactly two years ago, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was asked whether he's thinking of putting more ads in games. Yes, he answered: "We have teams internally in the company right now looking at how we do very thoughtful implementations inside of our game experiences."
The time has now come: The publishing giant behind all of your favourite games from a decade ago has announced EA Advertising—a new platform that offers brands in-game advertisements. Or, as EA puts it, "in-game integrations, creative partnerships, and scalable advertising capabilities".
Across all platforms, EA's games reach more than 120 million players per month, it claims, making it the perfect candidate to offer wide scale adverts. Right now, at least, these ads will be injected into its sports games, namely EA Sports FC and Madden NFL.
More specifically, these ads will allow brands to "integrate directly into gameplay through dynamic, real-time placements, from stadium signage to custom in-game content, designed to enhance, not disrupt, the player experience." Further examples given include things like in-game challenges, reward-driven objectives, branded content, or cosmetics.
"In these interactive gameplay environments, brands become part of the game itself, reflecting how players engage with advertising in real-world contexts."
Chief experiences officer at EA, David Tinson, expanded on this by saying that it's an opportunity for companies to "add value and respect the player experience".
Some of the first partners of EA's new ad-venture include Visa, Lowe's, Red Bull, Xfinity, Peacock, and Mountain Dew, which have already featured in its sports games. For example, Red Bull has "engaged EA Sports FC players through branded in-game objectives, team kits, and athlete ambassador collaborations".
While this is all kicking off in EA's sports games, I suspect it's only a matter of time before brand partnerships come to enhance my immersion in Battlefield's next fictional war.
Just last week, Xbox's new chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, also pitched the idea of in-game adverts to combat the increasing costs of game development. Likewise, BioWare veteran and Dragon Age producer Mark Darrah claimed that studios should consider things like product placement to take the strain off microtransactions.
On the other hand, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick isn't interested, at least in full-priced games: "It's difficult for me to believe that we would want to have interstitial advertising in a game that someone paid 70 or 80 bucks for. It would seem unfair."
