The video game concert company Electronic Arts is currently considering running advertisements in their games in the future. This could allow the company to grow even further, the CEO of EA said in a conference.
What is EA up to? Electronic Arts is one of the largest video game companies. The group is responsible for major brands such as Battlefield, Mass Effect and, above all, several sports games such as UFC or of course FC24.
However, EA is keen to continue to grow. This could be achieved by placing advertisements in the games. It’s a controversial idea that has caused discontent among players in the past. For this reason, the CEO of EA is currently still cautious when it comes to exact details.
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Use advertising “thoughtfully”.
What does the CEO say? Andrew Wilson is the head of EA and spoke about various topics in the company’s conference call on May 7, 2024. Among other things, about the next Battlefield, but also about advertising.
When asked if there will be commercials in EA games in the future, Wilson replied:
I think it’s still early on this front. And throughout our history, we have always made sure that we use advertising very carefully in the context of our gaming experiences.
Andrew Wilson via kotaku.com
Nevertheless, there are a very large number of players who invest countless hours in the games. If advertising were part of the gaming experience, it would create a “significant growth engine.”
Internal teams at EA are already working on the feasibility of the idea. The question arises as to how exactly ads could be implemented into games. And how the community can be involved. After all, the players should react positively to the advertising.
Can this work? How exactly the advertising will find its way into the games is still unclear. However, past experiments show that the community reacts very badly when the gaming experience is disrupted by advertising.
EA itself had already experimented with ads in 2020. In UFC 4, commercials for “The Boys” appeared in the middle of fights. After negative feedback, EA removed this ad.
They probably want to think of a more elegant and thoughtful way to display advertising in games in the future.
It remains to be seen whether the players are prepared to accept this in the long term. Or whether it remains a no-go to see additional ads in a product that money has already been spent on. In 2023, advertisements were briefly seen in Ubisoft games – the community was very upset about this.