In EA's office, Andrew Wilson sits and dreams. Specifically, the CEO is dreaming of a way he could serve ads to EA players, potentially pegging them into the company's $60 or $70 “AAA” video games.
This is according to a recent earnings call between Wilson and EA investors (via Tom's Hardware), in which the EA chief said, “We want to bring more dynamic advertising to more traditional AAA games. He was asked if he had any plans to “insert.” Wilson's answer? “We have a team in-house right now that is looking at ways to do very thoughtful implementation within the game experience.” Gulp.
To be clear, EA's approach to in-game advertising still seems to be on the table, but Wilson is clear that the company is putting a lot of brain power into this.
“Given that billions of hours are spent both playing, creating, watching and connecting, and much of that engagement is within the traditional gaming experience, advertising has an opportunity to do just that.” We expect that to be a meaningful driver of growth for us,'' Wilson told investors.
In more fancy terms, it means, “There are a lot of people playing our game, so if we show them ads, we'll probably make money.” And to be fair, things like this have been in the game for a while. There are Duracell batteries scattered around Alan Wake, a real-world ad for Burnout: Paradise, an ad for Street Fighter 5, and what sticks out most in my memory as immersive sim chic. was an advertisement on the loading screen of Deus. Example: Human Revolution. Plus, of course, the EA Sports FC (née FIFA) series has long featured the kind of ads you'd expect at a real-life soccer match.
For many people, it's perfectly fine as long as it's not flashy or noticeable. Wilson told investors that EA is “very thoughtfully” considering the possibility of inserting advertising within games. Then again, the company do Already released games have a track record of containing some not-so-subtle ads. As Tom's Hardware points out, in 2020 he received criticism from EA for his full-screen ad for UFC 4's The Boys, which was later removed. Perhaps it has learned its lesson?
I suspect this will be something EA will experiment with to find a way to not annoy (too many) players, but that's what Wilson means by being “thoughtful.” personally? I don't like advertising, no matter how subtle. I don't like ads, especially in games I've already purchased over list price. Call me old-fashioned, but video game TVs shouldn't have real ads, and ads should only be used in episodes of Address Unknown and full episodes of A Tale of Alabama. I think.
