It’s the only Electronic Arts game in my site’s image library.
The video game industry, or to be more precise the so-called “AAA” industry, make decisions that tend to tick off the very audience they seek money from. Some come off as gambling, some come off as making it more difficult to survive in a multiplayer game. Advertising is the latest in a series of gimmicks from companies not satisfied with simply making profit. They want all the money, and they’ll shut down older games to force you to buy a remake or a new one. We saw that last week.
I’m not against advertisements themselves, or even product placement. I watched ads for products and services that were fun but still had no interest in those products. Even as a kid I watched Cap’n Crunch and Sugar Bear gain mecha and superpowers to protect breakfast and just treated it as more stories. If I use Crest now it isn’t because I saw the Crest Team fight Cavity Creeps but because it’s hard to find toothpaste that isn’t mint flavored, and cinnamon is my only option beyond flavorless, if I can even find that. In-world product placement means nothing to me because those same billboards, outfits, and magazines ads exist in my world, and it’s easier that making fake products to make the world feel lived in. I thought Shasta was a fake soda brand until I saw them in a local Dollar Tree. Never did try it.
So EA announcing they want to put ads in their games…no, I do actually have more concerns there. The main reason the dropping of banner ads on YouTube, which TV tried to steal for awhile, is that they distract you from the video, even covering subtitles and last-minute notes of something that only came up during the final edit with no time to record a new clip. It takes you out of the world, and in video games that’s a bigger mistake than other media forms. Characters stopping to extol the amazing flavor of Coca-Cola is just silly. Having an ad pop up out of world draws you out of the world, which isn’t an issue for some talking head show but in a narrative, seeing a knight of Camelot being covered by an ad for some sitcom ruins the experience. In video games, where immersion is part of the gameplay experience even when there is no narrative will ruin the fun, and that means nobody wants to play games from your company.
Does EA know how to work ads in right? Between their press release and an examination from Geeks & Gamers contributor Alex Gherzo that translates the corporate speak, let’s see.
Brand Partnerships and Gameplay Integrations: These are collaborations between EA and the advertising brand to create ads specifically for a game and its audience, with ads folded into “interactive moments,” that encourage gamers to actively engage with the ads. EA gives examples such as “in-game challenges, reward-driven objectives, and branded content.” It also cites “curated vanity items,” so customizing a character or vehicle may include advertising for one of EA’s partners.
For a sports game that all makes sense. Your car or outfit would have sponsors and some of the more fun games usually had made-up sponsors with names tied to the tone or theme of the game or the world. The sillier the game, the siller the fake company. That’s something that might get lost in all of this. However, despite one of their old tag lines being “if it’s in the game, it’s in the game”, as in if you saw it at a baseball field it was in the baseball video game, they don’t just make sports games. A game set in the real world would include brand advertising, and a game set in the future could have futuristic ads for some footware or food product, but explain that on an alien world with no connection to Earth, or some medieval high fantasy world. You could do a silly ad in a cave drawing. Maybe find them like the “hidden Mickeys” at Disney parks as a collectible. On the other hand, that would be seriously off putting in a Conan world.
Ad Units in 3D Sports Simulations: This includes methods such as placing ads on a scoreboard, in a sports arena, or through “brand broadcast overlays.” EA will also measure gamers’ engagement with the ads to further tailor them.
That goes back to the sponsors on the cars. It would exist in the real world and you ignore them at the track, stadium, or even watching them on TV. Again, we lose the fun fake companies and parody names, which saves EA in hiring artists to make those. Whether or not the companies would then pay their ad firm to make such images for a game or EA actually would pay an artist to theme a Coke Zero ad to the world of Grand Theft Auto is up to them. Not sure how you’d make that work in a game where you’re fighting terrorists in a desert or abandoned oil rig or something. You could also have ads playing on TVs in bars or the radio at someone’s house, maybe a classic ad in a game set in the past. People still watch those on YouTube for the nostalgia.
I know that’s not an EA game. I’m trying to break the text wall.
Enhanced Targeting and Measurement Capabilities: EA will use its Frostbite engine to target ads at specific types of gamers across all its brands and games, ensuring its ads are “viewable, delivered to real audiences, and measured.”
That didn’t make any more sense in the press release:
Enhanced Targeting and Measurement Capabilities: Brands can connect with relevant audiences across EA’s franchises using advanced targeting powered by EA’s new proprietary ad server and SDK, custom built for EA’s Frostbite game engine. Advertisers can now collaborate with EA in a privacy-safe way to improve targeting and gain deeper campaign insights. EA ensures ads are viewable, delivered to real audiences, and measured using industry-accredited standards in partnership with Integral Ad Science.
I guess that’s less about the players than the companies looking to advertise to them.
EA Sports Partner Program: This program will allow brands to collaborate with EA to produce advertising experiences that go “beyond the game,” such as with live events like Madden Bowl (the final part of the Madden Championship Series held during Super Bowl week, during which Madden players face off with each other) or Ratings Reveals (annual events where EA releases player stats for upcoming EA Sports games). It also integrates ads into aspects of the game, such as live service activation and “social play experiences.”
I’m not really up on live service games because I don’t really enjoy player vs player, especially the jerks who take advantage of newcomers. It doesn’t sound any different than the first one, only again talking to the companies than the players.
My only worry is that EA, who does more than sports games (at least I think they still do), won’t be as inclined to make a game they can’t work ads into. Sponsored minigames can work with puzzles. In-world ads would just be real products instead of fake products, but if you’re world couldn’t work those in and they’d be a distraction on an inventory screen (maybe a pause or loading screen that isn’t hiding what they are?), EA might stay away from the fantasy and sci-fi genres. They might make more loot crates or other gimmicks to make up for it, or just focus on games they could fit in-world or menu ads in without disrupting the game play. Or they’ll put it in anyway, piss of players, and given them another reason to cut ties with a favorite franchise and go elsewhere. Based on current trends that seems the most likely. It will also do nothing to keep a game working past what EA has decided is its shelf life, so nothing benefiting or hurting the Stop Killing Games folks.
Could this be okay? Could this be another disaster that Electronic Arts doesn’t need? Will this enhance or ruin gaming? Will this be used to slowly make gamers accept ads before the next push that will be easier to accept slowly? Time will tell. Game companies want all the money they can. I think we can be sure this won’t benefit the prices of these AAA games or their budgets. We could be surprised but how this will effect games in the future (Geeks & Gamers had another article by the same writer questioning XBox potentially using in-game advertising) is something we can only speculate about given what’s come before and typical corporate greed. Doesn’t look good, does it?
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