Quick Links
EA’s proposed plans to add advertising to premium games have attracted backlash, with ads usually associated with free games. But here are some of the ways that premium games already advertise to paying players.
What Does In-Game Advertising Look Like?
When it comes to premium games, in-game ads can look a lot like real-world ads. It could be a billboard you see in the game’s world, a character interacting with a real-life product, or even a game built around a real-world organization or franchise.
Take the EA Sports' NHL, F1, or even FIFA (now FC) games for example. While building these games, the studio not only has to focus on the actual game itself, but also all the teams, leagues, and franchises present in real-world sports to ensure they’re in the game as authentically as possible. It is a prime example of how a game can advertise a person (professionals in their respective sports) or a company (equipment or partner companies in the real sport).
In addition to existing ads, EA is now considering putting ads in AAA titles. EA CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed the potential plans in theQ&A section of EA’s latest earnings calland claims that the company has internal teams working on how to “thoughtfully” implement in-game ads. In addition to advertising their games via their own launchers, game publishers might be about to uncover a whole new avenue of advertising.
Why Are Publishers Putting Ads in Premium Games?
There areseveral reasons why publishers would want ads in your video games. From promoting products and partners to promoting crossovers, in-game advertising can significantly boost the revenue a game generates.
The ultimate motivation here is to make as much money from a game as possible, but it requires a proper implementation to ensure that the ads don’t distract gamers from the actual game they want to play.
A prime example of this is the in-game ads for the TV series The Boys in EA’s UFC 4. The ads were placed across the players' screens, disrupting gameplay. It caused immense backlash from players, with EA eventually taking the ads down.
While freemium games do use ads and microtransactions quite often, you won’t expect the same ads in a premium game that you’ve paid for in the first place.
Past Examples of In-Game Ads
In-game ads aren’t new to the gaming industry and have been around since at least 1978’s Adventureland. However, there have been some bad implementations since then as well. Here’s a look at a few of them.
1. Pepsiman
The game was released in Japan in March 1999 for the PlayStation 1 and consisted of four stages, each divided into smaller segments. Your goal? To deliver cans of Pepsi to dehydrated people. You dash, jump, and run to avoid obstacles on the way to the person you’re helping, and that’s about it.
The game didn’t sell very well, but it did emerge as a frontrunner to similar running games later down the line like Temple Run and Subway Surfers.
2. Death Stranding
In 2019, Monster Energy and Sony Interactive Limited launched an ad campaign in the PS4 title Death Stranding. The game requires you to gulp down cans of Monster Energy drink to replenish your character’s stamina. In fact, the game’s very first mission requires you to drink a can of Monster, and the character does a vitality dance afterwards.
The game does feature other brands such as J.F. Rey sunglasses and Acronym clothing, but they’re nowhere as prominent as Monster’s energy drink and blend well into the game’s setting.
In a world as remote as the one Death Stranding is set in, branded items are rarity, but the stockpiles of Monster cans (the character even takes the drink around in his water canister), stand out rather oddly. The game doesn’t provide any explanation for why the cans are so plentiful either.
3. Battlefield 2142
Before EA descended into all the microtransaction and DLC controversy around its Battlefield games, Battlefield 2142 was a testing ground for in-game advertising as far back as 2006. The game features loads of in-game billboards for real companies scattered throughout the maps.
However, it wasn’t the visual part of advertising that caused outrage among gamers. The advertising technology developed by EA was reportedly sending off gamers' IP addresses and other anonymous details to custom-tailor ads in-game, much like what we see on social media platforms today.
At least EA notified buyers of the full retail version of the package of the data collection, but that was still taking in-game ads too far.
In-game ads are a tricky thing to implement, and we have both good and bad examples. While selling digital ad space inside games can help publishers offset development costs and ultimately make games cheaper and more accessible for gamers, poorly implemented ads, such as those that interfere with the game’s experience, can leave a bad taste.
