EA Dismisses Partnering with a Firm to Bring In-game Video Ads

EA is no stranger to drawing the ire of the gaming community. Infamous for their loot box fiasco, EA has been steadily trying to get back into everybody’s good books.

So, when news came out that the company may be trying to get ads into PC and console games, people were more than a little annoyed. However, it seems the report was untrue, and EA isn’t THAT bad…yet.

The original story came from an Axios report, which spoke about a new advertising platform that would allow companies to include video ads within their free-to-play games.

This is already rampant in mobile games, but PC and console titles had been spared. The platform is called playerWON and is owned by Simulmedia.

The tech is similar to what we see in mobile games; players watch a short ad to be rewarded with a perk, in-game currency, or something similar.

It was also stated that Simulmedia had already struck a deal with Hi-Rez and had begun a pilot run on Smite.

Simulmedia’s research claims that people would be willing to watch up to 10 videos a day for rewards and that they were much more willing to play a game and spend money if they could get perks by watching ads.

The report had stated that EA had struck a deal with playerWON, hinting that they may be bringing ads to their games.

However, this claim has been debunked by EA as being false. The company has stated that they will not be putting video ads in their games and never had any plans to do so.

Following incorrect reports suggesting that we are looking to introduce ‘TV-style’ commercials into our games, we wanted to clarify that in-game advertising for console games is not something we’re currently looking at, or have signed any agreements to implement. Creating the best possible player experience remains our priority focus.

EA Spokesperson

While we’re hoping that gaming companies don’t adopt this tech, it also makes sense from a marketing perspective, especially for a free-to-play game.

However, given the number of ads we already deal with through apps and mobile games, do we really need our consoles and PCs invaded as well?

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company based in Redwood City, California found on May 27, 1982. It is currently the second-largest gaming company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalization.

EA develops and publishes games of established franchises, including Battlefield, Need for Speed, The Sims, Medal of Honor, Command & Conquer, Dead Space, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Army of Two, Titanfall, and Star Wars, as well as the EA Sports titles FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL, and EA Sports UFC.