Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed that the company is considering placing ads in AAA games — which players buy in advance for about $70. Eric Sheridan of Goldman Sachs asked Wilson about advertising in games, to which he replied: «Advertising has the opportunity to be a significant driver of our growth…we currently have internal teams in the company trying to implement very thoughtful implementations in our games».
Advertising in games is to be expected as investment in the gaming industry grows. Some players find ads distracting, but others are fine with them if they are placed naturally and unobtrusively — not in their faces, blocking game content, or interrupting the game. However, most games can do without it. Its appearance will be generally unusual for players and is unlikely to cause them to be enthusiastic. In the history of computer games, there has been little in-game advertising, although attempts to add it have been ongoing since the 1970s.
EA has several cases of bad in-game advertising in its track record. In 2020, the company placed a full-screen in-game ad for The Boys in UFC 4. Players took it extremely badly — the ad interfered with the game and was soon removed.
Need for Speed: Underground 2 from EA in 2004 is known for its in-game advertising placed on billboards throughout the open world. Some argue that this even adds to its realism. The billboards represented real companies such as Best Buy, Burger King, and Cingular.
Need for Speed Carbon and Battlefield 2142 also tried advertising. In 2008, the EA game Burnout Paradise contained a political ad about Barack Obama, then a candidate in the US presidential election.
Source: Tom`s Hardware