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EA Signs Deal with Massive and IGA

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-for-realisim dept.

GameDailyBiz reports on EA's deal with two in-game ad companies. They've announced a partnership with Massive, Inc. and IGA Worldwide to incorporate dynamic advertising into some of their most popular games. From the article: "The first title to utilize Massive's dynamic in-game advertising will be the upcoming Need for Speed Carbon. Gamers 'will see both static and dynamic brand presence integrated into the game environments, across the platforms and across the geographies where they play' ... The DICE developed Battlefield 2142 will be the initial title to incorporate IGA's dynamic advertising. Following Battlefield, 'at least two additional EA titles' will be integrated into IGA's network through the course of the deal."

8 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. Seems like an excellent time by fractalus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    to stop buying EA games.

    Honestly, there are few EA games that are compelling these days, and I'm flat-out sick of paying $50 for a game only to have more ads shoved in my face. This deal does absolutely nothing for gamers and games, and is only about EA grabbing as much money as they can.

    --
    People are never as simple as their stereotypes. This applies equally to Christians, Muslims, and Emacs-lovers.
    1. Re:Seems like an excellent time by Shads · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yah, more or a less, now if they cut the price to 9.95$ (one time) and have in game advertising, I'm all for it.

      Otherwise, it'll just be a game I won't buy.

      EA used to be a pretty good publisher really, now they're worse than all the rest... it's like Sony in the MMO market.

      --
      Shadus
    2. Re:Seems like an excellent time by Reapman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have no problem with in game advertising... to a point. Sports and racing comes to mind. Having real company names on the boards of the hockey arena or on billboards as you race in a city is great in my books. BF2142? Seeing an ad for toilet paper on the side of some mech that just blew me away is not my idea of a good idea.

  2. Hmm... by MaestroSartori · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...Need for Speed I can see working ok, it'll have plenty of trackside ad places naturally as part of the game. But where will the Battlefield ads be? I hope they're not too intrusive.

    --
    Game dev and music blog
  3. Nice by KaiserSoze · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I didn't really need another reason not to buy EA games, but there you go.

    --

    "What we elect to call imagination is mere combination of things not heretofore combined." - Frank Norris

  4. Added experience or unbridled greed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't think I'd mind certain ads placed in games like sports games where it adds to a game's realism. (Think ads behind homeplate, around the upper deck walls in a hockey rink, etc)

    Of course, I will mind paying AAA price for a game AND still get ads. That is one of the major reasons I stopped going to see movies in a theater years ago: ticket prices went up and I was still bombarded for ads for everything from TV shows to razers.

    Of course all this is moot and I'm sure EA will totally fudge it all up by having to pause the game to download each ad dynamically to insert in all the wrong places (This tank brought to you by Fudgey Pop! Bend over and have a Fudgey Pop!)

  5. In other news by remembertomorrow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "New patch released by to remove advertising in game."

    EA can't and won't win.

    --
    Registered Linux user #421033
  6. Not too surprising. by antialias02 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While most ad-laden software helps keep prices down, somehow I doubt that this new advertising will help reduce the cost of EA's software. Seems like just another big-business move to line the pockets at the irritation of the consumer.