EA has formed EA Advertising, a new "platform" dedicated to helping real-world brands advertise in its games through placements added "directly into gameplay and live experiences."
An announcement says ads will be folded into EA's "global portfolio of games," but EA Sports is the focus of the new platform.
The hook is something that's had marketers salivating for years, and which you've probably noticed yourself thanks to browser cookies: dynamic, targeted ad placement. EA says the "more than 120 million players" it reaches through its "games and services" each month encompass a range of tastes, and invites brands to tap into those people via its "new proprietary ad server" and "impression measurement".
"EA ensures ads are viewable, delivered to real audiences, and measured using industry-accredited standards in partnership with Integral Ad Science," the company says.
Example advertisements on the EA Advertising website show how ads may appear in games. In EA Sports FC 26, for instance, player jerseys or stadium banners may feature brands like Visa, one of the platform's early partners.
"In-game media" is also singled out. A sample ad emphasizes Lowe's home improvement store in the EA Sports broadcast layer which mirrors live sports coverage. "One of the most attentive audiences in media, watching like it's always been there," the site says of gamers.
Some partnered brands have already been integrated into other games, including Vans shoes in Skate and Coach clothes and accessories in The Sims, EA says. A slightly odder pairing would be State Farm insurance in EA Sports FC.
This new ad program has also brought us right back to the primordial crucible of gamer trends. Long ago, a sea-dwelling gaming ad hoped to one day live on land, whether that meant learning to lay an egg or parasitizing Geoff Keighley. Its name was Mountain Dew. Now, just one liberal dusting of powdered nacho cheese flavoring separates us from the full set.
"Mountain Dew’s 'DEW University,' a fully playable team experience in EA SPORTS College Football 26, complete with a custom stadium, mascot, and reward ecosystem," EA describes.
Ad placements in games are nothing new, of course, and in some cases – pretty much exclusively those where a game is simulating a real sport, rather than Sir Sam Stranding developing an addiction to Monster Energy – can arguably add to the experience, or at least not take away from it. The same might be said for sponsors who appear in games like Rocket League.
However, there are also evergreen concerns about what ads are being served to who, how ads may clash with a game world and/or directly obstruct gameplay a la mobile hurdles (watch this ad to earn currency, for example), and ads as a vehicle for the increasingly aggressive monetization of games in general.
EA has long been one of the biggest proponents of in-game ads, and is clearly only hoping to do more advertising going forward, viewing the games it puts in front of players as fruit ripe for squeezing.
