Submitted 6 months ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.techspot.com/news/102950-ea-looking-placing-ads-full-price-games-again.html
EA has tried this before, with predictable results. In 2020, EA Sports UFC 4 included full-screen ads for the Amazon Prime series The Boys that would appear during ‘Replay’ moments. These were absent from the game when it launched, with EA introducing the ads about a month later, thereby preventing them from being highlighted in reviews. It wasn’t long before the backlash led to EA disabling the ads.
I cannot buy fewer EA games. The last EA game I bought ran on the Super Nintendo.
I cannot buy fewer EA games.
Not with that attitude
The last EA game I bought ran on the Super Nintendo.
Have you checked Babbage’s return policy?
Babbage as in the steam-deriven mechanical game engine, version 2?
I remember the controllers being kinda clunky.
Oh, it won’t be exclusive EA-exclusive enshittification, I’m sure.
I haven’t bought any EA games in many years as well. I don’t have any EA games in my Steam library, though I probably have some Xbox 360 games around. The only one I know for sure was Rogue Squadron II on Gamecube
Wait, Rogue Leader was Lucasarts and Factor 5. EA didn’t have anything to do with it, did they?
I used to buy FIFA and NHL games, once every few years. But they’ve gotten so shitty I just gave up on them. I haven’t played a soccer game in years now. PES used to be a good alternative but I’ve heard it’s not great anymore either.
I hope gamers will unite. Though it seems far more likely that kids will just buy it because “wooooo hype. Who cares about ads, I already watch a bazillion a day when doomscrolling Instagram”.
Get off the gaming market EA.
I can’t believe I’m actually going to have to become a retro gamer. Sigh.
Once you discover the sea of great indie games you won’t even care what AAA is doing anymore. Some of the AAA games remove cash shops after the game loses relevance anyway, like Shadow of War, meaning you get rewarded for not buying the game until it is 90% off.
I hope gamers will unite. Though it seems far more likely that kids will just buy it because “wooooo hype. Who cares about ads, I already watch a bazillion a day when doomscrolling Instagram”.
Something tells me they will, at least it’s on the latest generation to step up.
Previous generations of always pushed back against this, and won.
Pretty sure the Hell Divers 2 backlash was the only time I’ve ever seen gamers win over a corporation. Blizzard fans have made me absolutely cynical about gamer boycotts.
gamers, unite!
I’m really struggling to remember when 's the last time I played an EA game. I can’t really…
Let them monetize everything until oblivion,no one’s gonna stop them anyway,so they might as well slowly die.
They’ve got EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) and madden though, they’re never going to die.
Maybe not, but individuals can choose where to spend their money. The masses will still buy this shit, but I am the kinda guy will will make his own life harder based on morals.
Like I ain’t shopped on Amazon for years. Some stuff I just can’t find anymore. Not used WhatsApp for many years, makes it harder to join friend group chats. Etc.
They tried it way before 2020 too, they talked to the agency I worked for at the time. Same result
I remember them putting ads on the billboards in Battlefield 2142 way back when.
I 'member
A little thing called the “Massive Ad client” exists in NFS Carbon, Pro Street, Undercover and even World.
It was used to download ads off the internet and display them in the game’s own billboards.
It was also an entrypoint for a NFS World hack too lol so ripbozo EA
They tried it way before 2020 too, they talked to the agency I worked for at the time. Same result
They tried it before 2020 as well.
They keep trying this every generation, hoping the latest generation will be dumb enough to accept it.
A little thing called the “Massive Ad client” exists in NFS Carbon, Pro Street, Undercover and even World.
It was used to download ads off the internet and display them in the game’s own billboards.
It was also an entrypoint for a NFS World hack too lol so ripbozo EA
If they’d just be smart about it. Make the ads in-game. Like a Nike poster on a wall or a can of Pepsi on a table or something. I wouldn’t have a problem with that. Making them the entire focus - however brief - just makes me hate them immeasurably.
Even then they should still be held to a higher standard.
Especially now in the era of generative AI.
The poster should have a well known character in the world lore holding the Coke, or a location in the map for the car ad, etc.
The ads should feel like they are actually a part of the world, and shouldn’t be put in a game unless this can be accomplished.
In game ads don’t have to suck. But because the power dynamic is such that shit ads can be shoved down players’ throats with the only response being to not buy that publisher’s games, the medium isn’t going to find an acceptable equilibrium.
In game ads in live service games for in game assets may not suck too much though (an inevitable part of the future).
I’m pretty sure their goal is to bring ads in the same form as the mobile games, not as part of the in-game world. If they can do it on mobile, why shouldn’t they on pc or consoles?
I think this will be an important thing for gamers to unite against, because if there isn’t enough push back, every big studio will do the same.
Good thing I haven’t bought a game from a big name studio since, uhh, does Elden Ring count?
You can’t really sell ads on a per impression basis with just product placement. They want the ad sales to be recurring revenue.
Soon the game world will have speakers with ads, that will not really follow volume settings or distance attenuation.
The tutorial will have you collect “refreshing Pepsi Colas”.
Cinematics will always look to the big billboards.
And the game will have strict anti tampering/mods and will require internet connection to support this adds.
EA doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt anymore
Yeah, I didn’t say I trust them to do it right, just that it could be done tastefully.
EA already did this. Many games had real ads on billboards in the world. Need for speed underground 2 was sponsored by cingular wireless. Your ingame pager was product placement and the company’s logo was on screen whenever you were doing free roam.
This is very EA with historical precident.
Tbh, having advertisment on billboards in a racing game is the less intrusive and immersive way to do in game advertisement.
But then again billboards in real life are an eye sore. /shrug
City of Heroes tried the same basic thing back in the day. They figured it’s an urban environment that has billboards and posters as part of the general clutter, why not get paid to switch out a fake ad for a real ad?
Burnout paradise city. Which also was one of my fav games of all time. No ads would be cool.
And they already do it on mobile. They are just trying to bring ads to the pc and consoles, just like they do on mobile.
There are many independent developers who deserve your money more than EA. Vote with your wallet.
Fellow gamers, now is the time to push back on this crap. If you don’t do it now, you’ll live with this forever. They tried doing this in past generations as well, and failed.
Spread the word, tell others. Be vocal! Advocate for this not happening.
And if someone tells you that this isn’t preventable, tell them not to be cynical. Remind them of the other positive changes we were able to have happen recently in gaming, and that in the past when they tried this, the pushback was successful in keeping the gaming companies from doing so.
And remember, some of those you would try to convince are probably astroturfers/bots.
~Anti~ ~Commercial-AI~ ~license~ ~(CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0)~~___~
EA is on my boycott list since Origin & ME3. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
EA is on my boycott list since Origin & ME3. ¯_ (ツ)_/¯
How many of those have in-game ads though?
There’s a history of pushing back against adding ads into games, that’s different than boycotting the company overall. One can be successful, when another is not.
And having said that, one could even argue that their desperation to make money by putting ads into games (again) is not just about keeping the shareholders happy, but also because of people having boycotted them over the years, depriving them of additional income. You may be making more of a stand than you realize.
Remeber if they call you naive or quixotic or an idealist that means they can’t win the argument with normal means and rely on name calling. Act with integrity, it’s worth it!
The ones pushing back are either trolls or bootylickers; the recent Helldivers2 shitstorm proved that things can change.
the recent Helldivers2 shitstorm proved that things can change.
And there’s a history of successfully pushing back against this change as well!
Dead Space from 2008 is such a good game. EA has fallen so far. I don’t see myself ever buying another EA game at this point.
they don’t make games. they’re a publisher
*they’re buying studios who make legendary games and kill them.
They are a parasite to the gaming landscape.
That’s all they are now. RIP EA Redwood Shores. 🥲
why the fuck should I pay for them then?
Once these companies have your money, they don’t care what you want. Don’t give your money to companies that abuse you like this.
Good thing seeing that a game is published or developed by EA, or one of its subsidiaries, is 9 times out of 10 enough for me to not bother with the game to begin with. They don’t make a thing that is worth dealing with them to get to play.
That company burned all of its good will and trust with me years ago. So sure go ahead and put as many ads as you want EA. I know for sure I won’t be seeing them.
…82% of the visual field… …before inducing seizures.
LOL “clever response involving a bottle of rum and the high seas”
Last EA game I bought was Battlefield 1 at launch, since I was a Battlefield fanatic. Haven’t given them a penny since. I’m doing my part.
Hmm. I think the last one I bought was Red Alert 3. Still worth it imo.
This is another reason I tapping out of gamepass now. With whats happening with streaming, I don’t even want to support a “good deal” when I know the prices will go up, they’ll make tier pricing and add ads somewhere. I want to own my shit. I’m done with ads. Amazon last change to prime made me cancel all services except youtube and bought a 14tb hdd. EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard are all on do not buy list for me.
My last EA title was Red Alert III which they swaped for a version that required origin. I miss Westwood.
I do hope someone works out how to mod this to replace all ads with KPop.
Only game I play from EA is apex. Everything else is…rented…online…indefinitely. 🏴☠️
Why would you pay full-price for the game then? Sales are constant, games do not hold their value. If you are a developer that is bothered by this, I suggest you stop working for EA
Idiots.
i just want to fucking play battlefield 1 when i want that i own. i don’t care about your EA live services, i don’t care about your ads. i already gave you my money because i liked the game. but i fucking hate you so much EA, like you’re on top of the list
I’d be okay with this if they made those games cheaper. But no, I have to pay $94 CAD for a shit live service game that I don’t even have the rights to and which the online service may be terminated at any time. Fuck EA and their monopoly on sports games.
I know that I’ve played EA games before, but I don’t think that I’ve played stuff from them recently, so I don’t have a personal preference.
As long as they also provide some option to pay more and not have ads, I don’t really see an issue. It just becomes another option to buy the game – if you want ad-supported, can do that, and if you want to pay directly, you can do that.
If they don’t have any option to pay for an ad-free experience, then it seems like it could be obnoxious for people depending upon their ad preference.
I think that all the games that I would play – if we ignore EA games aside, I’d rather pay for an ad-free experience, but eh. Games with ads – as well as the option to buy an ad-supported or ad-free version at different prices – are a major thing on, say, mobile, so obviously there are people who would prefer the ad-supported route.
Back in 2022, EA patented a system that generates in-game content and ads based on a person’s playstyle.
Personally, I don’t really think that I want to have my activity logged and data-mined either way, though. I would pretty much always rather pay more than have my activity recorded. I care more about that than the ads.
Counter point, if I paid $60 for a game, i don’t want ads in that game
If I paid >$0 for a game I don’t want ads in that game.
Season passes, in game stores, and every other mtx in a game I paid for is insulting and generally ends up being intrusive and annoying since they tend to shove it in your face.
Counter-counter-point, games have cost $60 ($70 with the most recent generation) since, what, 2006? 2007?
$60 in 2006 is over $90 today.
So we’re paying less upfront for games now than we were in 2006. Yet costs to develop AAA games have gone up significantly.
I’m not saying ads in games is a good idea, I fucking hate ads. I also hate microtransactions. But every time prices go up people get angry. Remember the backlash when Xbox Series X and PS5 prices were standardized at $70?
I don’t know the solution. But the current trends are unsustainable. Just like everything else in late-stage capitalism.
This is some of the most corpo boot licking drivel I’ve read in a long time. It sounds like someone who has been forced to watch shareholder presentations on repeat locked in a tiny cell and only are released until when they can explain why people want to be marketed to.
Pay extra for a non ad experience? Ad preference?
Get the fuck out, and stop making shit ass mobile games.
I was going to read all of this until I got to “provide some option to pay more and not have ads” . Zero chance this would ever end in a consumer friendly way after that first payment.
Same, if you’ve already paid a premium for a “AAA” game. Paying more to no have ads is insane. I’ll just not play those games, thanks.
Guise, it’s this or they literally go broke. I know I’m going to keep my perpetual pre-order for every EA game ever made.
Fuck EA of course but that AI pic is horrible. The fuck does a U-shaped Ferrari sitting in front of an Obama campaign billboard have to do with EA putting ads in games?
Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
Good, do it.
Let your player base dwindle some more. I already outright refuse to play EA crap. Fill it with ads, make ads mandatory before and after all loading screen.
Want to equip new gear? Forced ads Want to save? Forced ads
Put so many ads that you make bajillions. Do it ea I dare you.
foggy@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I hope they do it, shorting their stock will be easy af.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Here’s another great idea: persistent ads. Have ads take up a portion of the screen always. Players may want to shop while fighting a boss or taking a shot on goal.
brbposting@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Different portions of the screen
Otherwise it’s too vulnerable to a common blocking technology
Image
Wogi@lemmy.world 6 months ago
An EA exec got hard reading that