According to an EA exec, in-game advertisements should be an integral part of development for videogames and although mobile titles often have them, he believes it should be the same for all other games as well which can benefit not just new titles but a lot of older ones. In a recent interview with The Game Business, Alexander Dao, VP of advertising and sponsorship at Electronic Arts, has explained in detail the immense value of ads in games on a broader range:
“As you think about new games that are coming out, as you think about free-to-play experiences that are happening on the console side… like our Skate game. Those are opportunities where, if you actually design them with the right advertising and brand experience in there from the get-go, it just makes it easier. It makes it feel more native, and it creates more flexibility in the types of brands that can come in and out. So, I do see a big opportunity there,” he said.
Lately, EA has been working with both Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Integral Ad Science to help leverage how and when ads can appear in videogames and according to Dao, their partnership can effectively become a springboard for the entire in-game advertising division in the near future.
“When we think about in-game measurement and viewability standards, how do we make sure that’s consistent so that when other publishers and platforms also do this, and we share back reports to the brand or the marketer, they’re seeing consistency? And they know that it’s showing up the way that it should be showing up, and it’s being measured the way that it should be measured. Some of the things that we’re doing here, I believe, will drive a bit more consistency and standardization [across the industry].”
EA had recently brought micro-transactions to College Football 27 which made sure that you needed to pay real-world money in order to to upgrade your player or coach or even some of the other items. Needless to say, this had sparked waves of negative reactions among players and across the game’s community and as a result, EA has now confirmed that they’re on their way to course-correct on the micro-transactions in College Football 27’s single-player offline modes.
