EA, EA'd.........................................

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Can tell these fucksticks desperately want to standardize this. Not just EA, SFV had it and a few others. Trying to incrementally inch towards it until it's in every game possible.

Delayed it a month after release as well to avoid reviews.

EA on the ropes after adding in-game ads to UFC 4

EA has sparked a fresh fan backlash after adding in-game ads to UFC 4.

Players noticed advertisements briefly pop up at the beginning and end of replays in the premium video game, and a clip of this has gone viral on reddit with over 86,000 upvotes.

The clip in question shows a full-screen advert for Amazon TV show The Boys, alongside a 4th September 2020 date for the launch of its second season. This advert also displays at the end of the replay.

The clip also reveals an advert for The Boys on the canvas, and a third pop-up during actual gameplay at the bottom of the screen.

EA decided to add full-on commercials in the middle of gameplay in a $60 game a month after it's release so it wasn't talked about in reviews from r/assholedesign

These adverts went live just over two weeks after UFC 4 came out on 14th August 2020, which critics have pointed out means they won't have been picked up by reviewers. In fact, gamers have reported the same in-game adverts in UFC 3, too.

While in-game advertisements are hardly a new thing, and players of free-to-download games and mobile titles are used to watching adverts in order to progress, the UFC community appears united in its disgust at the addition of in-game pop-up advertisements in UFC 4 - a full-price game that's already under the cosh from fans for not turning out as well as many had hoped.

"I wouldn't mind the commercials if it was a free-to-play game," commented redditor ryangoddard1984. "But the full retail price plus being bombarded with advertisements is a real slap in the face. If it was just on the octagon canvas then it would actually be pretty cool. Or if it was a little trailer in the corner of the screen for five seconds."

EA has yet to comment (we've asked), but it looks like the adverts are part of a new initiative that caught the attention of the business press earlier this year.

In July 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T's WarnerMedia ran three ad tests within February 2018's UFC 3 (probably why hardly anyone noticed) back in May promoting Turner properties Rick & Morty, Snowpiercer, and The Match.

Then, in July, credit-reporting company Experian started a test within UFC 3 for its Experian Boost product, which aims to help people increase their credit score. The test ad featured celebrity spokesman John Cena, according to WSJ. It's all part of reaching a wider, younger audience that isn't necessarily watching telly, according to the marketers.

The WSJ noted that the video game executives were mindful of a backlash from gamers, and that's exactly what they've got now with the Amazon adverts in UFC 4. Perhaps they viewed a potential negative reaction as the cost of doing business.

What's next? An advert you have to watch at half-time in FIFA 21?

People really need to stop giving EA money.

Christ this needs to be stopped before it becomes common practice!

EA no more fucks to give

Let's all pledge that we aren't going to buy a single sports game this year.

Not from 2K, not from EA.

(Racing games are an exception, as no sport is being done in a car)

Jesus Christ. JESUS! H! CHRIST! WTF is that? That is so terrible. It's almost worse than a commercial because it just flashes in there for a second like "HEY LOOK AT ME!". It's insulting as hell, oh you have half a second of idle animations? Insert an ad.

Bad enough these games cost 60 bucks and are essentially 90% recycled content (if not more), but now they're making money off of you after the fact.

This is essentially like purchasing a movie and then having an ad in the middle of it or like a scroller on the bottom pop up every few minutes.

I pledge. But it's easy for me, I don't enjoy sports game.

And after cancelling my Origin Access or whatever sub, I haven't given EA a single penny.

**** EA. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I wish they didn't have the Star Wars license and own Respawn.

casuals dont care and will gobble it up

@mrbojangles25: Yeah respawn is still cool.

Let's only buy Respawn games and not tell anyone :p

That's awful and infuriating. What a mess.

Yeah, that's dirty. I just got Amazon Prime (was using my bro's before), and you get adverts before episodes. I think the only ones exempt are Amazon produced shows/movies. These companies get real scummy.

I don't even like pure "Sports games" anyway, which should be easy enough to not buy EA Sports games.

The AAA publishers are a joke.

I haven't bought an EA game or used any of their services since like 2012. When they were really getting into that online pass crap forcing people to pay extra to play a game online that they already own. Plus phoning in Mass Effect 3 and charging full price. Plus some other issues. It would seem they as a company haven't changed any and are still trying to milk consumers for products they already paid money for.

I wish Respawn wasn't associated with ea. They are the only developer there I still like.

I can easily pledge not to buy any sports games. I just don't enjoy them anymore. Then again I don't follow sports either.

Modern day AAA gaming at its finest. It's only going to get worse next gen.

Sadly, this is true.

People on Gamefaqs are defending this shit, I kid you not.

Same shit on the Steam forums, always soon goober ready to bat for "thing I like" with mental gymnastics that are Olympian.

I would care if I played the games mentioned. Would be interesting to see if they recycled previous entry assets like was done with Madden 21 where they still left Madden 20 banners in the game.

I love how easy these companies make it to not want to buy their games.

And this is why publishers pull this shit. People will defend anything.

Not gamers. Advertising shills, reputation management shills and "influencers". They're effing everywhere now.

I still don't get how that company is still around.

Yea, what a bunch of assholes.

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So... anyone got any info on the new Need for Speed?😋

They even waited till the reviews had all gone out before adding them in a patch afterwards. Dirty bastards.

@AcidTango: are you kidding? Have you seen the revenue from their monetization? They are raking in boatloads of cash, I believe somewhere in the area of 70%+ of their entire revenue (in the territory of $1.2 billion) comes from MTs. We think it’s bad now, we ain’t seen shit. Battlefront, Madden 21 MC userscores, who cares. The suits at EA are howling their asses off in contemptuous laughter as they’re running to the bank.

And frankly, why shouldn’t they be? They’ve tapped into a goldmine that is skyrocketing their profits. I don’t even pay attention to EA anymore as I don’t consider them invested in gaming at all. I view all EA products the same way as I view themed slot machines....nothing but fundamentally exploitative cash cows for those willing to pay to play. And unfortunately, there are many.

But I can’t fault EA for taking advantage. Full tilt, I certainly would.

I'm ok with ads in FTP games as long as you have the option to either watch the add or pay a one time fee to wave them. Now as far as ads in a full priced game? lol.. no, you can kiss my ass with that crap. It's bad enough ads/commercials are already on tv that we pay for.

That’s dirty. All reviewers should bring this to people’s attention and change their scores if necessary.

@MirkoS77:

Sadly you're right. There will always be suckers who falls for EA's bullshit.

Well that's a new low.

Doesn't this happen in real UFC matches on TV?

I get the different or updated ads on the octagon mat, I wouldn't really have one problem with that as it wouldnt interfere with the game and would be more realistic. Now actual ads playing or shown before or after matches, that's a new (?) low for EA.

I get that we are all shocked and furious about this but this is literally not going to change anything for EA. The majority of people who buy their sports games will probably not be bothered by this either as seeing ads is a norm to them.

This is garbage and sadly I don't think it's going away, just look at 2K if you're looking for shameless practices and they're getting away with it.

Not really shocking, in-game ads are as old as the medium itself and it's EA.

Recently a few companies have been testing the waters to see if they can push them and it seems specifically around sport or esport type titles where it's direct ads.

But yes, they will get away with it, normalize it, they always fucking do,

I remember back in the late-70s and early-80s when cable television was just starting to enter mainstream, and people used to say, "Oh, I don't mind paying for it, because all of the programming is ad free. It's great!" Then cable companies started slowly sneaking ads in until they reached the point we're at today where you have just as many ads as "free" over-the-air broadcasts, only now you're paying a premium for it.

Looks like video games are following the same path.

First of all ... F* EA, i will never forgive them for ruining Madden, which i mean it was never that perfect, but you could at least see some sort of evolution back in the N64 days and then the PS3 era, nowadays they are just ... i mean, seriously F* EA.

Now with that being said ... is this really that bad ??? Even back when SFV did it (and still does) i never saw it as something that bad, specially because it doesn't get in the way of the game, so yeah ...

I think that altering a game in this fashion ie. putting ads in like this, adding gambling mechanics, etc. after someone buys the game should be illegal. Companies should be forced to be upfront about what they are selling to consumers.

Yet... this is just the start. Next will be five-second video ads in place of loading screens. Then ten-second ads. Then full 30- to 60-second ads every time you start a new game. Then we'll see action games with commercial breaks after cutscenes. Eventually, there will be as many ads in game as you see during a typical television program.

I know I certainly can't wait to see THE BOYS SEASON 2 ON AMAZON PRIME OBEY OBEY!

Yep, that will be the "end game". Putting their toes in the water seeing what shit they get away with, with the best strategy to normalize it. Don't wanna rush it, too much push back.

Do the old car-salesman strategy. Offer a worse prospect than the one they actually want, offer that alternative as the more reasonable route.

Pretty much what Bethesda done with modding. Same shit, just altered it and held off until the rabble-rabble went down. Now no one bats an eye-lid in a very short time span.

It would be funny, if wasn't so pathetic.

Great ... things that may or may not happen. Not saying it won't but as of now, I find it hard to care about it. Not to mention, i'm almost done with AAA gaming anyway so by the time they do that (if they ever) i won't be playing that much those kind of games to begin with.

Also and now that i think about it, if any Indie company ever does this in order to step away from publishers like EA or Ubisoft, i would gladly watch a few ads just to aid them.

It's naive to think that ads in games won't become more pervasive over time. Remember Bethesda's "horse armor" debacle? People laughed at them for selling a useless cosmetic item for a single player game, and it was sold for only a dollar. Now look at the state of gaming with overpriced DLC being the rule rather than the exception.

Its American Football so it was crap to begin with, so EA are just emulating crap lol.

As for ads, well i only buy EA games second hand so EA doesn't get my money anyway, and besides i don't buy many EA games only NFS.

Their shitty company put shitty ads in their shitty game? That's shit.

I'm unaffected though. Imagine paying money for EA's games. LOL

Fucking gross. And I was thinking of picking up Jedi Fallen Order. Guess I'll pirate it. EA can suck a dick.

I generally stay out of outrages like these but this is universally without question all kinds of scumbaggery. To be clear the ads I have no problem with, but for them to add them in after release is horrendous. I learned my lesson with CTR when it comes to microtransactions and Activision, I’m not buying on release date. Now the same will be for EA as well.

@the_bi99man: Yeah. It's actually on Gamepass as well, which I personally have right now. Was thinking about trying the game, but I've come to the conclusion that it's pretty crap and I don't want to waste my time.

@i_p_daily:Whether American Football is crap or not is irrelevant, you can emulate any crap sport (like racing for example) and do it great regardless the source material which again, EA has failed.

@dzimm: I'm not saying it won't ... i'm just saying that currently i have no problems with it and when ( if ) it happens, i won't be playing those games anyway unless it is to support small indie developers.

The fact that you, and presumably others, have no problems with the current implementation is why it will only get worse in the future. Consumers need to fight back now if they want to put a stop to it. I remember back in the day when SWAT 4 was released, Sierra tried sneaking in advertising by way of patch that allowed advertising images to be displayed on posters and computer monitors (which did impact gameplay, because suddenly computer monitors were no longer destructible). Fans of the game were upset, and instructions on how to edit your system's host files to block the advertising server became popular on the SWAT 4 forums. That pretty much put a stop to that sort of thing for many, many years, but it looks like publishers are at it again, and this time with an apparently more complacent and compliant consumer base who is more willing to accept these kinds of intrusions.

Sam Fishy loves his bubbly gums.

@madsnakehhh: Actually no they can't, they can only emulate what is in the game, and because the real thing sucks the video game will be the same.