That time EA tried (and failed) to surprise everyone by adding fullscreen adverts to a $60 game 2 weeks after it launched

[Master Disaster]

18 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

I understand that it's a stupid move but in many sports games there are ads to make the game more realistic, like in the 2K series. These are "fake" ads because they are the same you would see on a regular NBA broadcast.

 

In this particular case they aren't particularly invasive so why not?

Because EA are charging people full price for the game already.

[Doobeedoo]

Ahaha such a fing joke. 

[S w a t s o n]

Really wish amazon would fuck off with this shitty marketing campaign for The Boys. First we got some cringe edgy header for imgur, now full screen ads in a full price game. I love the Boys but bezos is making me not want to support them. Oh wait I dont pay for prime anyways, fuck you bezos

[JZStudios]

8 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

Madden 21 was a failure. UFC 4 is shaping up to be a failure. Need for Speed: Heat failed. 

Exactly what has EA succeeded in within the last year?

I've seen/heard about Madden being a failure, but not giving a single fuck about football in general I have no idea why. What about it could possibly be so much worse than the past 25 years?

 

I'm also just going to start the clock now for these ads being placed back in t-minus 3 months. Why people continue to buy and then be shocked that EA does the same shit every time is genuinely amazing. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 4 or 5 times, shame on you!"

6 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Remember when Need for Speed had Old Spice billboards?

Remember when Burnout Paradise had vote for Obama billboards? And... Diesel clothes vans/stores for some reason?

In all actuality, billboards are fine, provided they match the setting. They exist in actuality and add an amount of "authenticity" to the world. I'd take Old Spice over GTA's "Smell like a bitch" perfume and toe shoes billboards any day.

[nick name]

Lol.  What a lot of people don't know is that paid cable TV was promised without ads and then they started serving 'em.  Nobody's going to do crap about game art being an actual ad. 

[JZStudios]

3 hours ago, WereCat said:

The only other in-game ads I remember were in Arma 3 for the DLC when you picked up a DLC weapon or driven a vehicle that was from DLC you haven't purchased, you would get almost a full screen semi-transparent window from time to time that would advertise that particular DLC. 

It was really annoying but at least you could use the DLC stuff without having to pay for it. 

 

This is too much... 

Hmm. It won't let me use any weapons or drive vehicles. In fact, I once got in a van, which is in the base game but it has a DLC paint job, and it just spontaneously exploded. Had to spawn another one and ride shotgun. And any time I do that I get a pop-up saying it's DLC and when I try to close the game/server it makes me look at an advert for the DLC for 30 seconds because I hopped in and immediately out of a vehicle.

 

3 hours ago, WereCat said:

Hello there EA marketing manager. 

 

Yes, I always wanted ads in games for more realism. I think that you should also make artificially long loading times to fit more ads into them. 

Well duh, ad space on real TV is on average 7 minutes every half hour. They need to match that for the added realism.

 

2 hours ago, S w a t s o n said:

Really wish amazon would fuck off with this shitty marketing campaign for The Boys. First we got some cringe edgy header for imgur, now full screen ads in a full price game. I love the Boys but bezos is making me not want to support them. Oh wait I dont pay for prime anyways, fuck you bezos

Michael Reeves also made a laser eye baby.

[BachChain]

They're just trying to take the next step for an even more authentic sporting experience

[IAmAndre]

5 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Because EA are charging people full price for the game already.

 

6 hours ago, WereCat said:

Hello there EA marketing manager. 

 

Yes, I always wanted ads in games for more realism. I think that you should also make artificially long loading times to fit more ads into them. 

Both FIFA and 2K are paid full price and have micro transactions on top of that. The first 2K game played was NBA 2K6 and such ads and product placements were already present to some extent.

 

The point is there would be ads anyway. If you play NBA 2K, there are ads before, during, and after the game like "This is the first half highlights brought to you by [brand X] [insert slogan]". It's pretty much the same in FIFA. So basically you would get tons of ads anyway because that's what sport broadcasts look like, and these brands do make money through these "fake" ads because their name is mentioned. So the only difference here is that these aren't the brands you would see on a typical TV broadcast (as far as I know) but picked by EA so there's not much difference.

[warmongerp]

Cmon guys.

 

It's immersive, you also get them when you watch on the tv.

[Godlygamer23]

11 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

Madden 21 was a failure. UFC 4 is shaping up to be a failure. Need for Speed: Heat failed. 

Exactly what has EA succeeded in within the last year?

Have you actually played Need for Speed Heat? It wasn't really that bad. With that said, I paid $30 for it, versus the full $60. 

[PlayStation 2]

6 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Have you actually played Need for Speed Heat? It wasn't really that bad. With that said, I paid $30 for it, versus the full $60. 

Oh, it's not a bad game, never implied it was, but EA failed to give it the attention it needed and let Ghost Games hang dry because of it. 

Sad thing, honestly. Probably the only studio barring DICE that knew how to use Frostbite worth a fuck.

[WereCat]

OK, serious question. 

 

Would you guys accept ads in a free game instead of micro transaction? 

 

I personally would prefer that, I like having different skins, etc... I don't really pay for that stuff except very few cases I did for very small price. 

 

Or case 2.

If we got a game that's for example $60 and it contains a decent SP campaign and a MP mode, would you accept if the game was $40 with no ads for SP but with ads for MP? 

[starry]

3 minutes ago, WereCat said:

OK, serious question. 

 

Would you guys accept ads in a free game instead of micro transaction? 

 

I personally would prefer that, I like having different skins, etc... I don't really pay for that stuff except very few cases I did for very small price. 

 

Or case 2.

If we got a game that's for example $60 and it contains a decent SP campaign and a MP mode, would you accept if the game was $40 with no ads for SP but with ads for MP? 

Thats an interesting proposition. I think I would personally pass on that, ads can be very disruptive to my entertainment, and I would prefer to have microtransactions available and just ignore them. The only time I will do micro transactions is if I want to support the game because I beleive in what the studio is doing anyways. Involuntary ads vs voluntary micro transactions is an easy choice for me.

I would take ads that you have the ability to pay to stop from happening over loot boxes though, but then again, I usually avoid games with lootboxes if they are particularly predatory.

[Moonzy]

39 minutes ago, WereCat said:

Would you guys accept ads in a free game instead of micro transaction? 

I don't mind having both as long as:

- Ads aren't too intrusive (some game have a dedicated page where you can view ads to get in-game currency)

- micro transaction is only for cosmetics, if it's P2W then no.

 

I would be very less likely to play a game if it requires me to pay upfront to play it like how Tera used to be

 

that said, if I had to pick between forking out cash or having to see some not-very-intrusive Ads every couple minutes, I would pick Ads as I'm cheap

[Lord Vile]

12 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

I'll start by quoting Jim Sterling. Making some money is not enough these days, they're only happy if they make all of the money and even then they still wont really be happy.

 

Fans have created a HUGE backlash after a Reddit post pointed out that EA Sports UFC 4 is now showing full screen adverts during replays as well as smaller "card" style adverts at other points during matches and an advert which covered the majority of the ring canvas. All adverts were for the Amazon Prime exclusive show The Boys.

As pointed out in the title of the Reddit post, EA waited until 2 weeks after release to turn this feature on, something which an obvious attempt at dodging reviewers and makes the apology (which we will get to later) make no sense at all. To add insult to injury they also thought it would be a good idea to retroactively add adverts into UFC 3, a game which came out 2 years ago now. Seems like they were worried UFC 4 users would simply go back to playing UFC 3 to avoid the ads.

UFC 4 was already under fire from fans before this for its MANY glitches and bugs plus the fact very little was changed between UFC 3 and UFC 4. Its also worth pointing out, UFC 4 already has microtransactions in it too.

EA have now pulled the adverts from both UFC 3 and UFC 4 and issued an "apology", or should I say a "Sorry we got caught" which following standard operating procedure claims ignorance.

Yeah, because they didn't realise that fans wouldn't like this before they launched it.... That's why they waited for 2 weeks after launch to avoid reviewers.

 

Anyway right now UFC 4 is sitting at a 1.8 on Metacritic.

 

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-09-05-ea-on-the-ropes-after-adding-in-game-ads-to-ufc-4

 

I'm so glad I no longer invest much time in gaming as a hobby. These days I might buy 3 to 4 games a year maximum and only 1 of those I'll pay full price for. The only silver lining is that gamers seem to be finally waking up to just how much they're getting ripped off and are starting to push back against it.

I don't get the issue, makes it more realistic IMHO and you'd just be getting the UFC logo anyway. Hasn't FIFA done this with the advertisement boards already for years? 

[poochyena]

12 hours ago, jaslion said:

These are adding non advertised features to a game after launch and this can easily be seen as false advertising of the product in a way.

and then every and all online games would be banned. goodbye MMOs.

[Arika]

2 hours ago, WereCat said:

OK, serious question. 

 

Would you guys accept ads in a free game instead of micro transaction? 

 

I personally would prefer that, I like having different skins, etc... I don't really pay for that stuff except very few cases I did for very small price. 

 

Or case 2.

If we got a game that's for example $60 and it contains a decent SP campaign and a MP mode, would you accept if the game was $40 with no ads for SP but with ads for MP? 

The only mtx that should be in a full price game is cosmetics only. Case 2 I would still deem full price, artificially lowing a games price so they can shovel ads in it would be unacceptable 

 

Free to play, they can go ham with

[cj09beira]

9 hours ago, IAmAndre said:

I understand that it's a stupid move but in many sports games there are ads to make the game more realistic, like in the 2K series. These are "fake" ads because they are the same you would see on a regular NBA broadcast.

 

In this particular case they aren't particularly invasive so why not?

isn't the player supposed to be the fighter though, fighters dont see adds  

[IAmAndre]

32 minutes ago, cj09beira said:

isn't the player supposed to be the fighter though, fighters dont see adds  

Since it's not a VR game (or something with a first person view), it's supposed to reproduce a TV experience. Fighters don't hear the comments or see the stats either.

[imreloadin]

24 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

Since it's not a VR game (or something with a first person view), it's supposed to reproduce a TV experience. Fighters don't hear the comments or see the stats either.

Well shit if that's the case then charge them the normal PPV price for each match and call it a day while you're at it...

 

 

Spoiler

/s for anyone without a brain...seriously though, could you be more of an EA shill with an answer like that? "It's supposed to reproduce a TV experience"!?!? Seriously??? The fact that you're playing from the third person doesn't instantly make it reproducing a TV experience, it makes it easier for gameplay because you can see everything your opponent does more easily than if it were first person. Can you imagine how confusing it would be (even for VR) if it were first person and your opponent got you in some kind of hold? You wouldn't be able to tell what kind of move they had you in because your only sense that is functioning is sight and your character would be face down against the mat, it's not like the player can FEEL what type of hold they're in...gtfo of here with that nonsense.

 

[IAmAndre]

14 minutes ago, imreloadin said:

Well shit if that's the case then charge them the normal PPV price for each match and call it a day while you're at it...

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

/s for anyone without a brain...seriously though, could you be more of an EA shill with an answer like that? "It's supposed to reproduce a TV experience"!?!? Seriously??? The fact that you're playing from the third person doesn't instantly make it reproducing a TV experience, it makes it easier for gameplay because you can see everything your opponent does more easily than if it were first person. Can you imagine how confusing it would be (even for VR) if it were first person and your opponent got you in some kind of hold? You wouldn't be able to tell what kind of move they had you in because your only sense that is functioning is sight and your character would be face down against the mat, it's not like the player can FEEL what type of hold they're in...gtfo of here with that nonsense.

 

Very constructive comment. I see you're just not into sports games so why are you complaining anyway?

 

CoD players should just join the army and be done with it.

[CTR640]

Can't people just fucking stop buying their games? It won't get any better, it won't improve, it won't do shit if you keep buying their games.

NFS is fucked, FIFA is pure milking at its maximum as FIFA is the same every year and they just reskin it. But nooooo, people just gotta buy their games...

[IAmAndre]

31 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

Can't people just fucking stop buying their games? It won't get any better, it won't improve, it won't do shit if you keep buying their games.

NFS is fucked, FIFA is pure milking at its maximum as FIFA is the same every year and they just reskin it. But nooooo, people just gotta buy their games...

They do make some good games like Fallen Order or A Way Out. I personally skipped FIFA for a year because I was tired of the "milking" but the problem is there is no competition although I would love to see it. PES sucks even more. If Konami could get their shit together, we could expect a scenario like NBA 2K vs NBA Live, with Live barely existing now.

 

Now the thing with FIFA is that many people don't care about the micro transactions because that's their only game. It's pretty the same situation with The Sims. And it works. During the lockdown only the FUT generated over a billion dollars only with micro transactions.

[Eaglerino]

Bet this will be a normal addition to games in a year or less. EA and other companies have been through it before, they push a change no one likes and just accept the outrage once. People only get mad once.

[imreloadin]

1 hour ago, IAmAndre said:

Very constructive comment. I see you're just not into sports games so why are you complaining anyway?

I've owned a couple of MMA/Boxing games over the years but that is irrelevant honestly. It might be hard to believe, but people who aren't "into sports games" can still complain about this type of practice because it affects the industry as a whole. You don't think that other devs seeing EA pull this type of shit further emboldens them to do the same? They're getting additional money from it so obviously there is a financial incentive for other developers to do the same if they can see that EA gets away with it with little push-back from their consumer base. The same thing happened with micro-transactions, once a major publisher did it the rest followed suit because it's seen as additional profits that they are missing out on if they don't and they then have the shield of whataboutism with the other publishers who are actively doing it.

 

So yes, people who don't like sports games can still complain about this because it affects the industry as a whole.