EA is Launching an In-Game Ad Service

It feels like game publishers have been toying with the idea of putting advertisements in their games for years, but no one has been brave enough to put their hand on the stove.

Until now, that is.

EA has announced the launch of EA Advertising, which is exactly what it sounds like: a way for companies to advertise their brands directly inside a video game. Here's how EA pitches it:

Weave your brand into the very worlds gamers know and love. Help build immersion with playable experiences, native placements, and more.

Unsurprisingly, EA is showing off games such as Madden, EA FC, and College Football, as natural fits, which honestly makes sense. We've already seen product placement countless times across movies, television, and more. However, the publisher also showcases The Sims and Skate as options for in-game advertising, which is where things can get complicated.

EA Advertising Could Open a Slippery Slope Very Quickly

We get a potential glimpse as to what these in-game ads can look like on the company's website, and, unsurprisingly, they seem very innocent.

Visa branding on a team's kits and advertising walls. A sports ticker on the bottom sponsored by Lowe's. An in-game substitution, brought to you by EA Sports Ultimate Team. The Michelob Ultra Player of the Match.

Okay, that last one isn't a part of EA Advertising, but it is part of the currently ongoing FIFA World Cup, which shows just how ingrained advertising is into live sports these days. Advertising is everywhere, even when something isn't actively being advertised. Levi's Stadium had to block the official Levi's logo during World Cup matches because Levi's isn't an official sponsor. NHL broadcasts feature digital ads on the boards, which are overlaid on top of different in-person ads that spectators will see in the arena.

EA Advertising talking about "sponsored replays, branded overlays, or video spots inside the broadcast layer" doesn't offer an experience that sports fans are already actively consuming, with one key difference being what might be a lack of sports betting ads happening throughout an entire NFL/College Football broadcast. Given the controversy surrounding the latter, with Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby being able to play this year despite betting on games he participated in, I highly doubt we'll see FanDuel or DraftKings ads anytime soon, if ever.

Of course, if FanDuel or DraftKings writes a big enough check, I suppose anything is possible, and that's where the real trouble can begin.

A Glimpse Into the EA Advertising Application

At the bottom of EA's page lies a call to action. "Your next big move is here. Let’s figure out how to make your brand play."

It's here that companies will fill out an application to partner with EA Advertising to place their brand in various games. For the most part, it's a pretty standard application form. Current budget ranges are as follows:

• $100K - $199K
• $200K - $499K
• $500K - $999K
• $1M+

That's a pretty penny, and given the constantly exploding budgets in video game development, I understand why a company like EA is launching something like this. There is, however, something that does trouble me, aside from, well, everything about this: the available advertising types.

Currently, we have eSports Sponsorships, Mobile Video & Display Advertising, and In-Game Activations. The first two feel pretty self-explanatory. In-Game Activations, however, is vague enough to be incredibly predatory. There's only one mention of activations on the EA Advertising page, and that's being able to attend live events and "real world activations," with the example given being the Madden Bowl (in partnership with Visa, it's everywhere you want to be). What will that mean, however, for games like The Sims and Skate, both of which are visible on the EA Advertising splash page?

Are we going to lock off the Verizon action park in Skate unless you're a Verizon customer? Will you be unable to access certain items in The Sims as part of the Crate & Barrel collection without a qualifying purchase at Crate & Barrel? While yes, there are already advertisements in these games, what's to stop those hypothetical situations from happening? These are the questions that will need to be answered, because unlike typical product placement you see in movies and television, you can easily see paywalls cropping up in the blink of an eye if this type of thing runs unchecked.