EA Removes In-Game Ads From UFC 4 & Apologises Following Backlash

EA Removes In-Game Ads From UFC 4 & Apologises Following Backlash

9
Matt Lorrigan

EA has removed in-game ads from EA Sports UFC 4 and apologised following a fan backlash.

The in-game ads weren't present when the game launched, but added in weeks later. One particular ad promoting the second season Amazon Prime's The Boys was spotted by Reddit user Ydino and posted with the title "EA decided to add full-on commercials in the middle of gameplay in a $60 game a month after its release so it wasn't talked about in reviews," gaining over 91,000 upvotes.

This level of advertising was particularly egregious, with a near-full screen ad popping up at the beginning and end of an in-game replay, before another smaller ad popped up near the bottom of the screen during gameplay. Fans voiced their displeasure at the prospect of being advertised to in a game they had already paid full priced for, especially during gameplay, and EA has responded by pulling the ads and apologising in a statement.

"Earlier this week, the team turned on ad placements in EA SPORTS UFC 4 that appeared during the "Replay" moments in gameplay," the statements reads. "This type of advertising inventory is not new to the UFC franchise, though we have typically reserved displaying ads to specific main menu tiles or Octagon logo placement."

"It is abundantly clear from your feedback that integrating ads into the Replay and overlay experience is not welcome. The advertisements have been disabled by the team and we apologize for any disruption to gameplay that players may have experienced."

"We realize that this should have been communicated with players ahead of time and that's on us. We want to make sure our players have the best possible experience playing EA SPORTS UFC 4, so ad integration in the Replay and overlay experience will not be reappearing in the future. Thank you for your continued feedback on EA SPORTS UFC 4."

[via Eurogamer]

Comments
9
  • Shady as f***.
  • EA, they'll try anything once. Love how they waited for reviews to pass, too.
  • They'll be back. If not here, then in Madden. Maybe the next Battlefield will have commercials in between each game.
  • "We realize that this should have been communicated with players ahead of time and that's on us." Or how about, not doing it at all. What gamer wants any type of ad in their game? Shady practices are becoming more and more common.
  • The most amusing part of that is that is shows that contractually, all the power in that advertising deal was on EA's side. Them even being able to remove the ads after putting them in, means they wrote up a contract with the provision that they could remove it [and I assume refund it] if/when they got backlash. Otherwise, they'd have had to keep the ads in after taking the money and signing the contracts to advertise for X period of time. So they KNEW there was a high chance of shit hitting the fan, and did it anyway, not because they needed the money [or else it would have been fully integrated into the game like all the IRL sponsorships printed on the UFC ring mat] but because they wanted to milk it dry. Gotta respect the grift there.... while also being utterly disgusted by it XD
  • “EA games it’s in the ads“ the new normal for EA.
  • They always try the most dodgy shit with sports games. Likely because they know it doesn’t matter what they do in the end, people will keep buying them every single year so they just try to see how far they can go. Adverts will probably be a staple in sports games in the next decade
  • They will be back. You will instead be given a small popup asking if youd like to watch an add for some form of bonus ingame reward. That way it is made player choice.
  • Ah those scamps at EA. They are the leaders of the industry at these sort of things. This is the first time that I can remember that they apologised so quickly & admitted it was their fault. Ea- "We would have gotte away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling players"
  • You need to register before being able to post comments

Game navigation