Electronic Arts (EA) is charging headlong into the world of in-game advertising with a new ad platform called…well, EA Advertising. The new business venture promises to “connect brands to highly-engaged audiences” that allows companies to purchase in-game ads that range from real-time in-game placement to custom in-game content that is “designed to enhance, not disrupt, the player experience.”
“In these interactive gameplay environments, brands become part of the game itself, reflecting how players engage with advertising in real-world contexts,” EA declared in a post announcing the new platform. “In these interactive gameplay environments, brands become part of the game itself, reflecting how players engage with advertising in real-world contexts.”
“Brands can activate across live environments, tailoring placements to meet campaign objectives, and update campaigns with ongoing optimization informed by aggregated engagement insights.”
A few high-profile companies have already partnered with EA for a series of in-game campaigns promoting their products. These include credit card company Visa, hardware and home improvement retail company Lowe’s, energy drink producer Red Bull, Comcast subsidiaries Xfinity and Peacock, and Geoff Keighley’s favorite soda soda company Mountain Dew.
EA’s announcement primarily puts the company’s portfolio of sports games (which includes franchises like Madden NFL, EA Sports FC, and EA NHL) front-and-center, promising products like “stadium signage” alongside custom in-game content to connect advertisers with players. Given how sports stadiums are already plastered with advertisements, EA’s promise that these ads reflect “how players engage with advertising in real-world contexts” is seemingly well-founded.
But games outside the EA Sports portfolio also appear to be pitched to brands as potential advertising beachheads. The EA Advertising website includes skate. and The Sims 4 in a gallery of “endless communities” that share “one love of gaming.”
There’s no immediate word whether these ads would be injected into single-player games like BioWare’s next Mass Effect game or its first-person-shooter live service games, Apex Legends and Battlefield 6. It also doesn’t immediately state if it will allow other video game companies to purchase their own advertisements.
If it did, that could lead to a situation where a studio with cash to burn could cheekily promote their own game directly to EA’s players.
EA’s announcement follows the news earlier this year that it saw a nine percent boost in net bookings year-over-year, delivering “strongest net bookings quarter of the fiscal year in Q4.” Those numbers were announced after laying off an unknown number of Battlefield 6 developers in March.
This new advertising platform is certainly a potent business opportunity for EA, though it may soon be unclear how much revenue the platform brings in for the company. If all goes according to plan, the company will soon be fully taken private by a consortium of investors led by Saudi Arabia in a $55 billion buyout.
Game Developer has reached out to EA for a comment on this story and will update it when the company responds.