Update: An EA spokesperson has reached out since the article below was published and issued this statement: "We wanted to clarify that in-game advertising for console games is not something we’re currently looking at, or have signed any agreements to implement. Creating the best possible player experience remains our priority focus."
Original story: A new platform designed by Simulmedia will allow developers to include TV and mobile style ads in console and PC games
Everyone who has played a free mobile game will be all too familiar with the annoying ads that pop up every few minutes. Making you watch something about a product you'd never consider buying, or play part of a game you didn't ask for. Well, turns out those ads could soon be coming to PC and console.
Simulmedia has developed something called playerWON, there's your first red flag, that will insert TV-style ads into free-to-play games. The idea is that players will be rewarded with in-game perks for watching them. A trial of the feature on Smite has also revealed players are more likely to spend money for receiving free ad-fueled bonuses. Its research claims 90% of free-to-play gamers currently don't spend anything in-game at all.
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If you're reading this thinking the backlash to such an idea means it'll never get off the ground, think again. On top of the Smite trial, which appears to have been a success, EA has also already signed up to use the system in the future. Potentially bad news for all you Apex Legends fans.
According to Simulmedia, the objective of this tech is to target a younger audience, primarily those aged between 18 and 34. As that age group largely consumes media via on-demand services, social media, and yes, free-to-play games, it has become increasingly more difficult to reach them via video advertising. This has been dubbed one of the ways to remedy that and could be featured in as many as 12 games before the end of 2021 according to Axios.
The biggest decision to be made here by developers is whether the benefit outweighs the cost. In-game adverts might well make companies a lot more money, but will that extra revenue counterbalance the people such a system will inevitably drive away? Not everyone is going to be willing to watch an ad between Fortnite matches or pause for 15 seconds after someone scores in Rocket League, regardless of the reward for doing so.
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