EA has tried this before, with predictable results. In 2020, EA Sports UFC 4 included full-screen ads for the Amazon Prime series The Boys that would appear during ‘Replay’ moments. These were absent from the game when it launched, with EA introducing the ads about a month later, thereby preventing them from being highlighted in reviews. It wasn’t long before the backlash led to EA disabling the ads.
Let your player base dwindle some more. I already outright refuse to play EA crap. Fill it with ads, make ads mandatory before and after all loading screen.
Want to equip new gear? Forced ads Want to save? Forced ads
Put so many ads that you make bajillions. Do it ea I dare you.
Here’s another great idea: persistent ads. Have ads take up a portion of the screen always. Players may want to shop while fighting a boss or taking a shot on goal.
I used to buy FIFA and NHL games, once every few years. But they’ve gotten so shitty I just gave up on them. I haven’t played a soccer game in years now. PES used to be a good alternative but I’ve heard it’s not great anymore either.
I haven’t bought any EA games in many years as well. I don’t have any EA games in my Steam library, though I probably have some Xbox 360 games around. The only one I know for sure was Rogue Squadron II on Gamecube
I hope gamers will unite. Though it seems far more likely that kids will just buy it because “wooooo hype. Who cares about ads, I already watch a bazillion a day when doomscrolling Instagram”.
Once you discover the sea of great indie games you won’t even care what AAA is doing anymore. Some of the AAA games remove cash shops after the game loses relevance anyway, like Shadow of War, meaning you get rewarded for not buying the game until it is 90% off.
I hope gamers will unite. Though it seems far more likely that kids will just buy it because “wooooo hype. Who cares about ads, I already watch a bazillion a day when doomscrolling Instagram”.
Something tells me they will, at least it’s on the latest generation to step up.
Previous generations of always pushed back against this, and won.
Pretty sure the Hell Divers 2 backlash was the only time I’ve ever seen gamers win over a corporation. Blizzard fans have made me absolutely cynical about gamer boycotts.
Yes, and consider what insane amount of pressure was necessary to achive this. Over 200.000 negative reviews for HD2. That makes it very unlikely to happen again. It shows how little gamers can achieve and how little their concerns are heard if they are not accumulating to a critical mass.
Nothing changed with Helldivers. The game is still blocked in over 100 countries and people who rightfully purchased the game still can not play it. Sure we don’t have to create an account, but that was annoying -not an actual issue. The real issue was thousands of people suddenly losing access to their game because Sony wants conversion.
Sony made a social media post. They didn’t fix shit. But now the backlash is gone and the countries are still blocked, they can silently reinstate the bullshit in 3 months time.
Regardless, I was expecting absolutely no change from Sony and quite frankly, still expect to do to a rug pull once people’s attention are elsewhere. Oh look, Microsoft is doing a thing now.
still expect to do to a rug pull once people’s attention are elsewhere. Oh look, Microsoft is doing a thing now.
Corporations being corporations and trying to rip off the customer to make the stockholder happy is a constant thing (unfortunately). “Viva Capitalism!”, and all that.
But ‘We the People Customers’ ultimately have the control, we control the purse strings. They need the money in our wallets, and we can decide to give them that money or not, based on how they treat us, as customers. They will try to psyop convince you otherwise of that fact, but that fact remains, and holds true.
Its an endless battle/war, but its a good one to fight for. Then they try something the next time, we push back against it. Again.
Nothing changed with Helldivers. The game is still blocked in over 100 countries and people who rightfully purchased the game still can not play it. Sure we don’t have to create an account, but that was annoying -not an actual issue. The real issue was thousands of people suddenly losing access to their game because Sony wants conversion.
Last I heard that problem went away with them backing off of not needing a Playstation account anymore.
And the fact that they backed off the account requirement is a definate win for us.
Sony made a social media post. Original date for PsN requirement was June. During the backlash, over 100 countries were delisted. They still are. The current situation is still much worse than launch.
Sony made a social media post. Original date for PsN requirement was June. During the backlash, over 100 countries were delisted. They still are. The current situation is stillmuch worsethan launch.
The primary goal was to not have to create a Playstation account, and people can get a refund now from Steam if they want, where before they could not.
Sony can always decide where to sell their products, regardless if there’s a controversy, or just any day of the week and for any reason. We could never control where Sony sells their products.
I’d love to know how to get a refund. I’ve tried 4 times with different prompts suggested in forums and comments. It is in fact worse and not equal to the state it was in at launch.
Try asking again for one.
That video I linked was stating they were now doing refunds. I haven’t tried it, since I don’t own the game (didn’t like the root level access crap). But I’ve also read elsewhere that at first they were not doing refunds but they changed their minds and now they are.
Pretty sure the Hell Divers 2 backlash was the only time I’ve ever seen gamers win over a corporation.
There’s been others, over the decades. This isn’t the first time they tried putting ads into games. All the other times were pushed back successfully.
Blizzard fans have made me absolutely cynical about gamer boycotts.
True-ish, but people really did step up more in more recent days, and voted with their wallets. The pop dropped was bad enough and for long enough that the company got sold off to Microsoft to recover, and Bobby is gone.
All the other times were pushed back successfully.
Was it or was it just poorly implemented and the metrics were looking good for the companies buying the ads? Not sure Microsoft firing Bobby because he was a bad leader or just cause it’s an easy way to trim fat and make the purchase look better for their investors.
Maybe not, but individuals can choose where to spend their money. The masses will still buy this shit, but I am the kinda guy will will make his own life harder based on morals.
Like I ain’t shopped on Amazon for years. Some stuff I just can’t find anymore. Not used WhatsApp for many years, makes it harder to join friend group chats. Etc.
Yeah I agree completely, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves that companies are going to go bankrupt because a minority of users are absolutist about in-game ads, or will sacrifice social connections to avoid using Meta products.
In these cases an individual can act for any number of valid reasons, but it takes a much bigger collective action to influence the outcome, which requires a much bigger reason/scandal.
I don’t believe my choices have an impact at all, in fact they impact me more negatively than the things I avoid.
But I can sleep at night knowing I am not giving them my money, or my business, etc.
It’s like with the Reddit exodus and people thinking it would / will be the death of Reddit. The truth is they barley noticed we left and they certainly don’t care, but again morals.
You never know, this thread could make more people think like this and make conscious choices where you can, for yourself so you know you tried to not be a part of the problem.
The dark side of the XKCD comic Ten Thousand is that there’s always a new pool of suckers entering the market - people who haven’t gotten burned yet and think they’re getting something real.
I am the kinda guy will will make his own life harder based on morals.
I wouldn’t even call it morals so much at Once Bitten, Twice Shy. There’s a point at which you don’t want to keep doing business with people who make you miserable.
If they’d just be smart about it. Make the ads in-game. Like a Nike poster on a wall or a can of Pepsi on a table or something. I wouldn’t have a problem with that. Making them the entire focus - however brief - just makes me hate them immeasurably.
I’m pretty sure their goal is to bring ads in the same form as the mobile games, not as part of the in-game world. If they can do it on mobile, why shouldn’t they on pc or consoles?
I think this will be an important thing for gamers to unite against, because if there isn’t enough push back, every big studio will do the same.
Even then they should still be held to a higher standard.
Especially now in the era of generative AI.
The poster should have a well known character in the world lore holding the Coke, or a location in the map for the car ad, etc.
The ads should feel like they are actually a part of the world, and shouldn’t be put in a game unless this can be accomplished.
In game ads don’t have to suck. But because the power dynamic is such that shit ads can be shoved down players’ throats with the only response being to not buy that publisher’s games, the medium isn’t going to find an acceptable equilibrium.
In game ads in live service games for in game assets may not suck too much though (an inevitable part of the future).
EA already did this. Many games had real ads on billboards in the world. Need for speed underground 2 was sponsored by cingular wireless. Your ingame pager was product placement and the company’s logo was on screen whenever you were doing free roam.
City of Heroes tried the same basic thing back in the day. They figured it’s an urban environment that has billboards and posters as part of the general clutter, why not get paid to switch out a fake ad for a real ad?
Fellow gamers, now is the time to push back on this crap. If you don’t do it now, you’ll live with this forever. They tried doing this in past generations as well, and failed.
Spread the word, tell others. Be vocal! Advocate for this not happening.
And if someone tells you that this isn’t preventable, tell them not to be cynical. Remind them of the other positive changes we were able to have happen recently in gaming, and that in the past when they tried this, the pushback was successful in keeping the gaming companies from doing so.
And remember, some of those you would try to convince are probably astroturfers/bots.
Remeber if they call you naive or quixotic or an idealist that means they can’t win the argument with normal means and rely on name calling. Act with integrity, it’s worth it!
EA is on my boycott list since Origin & ME3. ¯_ (ツ)_/¯
How many of those have in-game ads though?
There’s a history of pushing back against adding ads into games, that’s different than boycotting the company overall. One can be successful, when another is not.
And having said that, one could even argue that their desperation to make money by putting ads into games (again) is not just about keeping the shareholders happy, but also because of people having boycotted them over the years, depriving them of additional income. You may be making more of a stand than you realize.
I'm saying there's not really anything more I can do when it comes to EA. The company is already completely down the shitter for me and they're the ones who would have to gain my trust back. That's the only possible development.
The problem is that many people don't have a similar spine for actual principles like this, and the majority of people simply don't even care. That's why this rotten company is not just still a thing, but continues to do what they've done for the last couple decades.
I’m saying there’s not really anything more I can do when it comes to EA.
You are already doing your part. Thank you, citizen.
But, you can also vocalize to others, especially the younger generation, that things like ads in games can be pushed back against successfully, as it has in the past. That they don’t have to put up with crap, or think they can’t push back against the monolithic corporation, because its been done before, successfully.
Hell, EA was one of those companies that tried ads in games before, and had to retreat from the pushback from customers.
The problem is that many people don’t have a similar spine for actual principles like this, and the majority of people simply don’t even care.
I always thought that they cared, especially if they are being taken advantaged of, but that it doesn’t rise to a high enough threshold to actually do something about it (they triage it lower on their problem list), and that they feel that they are alone in doing it, so why bother.
What past events have shown though is that if we all do it together,even in a non-coordinated sort of way (organically),then the burden is not that hard individually, and the effort/pushback works well/enough.
Good thing seeing that a game is published or developed by EA, or one of its subsidiaries, is 9 times out of 10 enough for me to not bother with the game to begin with. They don’t make a thing that is worth dealing with them to get to play.
That company burned all of its good will and trust with me years ago. So sure go ahead and put as many ads as you want EA. I know for sure I won’t be seeing them.
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